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Zambian President Hichilema Hakainde has hinted on his country embarking on a land reform process to empower citizens in the neighbouring country.

Posting on his Twitter handle Friday, the newly elected leader said arming Zambians with land will allow them “leverage for negotiations with foreign capital”.

“We cannot think of joint ventures if we don’t give Zambians land to use as leverage for negotiations with foreign capital. Land reforms is on my priority list,” he said.

We cannot think of joint ventures if we don't give Zambians land to use as leverage for negotiations with foreign capital. Land reforms is on my priority list.

— Hakainde Hichilema (@HHichilema) October 15, 2021

His comments however invited different sentiments from Twitter users on his trade with some warning the Zambian leader not to imitate Zimbabwe’s violent land grab under late former President Robert Mugabe who sponsored hordes of war veterans aligned to his Zanu PF party invade white owned farmland at a big cost to both lives and livelihoods.

Commenting on Hichilema’s thread, another Twitter user said “Land reform does not need knobkerries, catapults and axes. No one has to die. It also doesn’t mean that connected individuals become multiple farm owners. Otherwise it will end up being a land grab exercise. To reform is to change and make better and not make worse.”

Mugabe’s chaotic land grab which started February 2000 was waged under the ostensible attempt to correct colonial era land imbalances which saw white Zimbabweans of European descent sit on vast tracts of arable land at the expense of poor natives.

Despite being defended by fellow Africans as an attempt to right a colonial wrong, no other country on the content has replicated the process, let alone a bloody one.

Mugabe’s land reform process was often described as a disastrous knee jerk reaction to the emergence of a formidable opposition, MDC which wrestled nearly half of a then entirely Zanu PF 120 seat legislature during its inaugural contest in nation polls.

A mob in western Kenya has killed a self-confessed serial killer who escaped from custody two days ago, police say.

Masten Wanjala, 20, was traced by villagers to a house in Bungoma town and beaten to death, they say.

Authorities had launched a massive manhunt for the fugitive who admitted to killing more than 10 young boys during a five-year period.

He also confessed to drugging them and in some cases drinking their blood.

He reportedly returned to the home of his parents – who have disowned him – and was subsequently strangled by neighbours who found out he was there, an eyewitness told Kenya’s Standard newspaper.

He tried to stave off suspicious locals by moving to a nearby house, Bungoma’s police commander told the paper.

It is thought his family identified the body, although a police spokesperson said they are still doing “basic verification” to make sure the deceased is indeed Wanjala, according to Reuters news agency.

“We are not sure how he managed to travel all the way from Nairobi to his rural home,” Musyoki Mutungi said. “It is the curious villagers who first identified him and went ahead to kill him even before the police could be informed.”

The mother of one of the victims told the BBC she wanted to know why he did what he did.

“I would have loved to see him in court, so that I get to know why he did this – why he brutally killed our children and left us with pain,” Grace Adhiambo said.

The badly decomposed body of her teenage son Brian Omondi was one of four recovered by police on the outskirts of the capital Nairobi in July.

A post-mortem carried out by the government pathologist showed they had been strangled and hit on the head with a blunt object.

Wanjala killed his first victim when he was just 16 years old, a similar age to some of his victims.

He posed as a football coach to lure his victims to secluded areas, after which he attacked them.

In some cases he took them as hostages for ransom.

The killings took place in Nairobi, and areas of eastern and western Kenya.

Three police officers who were on duty when he escaped on Wednesday have been charged with aiding the escape of a suspect and negligence.

Police say they noticed he had disappeared during the morning roll call. There was no sign of a break-in at the prison cell.

In a series of tweets, the Kenyan Directorate of Criminal Investigations expressed regret that Wanjala did not face justice.

It said “the law of the jungle as applied by irate villagers prevailed”.

There are growing calls for the resignation of Kenya’s police chief over the escape, which shocked the nation and and led many on social media to ridicule the police.

