(NEWZIMBABWE) Govt shames prophets of doom on salaries
24/01/2014 00:00:00
by Mukachana Hanyani
THE recent awarding of a salary increment to civil servants by government has proved beyond doubt that the Zanu PF-led government has got the people at heart. It has shamed detractors and demonstrated to all and sundry that fulfilling promises is an obligation, especially for a people-oriented revolutionary party that has become a constant thorn in the flesh for Western capital.
In the last five years of the inclusive government tenure, salary increment was as taboo as following Tendai Biti, the former Finance Minister and MDC-T Secretary General, to the serenity of the toilet to witness if he conjures greenbacks. However, it has only taken Zanu PF a paltry six months to reverse civil servants’ misery of the lost half-decade. Such swiftness of action is what sets Zanu PF apart from other pitiful pretenders.
The likes of Biti, Paurina Mpariwa-Gwanyanya and Lucia Matibenga seemed to trivialise the grievances of Government workers while prioritising their gallivanting. Now that Zanu PF has taken giant steps in alleviating the plight of civil servants, which is applauded by the majority of the progressive citizenry, the same purveyors of neglect attempt to revive their waning political fortunes by casting themselves as champions of the workers’ rights.
That the MDC-T in general and Biti in particular should question Government’s source of funds to foot the increased wage bill is quite understandable. The party and the man failed dismally during the inclusive government and would be avid students of Patrick Chinamasa on where they went wrong during that short and yet agonising brief when Biti was the country’s financial steward. However, one thing is certain; that the money did not come from Biti’s bowels but was mobilised for Zimbabweans in Zimbabwe by Zimbabweans!
The public is also alive to the love for high life that runs within the MDC-T, including philandering. Shonhe, the party’s ex-Intelligence chief and his harem at Harvest House, Isaac Matongo who rested eternally after a romp with Evelyn Masaiti. The list is as long as one’s arm and only goes to show that this coterie of people with diverse and often contradictory ideological founding have nothing in common (with workers) than pursuing self-enrichment and empire-building.
When the Zanu PF government promised civil servants that it was going to award them salaries based on the poverty datum line (PDL), the same opposition leaders rushed to dismiss the government saying that it has no capacity to pay. Some economic commentators such as Eric Bloc and John Robertson said that the PDL-linked salaries would destroy the country, as the economy is not performing well. They alleged that the current economic situation in the country could not sustain such an increment. To them, the monthly bill that currently stands at US$142million should not be increased. They saw a situation in which Zanu PF was just pontificating without any prospects of fulfillment.
Not that people have come to expect anything less, but the MDC-T has a long history of disparaging any Zanu PF-initiated programmes that seek to ameliorate the living standards of locals, such as Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (ZIMASSET), as meaningless endeavours despite endorsement from captains of industry who have applauded the blueprint as a panacea to the country’s challenges if effectively implemented. So the fact that the Zanu PF-led government has finally agreed with representatives of the civil servants to award them 26% of their basic salary is a good development worth appreciating, even by the most ardent doubting Thomases.
People still recall that during the inclusive government, Tsvangirai, then Prime Minister, was overwhelmed by a crowd at Glamis stadium and promised workers, including civil servants, what he called “a living wage” during his inaugural speech. One may assume that he was referring to a poverty datum line-based salary. Civil servants did not hold their breath in gleeful anticipation because they risked suffocation since the promise is yet to be fulfilled. Rather, the workers went about their purposeful work of fending for their families and rebuilding a country ravaged by years of unmitigated sabotage by the West.
Government has said that the 26% salary adjustment, translating to seventy-nine dollars ($79, 00), does not mark the end of negotiations. Instead, this is just the beginning of efforts to align salaries with the poverty datum line. The salaries will be reviewed periodically until the desired peg is achieved. Kudos are in order to the stakeholders, including Government and civil service unions representatives, for level-headedness in the midst of intricacies and emotions that attend to salary negotiations.
It is worth appreciating that the country’s economy is not performing to the expected standards due to a plethora of reasons, chief among which is the issue of illegal sanctions. Therefore it is only prudent that any salary increments be done cautiously. For argument’ sake, Robertson’s assertion that employers should pay their workers productivity-based salaries as opposed to PDL-salaries as part of attempts to get the ailing firms on their feet is not a rocket scientist’s discovery. Now, if Robertson agrees that the economic situation in the country is not conducive to sustain PDL-based salaries, how come he and his ilk are very quick to blame government for failing to award some civil servants the same PDL-based salaries? But then, these are armchair critics that make fortunes out of contradictions.
As such, any sane person would agree that the increment that the government awarded to civil servants is what was available and within the means of Government. It is what union representatives felt was best for the workers given the circumstances of the economy. No amount of, or attempt at ingratiation by the MDC-T and other regressive forces will separate the workers from their employer. Not even when the economy is being made to scream.
Mukachana Hanyani can be contacted on mhanyani@yahoo.com
Labels: CIVIL SERVANTS, MDC CORRUPTION, NEOLIBERALISM, SALARIES
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(NEWZIMBABWE, IOL SA, SUNDAY INDEPENDENT SA) KP report shows Biti got diamond cash
24/11/2013 00:00:00
by
Iol.co.za
SUBSTANTIAL revenue from Marange diamond fields have evidently been going into state coffers, despite claims to the contrary by former finance minister Tendai Biti of the opposition MDC-T party.
This is according to classified documents from the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS or just KP) which was set up to filter conflict diamonds (also known as blood diamonds) out of world markets.
They show that the four mines at Marange exported over $717 million worth of diamonds between November 2011 and October last year and paid 15 percent of that – just over $107m – in royalties into state coffers.
The KP research was part of the process of clearing Zimbabwe after its suspension from the KP due to reports that its forces had violently evicted informal miners from Marange.
The KP Monitoring Team comprised Abbey Chikane and Mark van Bockstael, chairman of the Working Group of Diamond Experts at the World Diamond Council in Antwerp.
The documents are not public but they are on the KP’s restricted website which is available to any of the many government, industry or civil society members of the KP. This has raised some questions about why they have not been cited before to counter the claims made by Biti.
The top MDC-T official frequently said he never saw any Marange revenues while he was finance minister in Zimbabwe’s coalition government from 2009 until this year’s elections, which Zanu PF won.
His party and many observers have often suggested that all income from Marange due to the state went directly into Zanu PF’s coffers.
In their report for the quarter February to April last year, the authors say statements by ministers about the lack of transparency in the “chain of custody” of Marange diamond production and export “have caused serious confusion regarding compliance to KP standards and minimum requirements.”
They refer to contradictory statements by Zimbabwe’s ministry of mines – then controlled by Zanu PF – and the finance ministry and agencies then controlled by Biti’s MDC.
Chikane and Van Bockstael found that both the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra), which is part of the treasury, were both directly involved in authorising diamond exports so they could be KP certified.
Zimra was involved in several steps of the process, including receiving copies of customs forms which showed that the amount paid to the producer, as noted on the KP certificate, had been received in the producer’s bank account in Zimbabwe.
Zimra also had to give clearance for the shipment of the rough diamonds near the end of the process by issuing “Release Form 21”.
Zimra “thus holds the key to all rough diamond exports from Zimbabwe,” the report says.
“Statements that Zimra is completely unaware of the exports of rough diamonds are therefore alarming as these could indicate that the KPCS-compliant export process for rough diamonds is no longer applied or not applicable in case of rough diamond shipments from Marange.”
However, Chikane and Van Bockstael’s report says further investigation showed that proper process was still being implemented for all rough diamond exports, including Marange, and that Zimra need only check its records to identify how much revenue through royalties had been generated by rough diamond exports.
Last week at the annual KP Plenary in Johannesburg, campaigners failed to persuade the KP to block rough diamond exports by rebel movements and exports by governments which exploited diamonds to fuel violence.
Labels: DIAMONDS, KIMBERLEY PROCESS, MDC CORRUPTION, TENDAI BITI
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(NEWSDZEZIMBABWE) MDC HIT BY RACISM ALLEGATIONS
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Following primary elections held in Bulawayo over the weekend, allegations have surfaced about a plan to prevent white MDC-T members from making it past the internal selection process.
Sources close to the process reported 'serious vote rigging' in the Bulawayo Central Constituency, where party heavy weight Dorcas Sibanda, was pitted against Nicola Watson (Watson lost the primary election). Watson and Eddie Cross are the only two white people in the MDC-T Bulawayo structures, occupying the position of provincial treasurer and policy director respectively. Bulawayo-based
SW Africa correspondent Lionel Saungweme said there are
indications that people from outside the constituency were brought in to vote in order to prevent a possible Watson victory.
Saungweme said this was not the first time that allegations of racism have been raised within the Bulawayo province. Watson had quit the united MDC citing racial discrimination, before being invited back by the MDC-T.
"Leading up to the primary election supporters of Dorcas Sibanda, led by Sethekeli Moyo, told the state controlled Chronicle newspaper that they did not want white people occupying parliamentary positions.
"We do not want this white woman. She has been imposed by party leaders.These are the people that we fought to remove in the liberation struggle and the party is returning them," Sethekeli Moyo told the Chronicle.
Following the incessant racial taunts against Watson, Bulawayo deputy mayor Amen Mpofu convened a residents' meeting where he warned the party against making racist remarks, reports say.
"During the weekend primaries, Watson and her supporters were openly told to go and get their vote in England, by Sibanda's supporters," Saungweme said.
But when the media campaign against Watson started in early June, MDC-T national spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora disowned the group that stormed the Chronicle offices to denounce her."They are not from our party. I have spoken to Honourable Sibanda and she says none of her supporters went to the Chronicle. It is also not true that the party is trying to push her out from her seat. She has not lost it yet as she might win the primary election," Mwonzora told the state media.