Wanjala’s killing by mob justice two days later however is a tragic reminder of the deep anger, hate and frustrations that many Kenyans feel for the National Police Service.

Kenyans saw this as an open-and-shut case, which the police bungled.

After more than three months of investigations, Kenyans are asking why was Wanjala never taken to court to face murder charges?

It raises questions about Kenya’s judicial process – whose wheels often grind slow, and in this case, were completely broken, destroying the hopes for justice for families of the victims. BBC

A welcome home event has been planned for former president Jacob Zuma following his release from hospital.

On Thursday the Jacob Zuma foundation announced a national welcome home prayer will be held on October 14.

Faith-based, religious organisations and non-governmental organisations and political parties are invited to the event.

“The foundation will host a welcome prayer for [former] president Zuma in KwaZulu-Natal. Faith-based, religious organisations and non-governmental organisations, including all political parties, are invited. Covid-19 protocols will apply. Finer details will be announced,” the foundation said on its social media page.

Zuma was admitted to a military hospital for medical treatment in August, shortly after he began serving his 15-month jail term at Estcourt Correctional Centre for contempt of court.

His undisclosed illness saw him granted medical parole by the department of correctional services and he will complete the rest of his sentence in a “system of community corrections”.

Earlier this week, the foundation refuted reports that Zuma would address his supporters following his release from hospital last week.

The foundation dismissed the claims after The Witness reported Zuma would make his first virtual appearance at Nkandla.

It said the report was “fake news” and an “unnecessary invasion”.

“Any public appearance Zuma wishes to make will be announced. Please consider everything fake news until the foundation announces otherwise,” said the foundation. – TimeLive

Barbers in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province are now prohibited from shaving men’s beards and playing music in their shops, according to a statement issued by the province’s Taliban-led department of virtue and vice.

The new regulations mark the latest in a series of restrictions placed on the people of Afghanistan based on the Taliban’s strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.

“You are urgently informed that from today, shaving beards and playing music in barbershops and public baths are strictly prohibited,” the local authority said Sunday in a statement.

“If any barbershop or public bath is found to have shaved anyone’s beard or played music, they will be dealt with according to the Sharia principles and they will not have the right to complain,” the statement added.

While the Taliban have said their rule would be milder than it was during their previous time in government, there have been numerous reports of harsh crackdowns since they seized power of the nation in August, including the detention and assault of journalists, the use of whips against women taking part in protests, and the public hanging of alleged criminals.

The group also has not allowed Afghan girls and women to resume secondary education, despite promising that female students would be allowed to study. Afghan boys have already been called to return to school.

When last in power between 1996 and 2001, the Taliban banned women and girls from education and work, and severely restricted their rights. Today, women have been completely excluded from the country’s new, hardline government and in some instances been ordered to leave their workplaces. – CNN

Zimstar News

Former South African president Jacob Zuma slipped quietly back into his Nkandla home Wednesday amid reports he deliberately timed a low-key return to avoid wild welcome celebrations from his followers.

The embattled former state leader was discharged from a Gauteng hospital same day.

“He is in his Nkandla home but he will be returning to spend the whole of next week in Johannesburg. We are just happy that he is fine and things are somewhat back to normal, though not 100% yet,” a source told South African media Wednesday.

The 79-year-old former head of state was sentenced to 15 months jail for contempt of court.

His imprisonment ignited wild protests among some South Africans in scenes that saw over 200 killed in the skirmishes while both private and public property was looted and destroyed.

Zuma spent several weeks of his incarceration in the medical wing of the Estcourt Correctional Centre before being moved to an external hospital for further treatment.

Zuma’s family, friends and relatives in kwaDakwadunuse who were eagerly awaiting his return had planned to give him a hero’s welcome. Celebrations that were planned had included a prayer and the slaughtering of bulls to give thanks to the ancestors for Zuma’s safe return.