It has also emerged that another white person, Mike Carter, had put his name forward expressing a wish to stand for a senatorial seat but was disappointed to find that his name had been removed from that particular list and added to that of council candidates.
Labels: EDDIE CROSS, MDC, MDC CORRUPTION, NICOLA WATSON, RHODESIANS
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(HERALD ZW) No plans to unbundle Zesa: Mavhaire
October 25, 2013
Herald Reporter
Government has no intention to dismantle Zesa and place the power utility in private hands as envisaged by the Electricity Amendment Act passed by Parliament during the subsistence of the inclusive Government this year, a Cabinet Minister has said. The Act has since been declared a legal nullity.
Energy and Power Development Minister Dzikamai Mavhaire said contrary to the Electricity Amendment Act, that sought to unbundle Zesa, his ministry would not allow that to happen as that was not consistent with Government policy and the Zanu-PF manifesto.
“The position is that I have no intention of dismantling Zesa,” said Minister Mavhaire last night.
“There is no way I can put Zesa in private hands.
“The only set up where we will allow private players is under the arrangement of Independent Power Producers that we have licensed.”
Clerk of Parliament Mr Austin Zvoma has since written to the Registrar of the High Court and the Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet demanding the return of Electricity Amendment Act 2013, which sought to unbundle Zesa Holdings into an indeterminate number of privately-owned successor companies.
The planned unbundling and privatisation — which was reportedly being orchestrated by some officials at the Energy and Power Development Ministry in cahoots with former minister Mr Elton Mangoma — would have effectively put the critical power sector into the hands of unknown Western investors picked at Mr Mangoma’s discretion.
Minister Mavhaire last night, described the Act as “null and void.”
He said if firms would be formed under the unbundling of Zesa, Government would have 100 percent stake.
Sources close to developments say everything was being done without the knowledge of Minister Mavhaire, amid reports that officers at Zesa were already working on logos for the new companies, again without the knowledge of the minister.
The Amendment Act was hurried through Parliament by MDC-T legislators, who took advantage of the fact that their Zanu-PF counterparts were holed in their constituencies for the party’s primary elections.
The Bill was passed before being sent for Presidential assent, which was, however, granted after the mandatory 21 days had lapsed, making the resultant Act a legal nullity.
Section 51 of the old Constitution, which was still operational ahead of the effective date of the new Constitution, stated that:
1) Subject to the provisions of section 52 and Schedule 4, the power of Parliament to make laws shall be exercised by Bills passed by the House of Assembly and the Senate and assented to by the President.
(2) When a Bill is presented to the President for assent he shall, subject to the provisions of this section, within twenty-one, days, either assent or withhold his assent.
The Electricity Amendment (No.5 of 2013) Act sought to repeal Section 68 of the Electricity Act (Chapter 13:19) which was to be replaced with a new Section 68 Formation of Successor Companies which stipulates that:
(1) The Minister shall, not later than six months after the fixed date, take such steps as are necessary under the Companies Act (Chapter 24:03) to secure the formation of one or more of the following companies limited by shares, which shall be the successor company or successor companies to the Authority –
(a) a company to take over the electricity generation plants of the Authority;
(b) a company to take over the transmission system of the Authority;
(c) a company to take over from the Authority the distribution and supply of electricity;
(d) such other companies as the Minister may approve.
The proviso, “such other companies as the Minister may approve’’ was a clear blank cheque to Mr Mangoma and crew to do what they wanted with a key state enterprise.
Apart from the personal profit motive, sources say there was also a clear political motive to destroy Zesa or put it beyond the influence of Government which would then have been at the mercy of the private investors linked to the MDC-T.
This would have left the succeeding Zanu-PF Government at the mercy of the investors who would have used power for political leverage as power has been identified as a key enabler of Government’s new economic blueprint, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim Asset).
In pursuit of unconstitutional regime change, MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai is on record asking South Africa to cut off Zimbabwe’s fuel and power supply.
Labels: DZIKAMAI MAVHAIRE, ELTON MANGOMA, ENERGY, MDC, MDC CORRUPTION, NEOLIBERALISM, PRIVATISATION, ZESA
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(NEWZIMBABWE) Mangoma furious at ZESA sell-off allegations
26/10/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
FORMER energy minister Elton Mangoma has threatened to sue a state-run newspaper after it accused him of trying to sell-off the power utility ZESA to western investors linked to his MDC-T party.
Mangoma’s lawyers, this week, demanded that the Herald retract its report and issue an unreserved apology or face a claim for defamation at the High Court.
The newspaper accused the MDC-T treasury chief of trying to unbundle and privatise Zesa which has perennially failed to meet the country’s electricity requirements.
“Apart from the personal profit motive, sources say there was also a clear political motive to destroy Zesa or put it beyond the influence of Government which would then have been at the mercy of the private investors linked to the MDC-T, ” read party of the report which has infuriated the senior MDC-T official.
Mangoma however said the report was full of “sensational, untrue and highly defamatory comments”.
“These comments seem designed to damage the reputation of our client in the public eye and create public opprobrium towards said client,” said the former minister through his lawyers, Mupanga Bhatasara Attorneys.
“The story gives an impression of a clumsy hatchet job on the character of an outstanding public servant who is on record for having solved the perennial fuel crisis and had gone on to work tirelessly day and night (emphasis deliberate) to lessen the electricity shortages,? the letter reads.”
New energy minister Dzikamai Mavhaire has since ruled out privatisation of the power utility.
“The position is that I have no intention of dismantling Zesa. There is no way I can put Zesa in private hands,” Mavhaire told the Herald.
“The only set up where we will allow private players is under the arrangement of Independent Power Producers that we have licensed.”
Unable to produce enough power to meet the country’s needs or raise the cash needed to plug the generation gap through imports, ZESA has resorted to rationing supplies to both domestic and commercial users for years.
Productive sectors such as mining and industry blame say power supply problems have undermined efforts to operate at optimal capacity, adversely impact efforts to ensure sustained economic recovery.
Labels: DZIKAMAI MAVHAIRE, ELTON MANGOMA, ENERGY, MDC, MDC CORRUPTION, NEOLIBERALISM, PRIVATISATION, ZESA
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(NEWZIMBABWE, SOUTHERN EYE) Circumcision helps stem cancer: Khupe
18/10/2013 00:00:00
by Southern Eye
MDC-T DEPUTY leader Thokozani Khupe has backed calls for men to consider circumcision to help curb new cervical cancer infections in the country. Cervical cancer is caused by a sexually transmitted human papilloma virus (HPV).
Khupe told Southern Eye that men need to seriously consider circumcision to not only prevent the spread of the HPV that causes cancer, but to help reduce new HIV infections.
“I am saying men should look at these issues seriously to save lives.
“If we have men who are circumcised, we will have 60% chances of not transmitting virus that causes cancer,” Khupe said in a telephone interview yesterday.
Health experts say other than reducing the spread of HIV by 60%, male circumcision offers partial protection against sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
Khupe said statistics show that 1 200 women die annually from cervical cancer that affects a further 1 800 women in Zimbabwe.
“This is the reason why I am calling on men to undergo circumcision.
“By getting circumcised men will also protect themselves from STIs and HIV,” Khupe added, noting that cervical cancer accounts for 32% of all cancers among women.
Khupe recently called for the introduction of a cancer levy to deal with all cancer-related health matters.
The World Health Organisation indicates that the high number of cervical cancer infections and deaths are as a result of HIV and Aids where women who are HIV-positive are thought to be three to five times more likely to develop cervical lesions that become cancerous.
Research shows that signs of cervical cancer include a discharge with traces of blood and pain during sexual intercourse, abnormal bleeding or a sudden change in one’s menstrual cycle that cannot be explained, among others.
Khupe’s motion was introduced Wednesday in Parliament Wednesday where she called for the setting up of centres to treat cancer around the country.
Speaker Jacob Mudenda said MPs should support the Thoko Khupe Cancer Foundation with donations, saying it was a noble idea.
Mudenda, a Zanu PF member said one of his friend’s mother was saved by Khupe’s intervention through the foundation.
Labels: CIRCUMCISION, FRAUD, HIV/AIDS FRAUD, MDC CORRUPTION, THOKOZANI KHUPE
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(TALKZIMBABWE) Hypocrisy: MDC-T leaders worked with Nikuv
This article was written by Our reporter on 16 August, at 12 : 05 PM
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change is crying foul over the alleged role of Nikuv International Projects in rigging Zimbabwe’s July 31 general elections, but party leader Morgan Tsvangirai, and his top brass have been dealing with the Israeli company.
A report by the Mail & Guardian newspaper shows that as early as last year Tsvangirai was working with a Nikuv subsidiary that deals in agricultural equipment.
Nikuv’s sister company, Pedstock Investments, supplied and installed drip irrigation equipment at Tsvangirai’s rural homestead in Humanikwa village in Buhera, Manicaland, last year.
Outgoing Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khuphe, the party’s vice-president, also bought the same drip irrigation equipment from the Nikuv company.
Tsvangirai’s trusted lieutenant and chief secretary, Ian Makone, and his wife, Theresa, who is the outgoing home affairs minister and the MDC-T Women’s Assembly leader, also had a drip irrigation system installed at her Domboshava home by the same company.
This week Theresa Makone confirmed that Pedstock had installed irrigation systems at her Domboshava home, at Tsvangirai’s Buhera home and at Khuphe’s home.