At the time, Zuma’s other brother Khanya said, “Usually when something good happens we slaughter cows to say thank you, but we have not met to discuss how we are going to celebrate.”

READ FROM MAIN SOURCE

Jubilant SA Airways (SAA) staff at the country’s biggest airport broke into song and dance on Thursday as the airline took to the skies for the first time in about a year.

State-owned SAA’s long-standing financial woes were exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and it halted all operations last September when it ran out of funds. The company exited administration in April thanks to another massive government bailout.

It restarted domestic flights from Johannesburg to Cape Town on Thursday and next week will launch a slimmed-down international service to five African capitals: Accra, Kinshasa, Harare, Lusaka and Maputo.

“After so many months we’ve been waiting for this moment, I am so excited. I am over the moon,” Mapula Ramatswi, an SAA flight attendant, said at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport.

“I’m actually emotional the fact that it’s happening today, we never thought it would happen.”

Ramatswi said the many months when SAA was grounded were difficult financially, but her family had helped her pull through.

Her colleagues sang church songs, ululated, clapped and danced nearby as an SAA plane with its tail fin bearing the colours of the SA flag took off.

The government has said it will sell a majority stake in SAA to a local consortium, and a due diligence process has been mostly completed. But the share purchase agreement has not yet been signed.

The planned sale of a 51% stake in SAA is part of government efforts to halt repeated bailouts to ailing state firms like SAA and power utility Eskom that have placed massive strain on stretched public finances. – Reuters

Zimstar News

Late Johannesburg mayor Jolidee Matongo died in a car crash when he was within two minutes from reaching his Lenasia South home in the commercial city.

The horrific crash on the Golden Highway Saturday night also claimed the life of the driver of a Nissan bakkie who was attempting to avoid hitting a pedestrian when the impact occurred.

Matongo started trending last month when he evoked feelings of pride among his Zimbabwean compatriots both at home and in south Africa by becoming mayor of arguably the continent’s most popular city.

But fate would not allow the son of a Zimbabwean migrant to enjoy his tenure when he got involved in the fatal crash.

He had spent the day with President Cyril Ramaphosa on an election campaign.

Family spokesperson Muzikayise Ndlovu told the media they were shattered by Matongo’s sudden death.

“We are very distraught, we are very hurt, we are still trying to come to terms with what has happened. With hope and God we will get stronger,” said Ndlovu.

ANC Joburg spokesperson Sasabona Manganye said Monday his death has affected its election campaign.

“His death has created a vacuum in the City of Joburg. This means the City of Joburg does not have members of the mayoral committee. There is no executive authority. The Speaker and city manager will have to play those particular roles for now,” Manganye said.

The ANC also said the South Africa’s governing party was now torn between preparations for the elections and the late mayor’s funeral arrangements.

Matongo will be honoured with a civic funeral on Friday to pay respect for the service rendered to the council and the city.

Jacob Zuma is taking the fight to rescind his imprisonment to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, his foundation said on Saturday.

The former president, who is on medical parole, was dealt a blow on Friday when the Constitutional Court dismissed his application to rescind its order sentencing him to 15 months in prison for contempt of court.

Zuma was sentenced in June for his failure to comply with the ConCourt’s order to appear and answer questions at the state capture commission of inquiry.

His legal team used a rare provision that allows for an application to rescind an order of the apex court where it can be proven the order was made in the party’s absence and that an error was made by the court that granted it.

“H.E Prez Zuma has been in consultation his legal team on various recent developments,” his foundation tweeted on Saturday.

“He has given his lawyers instructions to take the legalisation of detention without trial by Acting Chief Justice Zondo & the ConCourt to the African Court on Human & Peoples Rights.”

Three judgments were prepared in response to Zuma’s application for rescission. Six judges concurred with the majority ruling by Justice Sisi Khampepe. Justice Leona Theron concurred with a dissenting judgment by Justice Chris Jafta, and Theron added a five-paragraph judgment of her own,

The majority judgment found Zuma had failed to demonstrate why the order was erroneously granted. It emphasised that the interests of justice require the ConCourt to protect the principle of finality in litigation.