Makone tried to mask this affiliation by saying they were unaware of the links between the company and Nikuv, although all invoicing for the company is done by Nikuv.
Tsvangirai’s spokesperson, Luke Tamborinyoka, also confirmed that an irrigation system was installed at Tsvangirai’s rural home. He refused to comment on why Tsvangirai had purchased equipment from a company the MDC-T has been accussing for a long time of working with Zanu-PF.
he said the company had installed the equipment when he was in hospital and when Tsvangirai held a ‘field day’ in November last year during which the equipment was showcased.
Tamborinyoka said he would get back to the M&G with more information but he had not done so by the time of going to print.
It could not be established who paid for Tsvangirai’s irrigation system although Makone insisted all the officials had paid for their own. The irrigation system by Nikuv costs upwards of US$150,000.00
Said Makone: “If we had known that Nikuv is involved in stealing the elections from us, we would not have dealt with them.”
After the installation of the equipment, Tsvangirai invited MDC-T ministers and his neighbours to see the project, which he said was a model for how to alleviate hunger.
The Makones also held a field day on July 10 to show off their equipment and farming project.
Makone’s denial is in contrast with facts at hand.
Last year, she was hosted by Nikuv and Pedstock on official ministerial business as co-Home Affairs Minister
The purpose of the trip was to see the type of security systems that the company offers. On that trip, she met Nikuv and Pedstock officials.
She met Emmanuel Antebi, the founder of Nikuv, who made her aware of the link between Pedstock and Nikuv.
Makone also denied paying $150,000 quoted by Nikov, saying the amount she paid was ‘only’ $20000 for the equipment.
Makone said there was nothing sinister about the fact that she gave business to Pedstock because it had “appeared [to be] just like any other business”.
Labels: 2013 ELECTIONS (ZW), ISRAEL, MDC, MDC CORRUPTION, NIKUV INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS
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(NEWZIMBABWE) Mawere faces R5m SA lottery fraud charge
11/08/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
COMMENT - It is difficult to expect ethical behaviour from a man who owns an asbesthos mine. - MrK
SOUTH Africa-based businessman Mutumwa Mawere is facing charges of allegedly defrauding the national lottery of nearly R5 million, according to a report. Mawere, who holds both South African and Zimbabwean citizenship, was picked up in Johannesburg last week. He was initially reported to have been arrested for tax fraud.
But, according to local media reports on Sunday, the former SSM Holdings owner is alleged to have used his African Heritage Society organisation to fraudulently secure a R4.5m grant from the National Lottery Distribution Fund, which is predominantly used to fund charities.
South Africa’s crack crime fighting unit, The Hawks, confirmed they had been investigating allegations that Mawere used lottery funds to enrich himself.
He allegedly applied for the grant under the pretence that his organisation would build a “corporate heritage museum” in Rivonia, Johannesburg, to promote South African heritage. According to Hawks spokesman Captain Paul Ramaloko, Mawere lied to the lotteries board about how the money was spent.
“He claimed that a two-day workshop was held at a luxury hotel in Sandton, but it was later revealed that it had in fact hosted the launch of his book titled Conversations with Mawere,” Ramaloko told the newspaper.
Lotteries board chief executive Charlotte Mampane told the newspaper her organisation was aware of the investigation, but had not been formally informed about his arrest.
Mawere’s lawyer, Rod Montano, told the Sunday Independent that preparations were being made for his bail hearing on Wednesday.
The businessman successfully sued the Zimbabwe government last month after being refused a passport and publicly backed MDC-T leader and out-going Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in the July 31 elections.
A former World Bank employee, Mawere was self-exiled from Zimbabwe in 2004 following legal troubles at Shabanie Mine where he was accused of defrauding the government of Z$300 billion.
He successfully fought attempts by Zimbabwean authorities to extradite him but subsequently lost his companies which were expropriated.
Labels: FRAUD, MDC CORRUPTION, MUTUMWA MAWERE
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(NEWZIMBABWE) Komichi to be charged over stray ballot paper
29/07/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
POLICE have vowed to press criminal charges against
MDC-T deputy chairman Morgan Komichi who was arrested Sunday after he produced a stray ballot paper cast in his party’s favour to
back claims of vote rigging by his party.
Speaking during a press briefing at the Police General Headquarters the same day, national police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba insisted that Komichi, who is deputy minister of Transport, would remain their prime suspect until he reveals the source of the document.
Komichi, who is also the MDC-T’s elections chief, last week, took the ballot paper to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), claiming it was handed to his party by a party sympathiser who preferred to remain anonymous.
He claimed the document was picked from a dust bin at the Harare International Conference Centre where ZEC has established its national command centre.
The MDC-T further claims it is in possession of “several” more stray ballot papers dumped after the July 14-15 special voting exercise by some members of the uniformed forces and ZEC personnel.
ZEC has since denied being responsible for any leaks and further questioned the credibility of the MDC-T official’s claims.
But police said they were taking the matter seriously as it had the potential dent the credibility of the July 31 harmonised election, which has already generated a lot of controversy.
“The police would like to establish how the so-called special ballot paper ends up in a dustbin and the whereabouts of the rest of the alleged lost envelops," Charamba said.
“Our preliminary investigations have since established that the said police officer whose special ballot paper was allegedly found in the dust bin never cast his vote.
“He was scientifically tested by ZEC officials to this effect and a sworn affidavit statement has since been obtained from the police officer and the ZEC official who conducted the ultra vialate light test.”
“In this regard,” Charamba continued, “Mr Komichi … is assisting police with investigations so that he reveals the identity of the person who gave him the ballot paper with a view of getting to the bottom of this matter.
“The Zimbabwe Republic Police would like to urge Zimbabweans to desist from interfering with the electoral process with a view to discrediting the harmonised elections.
“Political parties should therefore be warned that the Zimbabwe Republic Police shall arrest all individuals who stage manage events and or occurrences in order to portray that the obtaining environment is not conducive for holding free and fair elections. As Zimbabwe Republic Police, we are determined to see the fruition of a free and fair elections.”
Labels: MDC, MDC CORRUPTION, MORGAN KOMICHI
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(NEWZIMBABWE) Education fund abuse claims baseless: Coltart
26/05/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
EDUCATION Minister David Coltart has dismissed as baseless allegations money contributed by donors to the Education Transition Fund (ETF) was being used to fund his MDC party’s projects.
Funded by donors such as the European Union the ETF was aimed aimed at helping revive an education sector once described as the pride of Africa before it was pushed close to collapse by the economic crisis experienced in the last decade.
Coltart said allegations the Fund – designed to mobilise resources for the sector and ensure equitable access to quality education - was being used to support MDC projects in Bulawayo were baseless.
“What those people are saying is false . . . ETF is managed by Unicef in Harare. The ETF implementation committee is chaired by (Ministry of Education official) Constance Chigwamba,” he said.
“ETF is a fund by donors coming from EU countries. I chair the fund but it is managed by Unicef in Harare. Not a single cent comes to Government that I can use personally . . . (Unicef’s) country director can confirm that.”
The Herald newspaper claimed MDC activists Linnet Nyathi and Ellen Shiriyedenga were running an ETF office in Bulawayo which was distributing books to local schools.
But Coltart said there was no ETF office in Bulawayo adding the two officers were, in fact, Education Ministry employees.
“Ellen works in Harare, she has been my personal assistant from day one and her political affiliation cannot be questioned. She is not in the ETF implementation committee. Nyathi was employed to run the Education Advisory Board and is based here in Harare,” he said.
The ETF was established to address the acute shortage of textbooks across the country with most schools operating on a 10:1 pupils-to-textbook ratio as well as provide teaching and learning materials.
The first phase would see some 13 million textbooks distributed to schools around the country while the next phases would focus on expanding support to the secondary schools curriculum revision and supporting implementation of the ministry’s new strategic plan.
Labels: DAVID COLTART, EDUCATION, MDC CORRUPTION
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Tsvangirai secures comfort after Govt
Sunday, 21 April 2013 00:00
Sunday Mail Reporter
In a clear move to secure his future after Government, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has officially pleaded with authorities to allow him to purchase his official Highlands mansion for US$4,5 million and his official Mercedes-Benz vehicle for an undisclosed amount. The MDC-T leader’s plea is indicative of the fact that he is not confident of winning the forthcoming harmonised elections while also raising suspicion on the source of his funds.
Impeccable sources told The Sunday Mail last week that Mr Tsvangirai initially disclosed to Public Works Minister Mr Joel Gabuza Gabbuza that he wanted to purchase the luxurious property priced at a whopping US$3 million.
He was asked to make an official request in writing which he did two weeks ago.
The ministry advised the PM that he could only secure the house after paying the US$3 million as well as a further US$1,5 million which would settle a loan granted to him by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe for the purposes of renovating the property.
Although Minister Gabbuza last night said he is yet to receive official communication on the proposed house purchase, sources maintained the Prime Minister submitted a formal request.
Mr Tsvangirai’s spokesman, Mr Luke Tamborinyoka, could not be reached for comment last night, but several MDC-T officials who commented on the matter expressed shock that their boss had that kind of money to spend on a house, especially now when his party is facing serious financial challenges.
An MDC-T provincial executive member who spoke on condition of anonymity said most party officials were disappointed by their leader’s decision.
“The MDC-T is a party for change, but, definitely US$4,5 million is not small change.”
Another top party official said Mr Tsvangirai risked alienating himself from the party “which is in dire straits.”
“It is wrong timing to do such a thing. Why couldn’t he wait until after the elections? After all, everyone knows that the party’s finances are in a bad state.
“I do not remember the last time we bought vehicles, but, just go to Jongwe (Zanu-PF headquarters in Harare) and you will see how many vehicles are parked there. People in the MDC-T are not happy. We do not even know the last time we bought chairs for our offices.”
The Highlands mansion courted some controversy for the Prime Minister after he was accused of securing two separate loans for the same property. He had allegedly received US$1,5 million from Treasury and another US$1,5 million from the Reserve Bank.
Last week, the Western media attacked him over his apparent love for a lavish lifestyle. In an article titled Tasting Good Life, MDC-T Slips off Pedestal, The New York Times wrote that Mr Tsvangirai was content with forming the inclusive Government alongside Zanu-PF to secure a luxurious lifestyle.
CNN also quizzed him for failing to identify with the masses.
In addition, the Prime Minister’s spending sprees came under the spotlight after he reportedly splashed US$300 000 to buy the silence of his traditional wife, Ms Locadia Karimatsenga Tembo.
Labels: CNN, MDC CORRUPTION, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI
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Harare runs out of water chemicals
Sunday, 21 April 2013 00:00
Charlotte Musarurwa
Harare is fast running out of water treatment chemicals and this has seen most parts of the city going without water for the last two weeks.
The crippling shortage is said to have followed the suspension of deliveries by the Harare City Council’s only supplier, MT & N, following discoveries that the company had erroneously delivered a poisonous chemical, sodium cyanide, to the city’s Morton Jaffray Waterworks. Town House is believed to be making frantic efforts to secure alternative suppliers. Harare City Council procurement committee acting chairperson Clr Victor Chifodya last week confirmed the shortage, adding that the local authority was compiling a strategy report on procuring adequate chemicals.
“The situation is that the supplier who had won the tender to supply the water treatment chemicals was implicated in the supply of poison to Morton Jaffray (Waterworks).
“The supplier has, however, since stopped supplying the chemicals, but the challenge now is getting people with the capacity to meet demand.
“We are working on a report to finalise the chemical issue as well as the way forward. We have some chemicals in stock, but these may not stretch over a long time because they are not enough,” he said.
Clr Chifodya added that the other challenge faced by council was that most suppliers were demanding cash upfront.
“We have tried to engage Zimphos, but they are also not in a position to provide the chemicals because they are still owed some money by the city council. Zimphos now wants cash upfront for the chemicals.”
Last year, Harare was on high alert after the water treatment chemicals supplier reportedly delivered sodium cyanide to Morton Jaffray Waterworks. Although the company’s employees were taken to court, they were later acquitted after it was found that the delivery of the poison was an error. Contacted for comment, Water Resources Development and Management Minister Mr Samuel Sipepa Nkomo professed ignorance on the alleged shortage. The minister said he had been told by Town House authorities that the recent water shortages were as a result of pipe bursts.
Labels: HARARE CITY COUNCIL, MDC CORRUPTION
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(STICKY) (NEWZIMBABWE, NYT) Tasting good life, MDC-T slips off pedestal
COMMENT - What pedestal? Like all neoliberals, they are the 'Greed Is Good, Greed Works' party. If they would ever come to power, they would make ANY corruption among ZANU-PF look like amateur time. They are corrupt to their core, right from getting to power on the misery they visited on the Zimbabwean people through economic sanctions, to their desire to see tens of thousands of Zimbabweans die in a foreign invasion - just so they can get to power and sell off the diamond mines. They are the Movement for Death and Corruption (MDC).
(NEWZIMBABWE, NYT) Tasting good life, MDC-T slips off pedestal
Trappings of power ... Morgan Tsvangirai's new Harare home
13/04/2013 00:00:00
by New York Times
THE guests arrived in Bentleys, Benzes and BMWs. At a plush, riverside wedding in an upscale suburb, the wine and spirits flowed and tables groaned with the ample buffet. Politicians, celebrities, diplomats and business leaders mingled to the strains of Oliver Mtukudzi serenading the happy couple with his famous love song “Svovi Yangu”.
This was not the wedding of some stalwart of the dominant party that has ruled this mineral-rich nation for decades. Instead, the 60-year-old groom was a one-time labour organiser, Morgan Tsvangirai, the longstanding opposition leader and now prime minister in a once uneasy but increasingly comfortable unity government with President Robert Mugabe.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes,” said Misheck Shoko, a member of Parliament for Tsvangirai’s party, the Movement for Democratic Change.
“It must have cost a fortune. We cannot help but wonder: who paid the bill?”
As Zimbabwe prepares to choose a new president this year in long-awaited elections, voters are increasingly questioning the erstwhile opposition, the only serious challenger to the tight grip Mugabe and his Zanu PF party, have held on this nation for decades.
Tsvangirai’s underdog movement has long been the vessel of millions of Zimbabweans’ hopes for a more democratic, peaceful and prosperous future in what was once one of Africa’s most stable and wealthy nations. But four years of governing alongside Mugabe - and in some ways, analysts say, being co-opted by him and his allies - has taken a toll on its reputation.
Disenchantment
The disenchantment was evident in a survey last year conducted for Freedom House, a watchdog group based in the United States, that found support for Tsvangirai’s party had fallen to 20 percent from 38 percent two years earlier among voters who declared a preference.
By contrast, support for Zanu PF - the party that allegedly clung to power by beating, torturing and intimidating thousands in the last election in 2008 - grew to 31 percent last year from 17 percent in 2010, the survey found, though some analysts noted that an unusually high number of people declined to respond, probably out of fear.
Tsvangirai rocketed to fame as the courageous leader of a party that dared to challenge the rule of Mugabe, who has led this country since independence in 1980. Photographs of him beaten and bleeding from the head in 2007 galvanized global opinion against Mugabe’s brutal reign.
But these days, Tsvangirai’s lifestyle has been the talk of a nation where millions live on $2 a day. He has taken to traveling abroad with a sizable entourage, officials and analysts say, honeymooning in London and spending holidays in Monaco. He recently moved into a government residence that cost about $3 million to build.
His party entered the power-sharing government in 2009, after disastrous elections in which Tsvangirai won the most votes but withdrew from a runoff because of the violence meted out against his followers. Hundreds of people were killed in the crackdown. In a deal hammered out with Zimbabwe’s neighbours, Tsvangirai became prime minister, and the two parties agreed to share power.
In practice, Tsvangirai’s party has had almost no authority to change the fundamental structure of Zimbabwe. The army and police forces remained under Mugabe’s control. Tsvangirai’s party held ministries controlling the economy and social services, both of which have improved, but it has struggled to transform the architecture of Mugabe’s security state.
Meanwhile, officials in Tsvangirai’s party, many of whom suffered poverty while fighting to remake Zimbabwe, began enjoying the trappings of power. Government ministers, members of Parliament and other officials were awarded fancy cars and travel allowances. Tsvangirai traded his trade-unionist leather jacket for tailored suits.
Personal scandals
His personal life has been a source of embarrassment as well. His wife Susan died in a car accident in 2009, and his romantic life since has been the subject of extensive news coverage, much to his party’s chagrin. When he was planning to marry Elizabeth Macheka, his current wife, another woman challenged, claiming that she had been married to Tsvangirai in a traditional ceremony in 2011.
The matter ended up in court, with a magistrate ruling that Tsvangirai was in fact already married under customary law. He was forced to cancel plans for a legal wedding, and instead called the ceremony last September a celebration.
Another woman also filed court papers, claiming that she and Tsvangirai had been engaged. Tsvangirai did not respond to repeated interview requests, but he apologized publicly to supporters for his messy search for a new wife, saying: “I had no intention to hurt anyone. It was a genuine search.”
Other problems have erupted. In Chitungwiza, a stronghold of Tsvangirai’s party, a corruption scandal has engulfed the town council. Elected officials stand accused of selling access to hundreds of pieces of city-controlled land for about $4,000 per plot and pocketing most of the money.
Council members from Tsvangirai’s party, with the help of their former adversaries, parcelled off soccer fields, playgrounds, wetlands and areas set aside for schools and churches. Land in Chitungwiza is not privately owned; individuals and businesses lease it from the government. But there is a long waiting list, and bribes to city councillors helped people jump the line.
For many, the painful irony is that thousands were pushed out of Chitungwiza by Mugabe’s government in a 2005 demolition campaign to eviscerate opposition strongholds. Hundreds of homes and businesses were destroyed, and today housing is scarce and expensive.
City employees are supposed to receive land for houses, but many are waiting - and officials from Tsvangirai’s party are now accused of profiting from the misfortune.
Corruption
Never Tarugarira, a janitor and handyman at a community centre, has been on a waiting list since 2005, but his number has never come up. So he rents two tiny, fetid rooms for $100 a month, eating up much of his pay-cheque - that is, when he gets one. He has not been paid for the past five months because of the city’s fiscal woes.
“Some nights we go to sleep without eating,” he said.
Alice Chihambakwe, another Chitungwiza resident waiting years for a plot, says her husband goes to work every day at the city’s sewer plant, but has not been paid in months. Two of her children had to postpone crucial high school exams because the family could not pay the fees, about $30 per child.
“Our lives are on hold,” Chihambakwe said, weeping softly.
The councillors proved easy marks for corrupt bureaucrats from Mugabe’s party, said Amos Matanhike, a former town clerk in Chitungwiza.
“The problem is that most of the M.D.C. councillors are very young,” Matanhike said. “They did not have houses, they owned no property. So these youngsters took that opportunity, and they got onto the gravy train.”
Once it got wind of the scandal, Tsvangirai’s party tried to take action, firing the councillors involved. But the minister for local government, a Zanu PF appointee, vetoed the dismissals, so the councillors remain.
Critics say the former opposition party has been naïve, falling into a trap set by Mugabe to co-opt and compromise them.
“Old Bob must be chuckling and enjoying himself right now,” said Munyaradzi Gwisai, a prominent activist. “He has them right where he wants them.”
Nelson Chamisa, a top official with the Movement for Democratic Change, says Tsvangirai remains the best hope for change in Zimbabwe.
“He is the next big thing in Zimbabwe,” Chamisa said. “He is the only game in town.”
He called Tsvangirai’s ceremony “a basic wedding” and that he deserved sympathy after the tragic death of his previous wife.
“At times people are very harsh and unkind to a very noble man,” Chamisa said.
Asked who paid for the wedding, Chamisa said, “There are many people who wish him well.”
Labels: 2013 ELECTIONS (ZW), FREEDOM HOUSE, MDC CORRUPTION, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI
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Three months’ jail for MDC-T official
Sunday, 13 January 2013 00:00
Noah Pito in Hurungwe
An MDC-T councillor in Karoi has been sentenced to three months in prison for flagrantly ignoring a court order to repay a land-seeker whom he had swindled out of more than US$300. Karoi magistrate Mr Obidience Matare slapped Ward 6 Councillor Jackson Mbonga with the jail term a fortnight ago.
According to court records, some time in March 2011, Mr Evans Mubaiwa of Chikangwe Township asked Mbonga (38) to help him acquire a residential stand. Mbonga then told him the available stand cost US$410. Mr Mubaiwa subsequently gave the councillor part-payment of US$300 on June 27 2011.
The Ward 6 representative promised to deposit the money at the Karoi Town Council office and submit the receipts to the housing director who would finally provide the stand number.
Mbonga, however, suddenly became evasive, avoiding Mr Mubaiwa for a year. The property-seeker reported the matter to the police, who promptly arrested Mbonga.
The then Karoi resident magistrate, Mr Archibald Dingana, convicted the councillor of fraud, but suspended a three-month prison term on condition that he restituted the US$300 by August 31 2012.
Mbonga ignored the order, resulting in his arrest and latest sentencing.
Labels: JACKSON MBONGA, LAND REFORM, LAND RIGHTS, MDC CORRUPTION
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COMMENT - 'Businessman' Mutumwa Mawere owns an asbesthos mine, which means that even more than with a gold or diamond mine, his 'employees' are dead men walking. Welcome to the MDC's Zimbabwe.
Manheru a small mind that Mugabe does not need
31/12/2012 00:00:00
by Nathaniel Manheru Vs Mutumwa Mawere
In his Saturday column in the Herald newspaper, Nathaniel Manheru tackled a gamut of political issues as he normally does every weekend. The eloquent wordsmith - believed to be Presidential spokesman George Charamba - concluded his installation with a diss on Mutumwa Mawere.
The South African-based Zimbabwean businessman was not amused, and decided to exercise his right to respond. Under a sub headline title ‘When Zanu's defeat becomes the raison d'être’, Nathaniel Manheru wrote:
As we move into the future, we shall see both MDC formations seeking to de-escalate interest on the constitutional theme in order to hide their retreat from it.
As we move into the future, we are likely to see Welshman Ncube and his faction gravitating towards some alliance with Dabengwa's ZAPU, the only issue being the low worth of such an alliance.
Of course Makoni will make occasional barks, none of which will ever bite anyone, except of course the very mouth carrying and conveying the bark.
Mawere's, oh Mutumwa! He is exactly that, is he not - a messenger! I thought his sender was going to more and more come to the fore. But that is now highly unlikely, given the clownish beginning of the whole project. This column shall disclose who the sender was, but as a small detail of a bigger history, much of it done for comic relief.
He has to answer one simple, even humorous one: he has created a party to vie for elections in which country? Is he not better dealing with post-Mangaung South Africa, his adopted country? Of course MDC-T will continue to pilfer icons and traitors indiscriminately, hoping by some chance to hit an emotive trigger.
I don’t need to tell you we will have lots of noises on the need for some unity pact of the opposition in order to defeat Zanu PF. Not in order to unfurl this or that vision, but to defeat Zanu PF! The defeat of Zanu PF has become the ideology, the raison d'être of these parties! And we all know who needs Zanu PF's defeat so badly. We shall see.
Icho!
And below we publish Mawere’s response
By Mutumwa Mawere
In the last paragraph of Manheru's article above, my name is conveniently invoked on a point that seeks to locate the contemporary Zimbabwe condition outside the realm of the people who should be seeking a new mandate on their record rather than on the record or lack thereof of imagined enemies.
Zimbabwe is a 32 year old person, a point that is occasionally lost to small minds that see the world in binary terms.
As a 32 year old person, the country has been under the control of Manheru's party whose leader has been a constant feature in the Zimbabwean narrative.
Like any 32 year old, Manheru who has positioned himself to be a spokesman or "messenger" of the party must be proud of his party's record and indeed he must stand for something rather than against other people.
Zanu PF must run on its own record and yet it is evident that the record will not be sufficient to encourage Zimbabweans to vote for it for another 5 years hence the need for diversionary tactics and strategies.
When the independence flag was raised in 1980, the expectation was that the challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment would be efficiently, justly and effectively addressed.
To the extent that those who offered themselves to serve, including Manheru's principals, they are no doubt compelled to look themselves in the mirror and answer the question whether under their watch, the frontiers of poverty, inequality and unemployment have increased or been reduced as expected.
It is regrettable that Manheru abuses the Queen's language to distract attention from the core issues that need to be addressed in order for any future leader in Zimbabwe to account for his or her tenure in office.
The fact that Manheru has made it a habit to attack any perceived threat to incumbency should come to a stop because Zimbabwe deserves better and the squandered opportunities are there for all to see including backward leaning spin doctors.
Zimbabwe should be somewhere and yet finds itself at the bottom of the opportunity ladder with parents including President Mugabe electing to externalize their children in the search of platforms that can deliver the promise that Zimbabwe was meant to deliver.
President Mugabe was right at the recent conference to confess ignorance of known corruption and more importantly that his name has been abused by no other than his circle yet no casualty will be expected.
There is no doubt that after former President Mbeki shocked President Mugabe how rotten his ministers had now become that he could find no face in Zanu-PF that represents corrupt behavior. This is typical and expected. However, one would expect Manheru to use his sharp language to help the President expose the ministers who were asking for brides.
The fact that a foreign former head of state had to tell the President about the state of affairs in Zimbabwe under his watch tells its own narrative. One, however, would expect Manheru to pursue the line opened by the President for the worms that may come out of Zanu PF may very well cause President Mugabe to resign.
Manheru's writings have a singular purpose to insulate President Mugabe from the truth. How can he know the truth when he is being told of weekly and daily that Zimbabwe is where it is solely because of enemies, stooges, and puppets?
Only Manheru and the small circle can be considered to be patriotic and loyal to the manipulated cause.
Manheru is no better than a person who denies that the Emperor is not naked when he is. Indeed, he represents the foundation of real and substantive abuse of state power with impunity. President Mugabe needs to be freed from the circle that his supporters have created for him to the detriment of the nation building project.
Manheru obviously takes people for fools. The President has been lied to and the attempt to see evil in every victim of misguided rule fits into the frame of what is to be expected when the very idea of change becomes toxic.
If one were to imagine what is in the mind of President Mugabe after 32 years in state office, I have no doubt that the mind will be of the opinion that Zanu PF is a party of saints and political virgins. Manheru would know better but the inescapable conclusion is that his column's target audience can only be the President who through the distorted and self-serving eyes and ears of Manheru would believe that the grass is green when it is not.
Zimbabwe is a country of my birth and my heritage can and should never be a subject for Manheru to play games with.
I am and will always remain a firm believer in the Pan African idea that no inch of African soil is foreign to me. Accordingly, I am an African child and will be judged by the weakest link in the African chain. If Zimbabwe is weak because of misguided policies and choices, I can never rise above that. My connection with Zimbabwe is already established outside the birthright corner to allow people to use my name to expose that which has kept Zimbabwe down.
Like Jesus said, if two or three people meet in his name he is present. Anyone who uses my name in the interests of progress indeed is better than those who benefited from my actions and choices but would rather be silent.
The fact that SMM employed more than 20,000 people is easily lost to small minds. It is the lives and aspirations of these people that have been brutally affected that makes my name relevant in the quest for a Zimbabwe that works for all.
I do not have to qualify to be Zimbabwean but any other identity I acquire is and will always be a consequence of choice.
No one chooses where one is born let alone the parents to have. The fact that I am a Zimbabwean as defined in the constitution of Zimbabwe can never be reduced to a joke for political expediency.
Manheru's principal, President Mugabe, is a proud father and has made a choice to let his children acquire education in foreign lands and if need be they will choose the identity of the host country but when they decide to return to Zimbabwe, there is no doubt that they will not be required to complete any form confirming their allegiance to Zimbabwe.
In as much as Manheru calls Zimbabwe his home and erroneously his country, so should I and others who fall into the same category.
The future of Zimbabwe has to be of interest to any person who has interests in the country. My interests in Zimbabwe's future are substantial and obvious.
However, what is not obvious is Manheru's interest other than signing for his supper. He is after all a civil servant who is paid from other hardworking people's incomes that is collected as taxes.
Instead of serving the interests of the country, he has chosen to serve partisan interests exposing the kind of mind that informs his diatribe.
It not surprising that after 32 years of monopolizing the state, everyone is perceived to be a minor incapable of making rational choices.
It is for this reason that Manheru talks of the "sender" as if to suggest that I do not have a mind of my own. He is, indeed, and not me a messenger not of the truth but of divisive propaganda.
Anyone who has been in existence for more than 32 years must be proud of his actions and choices yet in this case, Manheru is not proud of his administration's record.
It is now common cause that SMM has been destroyed not under the watch of Ian Smith or some distant colonialist but under the very watch of Manheru who wants to hypocritically claim a higher moral ground on the issue of empowerment without speaking to the people of Zvishavane and Mashava whose lives have been irreparably destroyed.
If there was a clown, Manheru would be the first in line. Only a clown would be oblivious of the squandered opportunities and what time it is in Zimbabwe.
Indeed, President Mugabe by his own admission is a prisoner living in a den of liars including Manheru. The people of Zimbabwe have a stake in what will happen in 2013 and their weapon cannot be better than their vote.
They are the ones that should decide who should be the face of their state. Such a face must be credible and if it is Manheru's assertion that Zanu PF must run on the Prime Minister's record even my own or others then we are all compelled to respond and put him in his place.
I have noted that the amount of abuse that perceived political adversaries of Zanu PF have been exposed to by Manheru suggests that there may very well be no grounds for his party to seek re-election. I am for a Zimbabwe that delivers the promise of a better life. My heart bleeds when I think of the lives of the people who were under the SMM umbrella and find themselves on the wrong side of the opportunity mountain.
Manheru should know better that a party is a club of members and no foreign party would be allowed to run for elections in Zimbabwe and, therefore, he must look closer at where the call for change is coming from.
Zimbabweans need to reclaim their lives and future. For how long can Manheru pretend to speak on behalf of others? Everyone knows where Manheru's bread is buttered. The mind that allows Manheru to believe that he is superior to others is the very mind that must be put in the political dustbin. People are not stupid and the fact that the majority have chosen to vote with their feet must tell its own story to small minds.
Zimbabwe could be somewhere were it not for the minds like that of Manheru who will continue to believe that a flat tire can be raised by pumping more air. The tire is simply flat and this fact must be known to Manheru and anyone with real interests in the prosperity of the country.
The real traitors may very well be close to the President but the structure and design of the post-colonial state allows chameleons to become ambassadors of retrogression and not progress.
The real question that emerges after reading the weekly Manheru columns is what does he take Zimbabweans for? Zimbabwe's problems pose a security risk to the region including South Africa.
The sooner the freedoms that Zimbabweans rightly expected from the post-colonial dispensation are restored the better for Africa. It cannot be acceptable that the Chinese are more welcome to be partners of Zimbabwe than me.
To Manheru, I am a foreigner and, therefore, I should have no interest in ensuring that my country of birth is better governed and friendlier to blacks.
South Africa is host to millions of Zimbabwean-born residents and nationals the majority of whom have relatives in Zimbabwe. This cannot be said about the Chinese that are now better friends of Manheru and his principals.
To a small mind there is always a bigger story hence the threat by Manheru that he will disclose who my alleged sender is. There is no sender and Manheru should know that I have interests in as much as he may on the future prosperity of my country of birth.
The SMM companies that were subjected to commercial violence are situated in the territory of Zimbabwe and it is high time that the truth about the SMM matter and the consequential loss of jobs and income must be told.
We have yet to hear from the government about the real state interest in SMM.
If SMM was state indebted why then would a creditor in the name of the state seek the protection of a law that did not exist to assert perceived rights or interests? If the government that Manheru purports to be a messenger of was genuinely interested in the advancement of black entrepreneurship, why would the actors in the same government be allowed to use the state to undermine the promise?
The fact that SMM was acquired before the birth of the indigenization and empowerment law must speak volumes about the value of the law in terms of genuine empowerment.
Surely, Strive Masiyiwa, James Mushore, Muponda, Vingirai, Makamba, Makoni, and many others were not victimized by the colonial administration.
The licenses of the companies in mining who are now being forced to give up shares in the name of empowerment and indigenization were granted by Manheru's administration. There is no better time than now for Manheru to explain why a government committed to empowerment would facilitate the licensing of enemies.
If Manheru wants to campaign on the record on indigenization, then he must know that the names of Mawere and others necessarily have to be part of the conversation.
What is remarkable is that a law that was put in place to address the 1979 issues is now being used for power retention. Surely, a 32 year old Zimbabwean must not be eligible for state assisted empowerment premised on the facts that could only be relevant for the period before the person was born.
The state cannot claim to benefit from indigenization programs for it is common cause that the post-colonial state of Zimbabwe was born 32 years ago.
Equally, the community in the form of community ownership trusts cannot conceivably be eligible for empowerment programs in the name of historical race-based wrongs.
Zimbabwe was not colonized by communities rather it was colonized by individuals who took the long journey to advance their interests.
Accordingly, after 32 years in office the question must be asked whether Zimbabweans in the majority are better off than they were in 1980. If not, then surely, they must be allowed to express themselves and make choices that move their agenda forward.
Manheru must know that talking about the colonial past and finger pointing will not produce the next job, income let alone wealth.
No leader can be good for all seasons. Change is no such a bad thing and Manheru must welcome fresh ideas and new thinking that can empower people to think and act in their self-interest.
Manheru must be warned that we will never shy away from the battle of ideas and I sincerely hope that 2013 will be used to sharpen our minds on what is required to lift the majority of Zimbabweans out of a humanly created tragedy.
Mutumwa Mawere is a Zimbabwean businessman based in South Africa.
Labels: ASBESTHOS, MDC CORRUPTION, MUTUMWA MAWERE
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COMMENT - 'Businessman' Mutumwa Mawere owns an asbesthos mine, which means that even more than with a gold or diamond mine, his 'employees' are dead men walking. Welcome to the MDC's Zimbabwe.
Manheru a small mind that Mugabe does not need
31/12/2012 00:00:00
by Nathaniel Manheru Vs Mutumwa Mawere
In his Saturday column in the Herald newspaper, Nathaniel Manheru tackled a gamut of political issues as he normally does every weekend. The eloquent wordsmith - believed to be Presidential spokesman George Charamba - concluded his installation with a diss on Mutumwa Mawere.
The South African-based Zimbabwean businessman was not amused, and decided to exercise his right to respond. Under a sub headline title ‘When Zanu's defeat becomes the raison d'être’, Nathaniel Manheru wrote:
As we move into the future, we shall see both MDC formations seeking to de-escalate interest on the constitutional theme in order to hide their retreat from it.
As we move into the future, we are likely to see Welshman Ncube and his faction gravitating towards some alliance with Dabengwa's ZAPU, the only issue being the low worth of such an alliance.
Of course Makoni will make occasional barks, none of which will ever bite anyone, except of course the very mouth carrying and conveying the bark.
Mawere's, oh Mutumwa! He is exactly that, is he not - a messenger! I thought his sender was going to more and more come to the fore. But that is now highly unlikely, given the clownish beginning of the whole project. This column shall disclose who the sender was, but as a small detail of a bigger history, much of it done for comic relief.
He has to answer one simple, even humorous one: he has created a party to vie for elections in which country? Is he not better dealing with post-Mangaung South Africa, his adopted country? Of course MDC-T will continue to pilfer icons and traitors indiscriminately, hoping by some chance to hit an emotive trigger.
I don’t need to tell you we will have lots of noises on the need for some unity pact of the opposition in order to defeat Zanu PF. Not in order to unfurl this or that vision, but to defeat Zanu PF! The defeat of Zanu PF has become the ideology, the raison d'être of these parties! And we all know who needs Zanu PF's defeat so badly. We shall see.
Icho!
And below we publish Mawere’s response
By Mutumwa Mawere
In the last paragraph of Manheru's article above, my name is conveniently invoked on a point that seeks to locate the contemporary Zimbabwe condition outside the realm of the people who should be seeking a new mandate on their record rather than on the record or lack thereof of imagined enemies.
Zimbabwe is a 32 year old person, a point that is occasionally lost to small minds that see the world in binary terms.
As a 32 year old person, the country has been under the control of Manheru's party whose leader has been a constant feature in the Zimbabwean narrative.
Like any 32 year old, Manheru who has positioned himself to be a spokesman or "messenger" of the party must be proud of his party's record and indeed he must stand for something rather than against other people.
Zanu PF must run on its own record and yet it is evident that the record will not be sufficient to encourage Zimbabweans to vote for it for another 5 years hence the need for diversionary tactics and strategies.
When the independence flag was raised in 1980, the expectation was that the challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment would be efficiently, justly and effectively addressed.
To the extent that those who offered themselves to serve, including Manheru's principals, they are no doubt compelled to look themselves in the mirror and answer the question whether under their watch, the frontiers of poverty, inequality and unemployment have increased or been reduced as expected.
It is regrettable that Manheru abuses the Queen's language to distract attention from the core issues that need to be addressed in order for any future leader in Zimbabwe to account for his or her tenure in office.
The fact that Manheru has made it a habit to attack any perceived threat to incumbency should come to a stop because Zimbabwe deserves better and the squandered opportunities are there for all to see including backward leaning spin doctors.
Zimbabwe should be somewhere and yet finds itself at the bottom of the opportunity ladder with parents including President Mugabe electing to externalize their children in the search of platforms that can deliver the promise that Zimbabwe was meant to deliver.
President Mugabe was right at the recent conference to confess ignorance of known corruption and more importantly that his name has been abused by no other than his circle yet no casualty will be expected.
There is no doubt that after former President Mbeki shocked President Mugabe how rotten his ministers had now become that he could find no face in Zanu-PF that represents corrupt behavior. This is typical and expected. However, one would expect Manheru to use his sharp language to help the President expose the ministers who were asking for brides.
The fact that a foreign former head of state had to tell the President about the state of affairs in Zimbabwe under his watch tells its own narrative. One, however, would expect Manheru to pursue the line opened by the President for the worms that may come out of Zanu PF may very well cause President Mugabe to resign.
Manheru's writings have a singular purpose to insulate President Mugabe from the truth. How can he know the truth when he is being told of weekly and daily that Zimbabwe is where it is solely because of enemies, stooges, and puppets?
Only Manheru and the small circle can be considered to be patriotic and loyal to the manipulated cause.
Manheru is no better than a person who denies that the Emperor is not naked when he is. Indeed, he represents the foundation of real and substantive abuse of state power with impunity. President Mugabe needs to be freed from the circle that his supporters have created for him to the detriment of the nation building project.
Manheru obviously takes people for fools. The President has been lied to and the attempt to see evil in every victim of misguided rule fits into the frame of what is to be expected when the very idea of change becomes toxic.
If one were to imagine what is in the mind of President Mugabe after 32 years in state office, I have no doubt that the mind will be of the opinion that Zanu PF is a party of saints and political virgins. Manheru would know better but the inescapable conclusion is that his column's target audience can only be the President who through the distorted and self-serving eyes and ears of Manheru would believe that the grass is green when it is not.
Zimbabwe is a country of my birth and my heritage can and should never be a subject for Manheru to play games with.
I am and will always remain a firm believer in the Pan African idea that no inch of African soil is foreign to me. Accordingly, I am an African child and will be judged by the weakest link in the African chain. If Zimbabwe is weak because of misguided policies and choices, I can never rise above that. My connection with Zimbabwe is already established outside the birthright corner to allow people to use my name to expose that which has kept Zimbabwe down.
Like Jesus said, if two or three people meet in his name he is present. Anyone who uses my name in the interests of progress indeed is better than those who benefited from my actions and choices but would rather be silent.
The fact that SMM employed more than 20,000 people is easily lost to small minds. It is the lives and aspirations of these people that have been brutally affected that makes my name relevant in the quest for a Zimbabwe that works for all.
I do not have to qualify to be Zimbabwean but any other identity I acquire is and will always be a consequence of choice.
No one chooses where one is born let alone the parents to have. The fact that I am a Zimbabwean as defined in the constitution of Zimbabwe can never be reduced to a joke for political expediency.
Manheru's principal, President Mugabe, is a proud father and has made a choice to let his children acquire education in foreign lands and if need be they will choose the identity of the host country but when they decide to return to Zimbabwe, there is no doubt that they will not be required to complete any form confirming their allegiance to Zimbabwe.
In as much as Manheru calls Zimbabwe his home and erroneously his country, so should I and others who fall into the same category.
The future of Zimbabwe has to be of interest to any person who has interests in the country. My interests in Zimbabwe's future are substantial and obvious.
However, what is not obvious is Manheru's interest other than signing for his supper. He is after all a civil servant who is paid from other hardworking people's incomes that is collected as taxes.
Instead of serving the interests of the country, he has chosen to serve partisan interests exposing the kind of mind that informs his diatribe.
It not surprising that after 32 years of monopolizing the state, everyone is perceived to be a minor incapable of making rational choices.
It is for this reason that Manheru talks of the "sender" as if to suggest that I do not have a mind of my own. He is, indeed, and not me a messenger not of the truth but of divisive propaganda.
Anyone who has been in existence for more than 32 years must be proud of his actions and choices yet in this case, Manheru is not proud of his administration's record.
It is now common cause that SMM has been destroyed not under the watch of Ian Smith or some distant colonialist but under the very watch of Manheru who wants to hypocritically claim a higher moral ground on the issue of empowerment without speaking to the people of Zvishavane and Mashava whose lives have been irreparably destroyed.
If there was a clown, Manheru would be the first in line. Only a clown would be oblivious of the squandered opportunities and what time it is in Zimbabwe.
Indeed, President Mugabe by his own admission is a prisoner living in a den of liars including Manheru. The people of Zimbabwe have a stake in what will happen in 2013 and their weapon cannot be better than their vote.
They are the ones that should decide who should be the face of their state. Such a face must be credible and if it is Manheru's assertion that Zanu PF must run on the Prime Minister's record even my own or others then we are all compelled to respond and put him in his place.
I have noted that the amount of abuse that perceived political adversaries of Zanu PF have been exposed to by Manheru suggests that there may very well be no grounds for his party to seek re-election. I am for a Zimbabwe that delivers the promise of a better life. My heart bleeds when I think of the lives of the people who were under the SMM umbrella and find themselves on the wrong side of the opportunity mountain.
Manheru should know better that a party is a club of members and no foreign party would be allowed to run for elections in Zimbabwe and, therefore, he must look closer at where the call for change is coming from.
Zimbabweans need to reclaim their lives and future. For how long can Manheru pretend to speak on behalf of others? Everyone knows where Manheru's bread is buttered. The mind that allows Manheru to believe that he is superior to others is the very mind that must be put in the political dustbin. People are not stupid and the fact that the majority have chosen to vote with their feet must tell its own story to small minds.
Zimbabwe could be somewhere were it not for the minds like that of Manheru who will continue to believe that a flat tire can be raised by pumping more air. The tire is simply flat and this fact must be known to Manheru and anyone with real interests in the prosperity of the country.
The real traitors may very well be close to the President but the structure and design of the post-colonial state allows chameleons to become ambassadors of retrogression and not progress.
The real question that emerges after reading the weekly Manheru columns is what does he take Zimbabweans for? Zimbabwe's problems pose a security risk to the region including South Africa.
The sooner the freedoms that Zimbabweans rightly expected from the post-colonial dispensation are restored the better for Africa. It cannot be acceptable that the Chinese are more welcome to be partners of Zimbabwe than me.
To Manheru, I am a foreigner and, therefore, I should have no interest in ensuring that my country of birth is better governed and friendlier to blacks.
South Africa is host to millions of Zimbabwean-born residents and nationals the majority of whom have relatives in Zimbabwe. This cannot be said about the Chinese that are now better friends of Manheru and his principals.
To a small mind there is always a bigger story hence the threat by Manheru that he will disclose who my alleged sender is. There is no sender and Manheru should know that I have interests in as much as he may on the future prosperity of my country of birth.
The SMM companies that were subjected to commercial violence are situated in the territory of Zimbabwe and it is high time that the truth about the SMM matter and the consequential loss of jobs and income must be told.
We have yet to hear from the government about the real state interest in SMM.
If SMM was state indebted why then would a creditor in the name of the state seek the protection of a law that did not exist to assert perceived rights or interests? If the government that Manheru purports to be a messenger of was genuinely interested in the advancement of black entrepreneurship, why would the actors in the same government be allowed to use the state to undermine the promise?
The fact that SMM was acquired before the birth of the indigenization and empowerment law must speak volumes about the value of the law in terms of genuine empowerment.
Surely, Strive Masiyiwa, James Mushore, Muponda, Vingirai, Makamba, Makoni, and many others were not victimized by the colonial administration.
The licenses of the companies in mining who are now being forced to give up shares in the name of empowerment and indigenization were granted by Manheru's administration. There is no better time than now for Manheru to explain why a government committed to empowerment would facilitate the licensing of enemies.
If Manheru wants to campaign on the record on indigenization, then he must know that the names of Mawere and others necessarily have to be part of the conversation.
What is remarkable is that a law that was put in place to address the 1979 issues is now being used for power retention. Surely, a 32 year old Zimbabwean must not be eligible for state assisted empowerment premised on the facts that could only be relevant for the period before the person was born.
The state cannot claim to benefit from indigenization programs for it is common cause that the post-colonial state of Zimbabwe was born 32 years ago.
Equally, the community in the form of community ownership trusts cannot conceivably be eligible for empowerment programs in the name of historical race-based wrongs.
Zimbabwe was not colonized by communities rather it was colonized by individuals who took the long journey to advance their interests.
Accordingly, after 32 years in office the question must be asked whether Zimbabweans in the majority are better off than they were in 1980. If not, then surely, they must be allowed to express themselves and make choices that move their agenda forward.
Manheru must know that talking about the colonial past and finger pointing will not produce the next job, income let alone wealth.
No leader can be good for all seasons. Change is no such a bad thing and Manheru must welcome fresh ideas and new thinking that can empower people to think and act in their self-interest.
Manheru must be warned that we will never shy away from the battle of ideas and I sincerely hope that 2013 will be used to sharpen our minds on what is required to lift the majority of Zimbabweans out of a humanly created tragedy.
Mutumwa Mawere is a Zimbabwean businessman based in South Africa.
Labels: MDC CORRUPTION, MTUMWA MAWERE
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MDC-T senator arrested for 'domestic violence'
29/12/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
AN MDC-T lawmaker has been arrested for allegedly threatening his wife with murder and witchcraft after she asked for a divorce citing his "promiscuous conduct."
Chikomo Senator Morgan Femai was being held at Matapi Police Station in Harare late Saturday after being taken in on Friday.
“We can confirm that Senator Femai is in custody at Matapi Police Station as we speak. He was arrested yesterday [Friday],” Harare police spokesman Tadius Chibanda told the Sunday Mail newspaper.
Chibanda said the legislator will be arraigned soon on charges of “threatening [his wife with] violence and murder.”
Police say Femai issued the threats after his wife told him she could no longer put up with his bed-hopping ways and violent conduct, and that she wanted out.
The MDC-T politician is said to have responded with spite, telling her that if she goes ahead, he would retaliate by either killing her or deploying witchcraft to make her mentally deranged.
“His wife did not take the threats lightly because the Senator is said to be violent. He is also said to use a lot of juju (sorcery). So, the wife decided to report the case to the police,” Chibanda added.
MDC-T spokesman Douglas Mwonzora was not immediately available for comment.
Femai was a previously unknown player in Zimbabwean politics until May when he shot to national and international infamy after proffering a bizarre method he said could help mitigate the spread of Aids.
He appeared to blame women for the spread of HIV and advised them to bath less, dress shabbily, shave-off their hair, and get circumcised so they do not look attractive to men.
“What I propose is that the government should come up with a law that compels women to have their heads clean-shaven like what the Apostolic sects do,” he reportedly told a parliamentary HIV awareness workshop in Kadoma.
“They should also not bath because that is what has caused all these problems (spread of HIV).”
Femai also recommended circumcision for women.
“Women have got more moisture in their organs as compared to men, so there is need to research how to deal with that moisture because it is conducive for bacteria breeding. There should be a way to suck out that moisture.”
Femai's statements were roundly condemned across the country and beyond.
Labels: MDC, MDC CORRUPTION, MORGAN FEMAI
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Ex-MDC 99 man held over Mawere swindle
Surprised ... Man falsely claimed Mutumwa Mawere (above) was leader of a new political party
24/11/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
AARON Muzungu, the former spokesman for the Job Sikhala-led MDC 99, has been arrested for allegedly defrauding a car rental company.
Muzungu, previously charged with illegally-selling diamonds to an undercover police officer, posed as an agent of the South Africa-based Zimbabwean businessman, Mutumwa Mawere, to hire six vehicles from Hill Top.
He ran up a US$54,000 car rental bill from September 2 to October 22 this year which he failed to pay.
Muzungu was grabbed by detectives at the Harare Magistrates’ Court where he was attending trial for vehicle theft relating to an incident in May this year when he allegedly drove off in a display vehicle at a Croco Motors car show.
Police spokesman Superintendent Andrew Phiri confirmed Muzungu’s arrest on Friday and said he would appear in court soon.
Phiri said Muzungu went to Hill Top in the company of Thandiwe Dube and Austine Duma where he misrepresented that he was the secretary-general of the newly-established United Movement for Democracy (UMD) political party with Mawere as its leader.
They hired the vehicles after claiming Mawere would pay.
Police say Dube and Duma are still at large.
Sources told New Zimbabwe.com several other companies and individuals, including the Zanu PF spokesperson, Rugare Gumbo, had been defrauded by Muzungu.
While on bail for allegedly stealing a brand new US$57,000 Ford Ranger from Croco Motors, Muzungu approached Carris Brook, a Harare car dealerhip, and got away with a Mercedes Benz valued at US$20,000, promising Mawere would pay for the vehicle.
But the dealership’s manager, Darlington Chidzvondo, became suspicious after two weeks when Muzungu failed to fulfil some of his promises.
Chidzvondo said: “He came in a convoy with several people, including a white lady, and told us he wanted four vehicles. He identified one worth US$70,000 for the party’s vice president Bibiana Musinami.
“We sold them the cheaper vehicle. The agreement of sale was signed in the name of the UMD political party.”
He said the vehicle was later recovered dumped at the Sheraton Hotel. Muzungu had left the keys with hotel security.
Muzungu also owes Malwatte restaurant and the Marondera Hotel after he booked with an entourage of 15 people whom he claimed were UMD leaders. Again, he said Mawere would pay. He checked out without paying and the hotel is struggling to recover its dues.
We were unable to ascertain the amount, but a source said the bill ran into thousands of dollars.
Using the same trick that Mawere would pay, Muzungu again duped a local mobile phone dealer of handsets worth US$2,000.
Kudzanai Mashumba, hand-picked by Muzungu to be chairman of the party, said he pulled out after suspecting Muzungu could be lying.
“I decided to call Mawere to get the story from him but he was surprised and told me he was not part of Muzungu’s party. He said he is South African by citizenship and there is was no way he can form a political party in Zimbabwe,” said Mashumba.
Another man who claimed to have been appointed treasurer of the party said Muzungu told them Mawere would release US$4 million to the party for campaigning but developed doubts when no money came.
Labels: AARON MUZUNGU, MDC, MDC CORRUPTION, MUTUMWA MAWERE
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COMMENT - More corruption and graft from the stooge party, the MDC.
MDC-T's Mhashu admits incest, says 'lonely'
27/10/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
MDC-T legislator and former National Housing Minister, Fidelis Mhashu, has admitted engaging in incest with two of his nieces and blamed the incidents on "loneliness" after his wife relocated to the United Kingdom in 2003.
Mhashu, 70, who fathered four children with the sisters, one of whom died in 2007, told The Sunday Mail: “I was lonely when my wife and children left the country for the UK. I then requested for assistance from my nieces at family level, but, unfortunately we ended up falling in love. It is not true that I raped them.”
The Chitungwiza North MP has since been fined 15 heard of cattle by Chief Chivero of Mhondoro for the offences but said he would appeal the ruling.
“We attended the court hearing on the 14th of this month and after the ruling I indicated that I wanted to appeal because where on earth can I pay such ridiculous amounts,” he said.
The surviving sister has however accused Mhashu of neglecting her and their two children.
She said: “I have two surviving children with this man. The other one is only seven weeks old and, unfortunately, I cannot breastfeed the child.
“We have no food and I am now relying on hand-outs from neighbours for survival.”
Mhashu however, denied the allegations and dismissed the woman as a “gold digger" keen on destroying his political career.
“These people are gold diggers what they want is money. The late sister was a widow with four children when we started cohabiting. Our union produced one child who died seven days after the mother,” he said.
“I then began living with the younger sister and we were blessed with three children. Unfortunately we lost one. (The family wants me to pay lobola but) if I pay lobola I will be committing a crime because I am legally married.
“What we were doing was just cohabiting. I still love her; it’s only that she is being used by my enemies to destroy my career.”
The women’s brother said the relationships started after Mhashu sought refuge with their family back in 2004 when he fled political violence in Chitungwiza.
“He came with nothing, but, as an uncle, we had to accommodate him. Within a few months we discovered that he was having an incestuous relationship with my older sister,” the brother said.
“We tried to talk to both of them, but all our advice fell on deaf ears. He would always say ‘let’s deal with this privately because if the public gets to know it, that will be the end of my political career’.
“He initially promised to marry my late sister so as to avoid public embarrassment, but later changed his mind.”
Labels: COURTS, FIDELIS MHASHU, MDC CORRUPTION
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Harare mayor probed for ‘double-dipping’
This article was written by Our reporter on 1 October, at 05 : 20 AM
GOVERNMENT has appointed a team to probe Harare Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda on allegations of conflict of interest in awarding 3,000 residential stands to CABS and Old Mutual, companies he chairs.
But the mayor says he followed rules, made a full disclosure of all outside interests and recused himself from any meeting where there could be conflict of interest.
The team is primarily investigating the awarding of all council tenders since 2010, a move that could implicate several councillors.
Local Government, Rural and Urban Development Minister Ignatius Chombo has since ordered that the deal on the 3 000 stands be reversed.
He said the stands should be allocated directly to residents.
Under the deal, Old Mutual and CABS serviced the land, putting in roads, water and sewers, before allocating the developed stands.
Minister Chombo said by alloting the stands to CABS and Old Mutual, Mr Masunda was “double dipping” since he was the board chairman for both.
He said Mr Masunda had 60 percent stake in John Sisk, the company sub-contracted to service the stands.
Minister Chombo told a meeting with Harare residents last week that some councillors were enriching themselves at the expense of residents.
“Council must take back the 3 000 stands allocated to CABS and Old Mutual to benefit local people instead of benefiting two companies where Muchadeyi Masunda is the chairman.
“That is the kind of double dipping which Zanu-PF and the people do not accept.”
The committee to probe Mr Masunda and his council will be headed by Mrs Ellen Chivaviro, the finance and administration director at TelOne.
Other members of the team are Deputy Attorney-General Mrs Florence Ziyambi (deputy chair), Mr Jabulani Nyoni, Mr Shingai Ndoro, Ms Charity Nyambira, Mr Joramu Mumbwandarika, Mr Enock Magaisa and Mr Taurai Maja.
The appointment of the committee follows recommendations by the team that investigated the recent delivery of poisonous sodium cyanide to the city for water treatment.
Mr Masunda yesterday said on taking office as Mayor in July 2008 “I made a full disclosure of all my interests to the city council.
“In addition my conduct at all material times being beyond reproach. I always recused myself from any meeting where there could be any conflict of interest, however remote that possibility may be.”
Earlier he had said: “On all the occasions that I have interacted with Dr Chombo during the last 51 months of my stint as mayor, he has never expressed any misgivings or reservations. If anything, he has been supportive.”
Minister Chombo said Harare councillors had inexplicably changed their lifestyles since they came into office.
“When the 46 MDC councillors were voted into office, 44 had no cars and only two had cars.
“Right now, two still do not have cars and the rest have more than two cars each and several residential properties in suburbs such as Borrowdale.”
Minister Chombo said all property developers should negotiate with those who defaulted on payment.
“Property developers must sit down with desperate home seekers from all backgrounds and be given a payment plan on how outstanding money has to be paid,” he said.
Zanu-PF political commissar Webster Shamu told the same meeting with residents that the party would not tolerate corruption.
“If you are a Zanu-PF member and indulge in criminal activities you are a bad apple and we do not support that,” he said.
“Those people should be removed, especially corrupt MDC people who are enriching themselves at the expense of the people.”
Labels: HARARE, HARARE CITY COUNCIL, MDC CORRUPTION
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