It noted that Zuma had a number of opportunities to appear to be represented in court earlier this year, but did not participate.

“To entertain Mr Zuma’s application in these circumstances would permit him to blow hot or cold. It would fly in the face of the interests of justice for a party to be allowed to wilfully refuse to participate in litigation and then expect the opportunity to reopen the case when it suits them,” it said.

The court dismissed Zuma’s application for rescission with costs – TimesLive.

Mailonline

A man defecated in a supermarket freezer before covering his waste with a bag of pizza rolls, leaving a mother to get it on her hands when she reached inside to grab some groceries.

Shirley Wright-Johnson, from Oklahoma City, was at Crest Foods on Sunday with her children when she put her hand into the freezer get a bag of pizza rolls.

She felt something squishy underneath the bag and when she turned it over, she discovered the human waste.

‘I picked up a bag of pizza rolls and there’s literally s**t,’ she told News 4 Oklahoma. ‘I was so disgusted I was almost in tears.

‘I was upset. I was disgusted. I feel like I was violated.’

Moore Police Department confirmed that the feces were human.

Upon checking security camera footage, police saw a man taking photographs of female customers in the store, before walking over to the freezer section.

Lt. Kyle Johnson with the Moore Police Department said: ‘That individual was then observed, went to the cooler section where he proceeded to defecate inside one of the coolers before leaving the business.’

The man can be seen wearing dark jeans and a hoodie with white sneakers as he left the store.

He has not yet been identified, and police are hunting for him.

Wright-Johnson says she alerted store employees immediately after making the disgusting discovery.

She says she then ‘bleached’ her hands and left the store with her children.

She says the kids complained they could smell it the whole way home.

‘All the way home they still were like, “Mom, I can smell it, I can smell it,”‘ she said. ‘I’m like, “I smell it too, baby.”‘

Wright-Johnson says Crests corporate offices only offered her some steaks to make up for her disgusting experience.

The Moore Police Department are currently investigating and have been requested for comment.

Crest Foods Oklahoma refused to comment on the incident when contacted by DailyMail.com.

Mailonline

Boris Johnson was in mourning last night after the death of his mother, the painter Charlotte Johnson Wahl, aged 79.

Ms Johnson Wahl died ‘suddenly and peacefully’ at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London, on Monday.  Her death was recorded in a notice placed by the family in the Times today.

Boris Johnson is said to have called his mother, a professional artist who painted stars such as Joanna Lumley, the ‘supreme authority’ in his family.

The Prime Minister also previously credited her with instilling in him ‘the equal value of every human life’.

But, despite raising two sons who became Conservative politicians, along with journalist Rachel and entrepreneur Leo, Mrs Johnson Wahl said she herself had grown up around ‘rich socialists’.

And in a candid 2015 interview with the Radio Times, she admitted that she had ‘never voted Tory’.

After news broke of Mrs Johnson Wahl’s death last night, messages of support flooded in for the Prime Minister, including from opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer.

Writing in a Twitter post, the Labour leader said : ‘I’m very sorry to learn of the Prime Minister’s loss. My condolences to him and his family.’

Tory MP Andrew Rosindell also sent his regards, writing in Tweet: ‘Deeply sad to hear of the passing of the Prime Minister’s mother. My thoughts and prayers are with Boris Johnson at this sorrowful time.’

And Connor Burns, the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy for Canada, also shared his condolences, writing in a Tweet: ‘So sad to hear of the death of Boris Johnson’s Mum.

‘Thoughts and prayers are with him and the whole of the Johnson clan.’

Conservative Party co-chairman Amanda Milling added: ‘Thinking of Boris Johnson and his family this evening. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.’

Born Charlotte Fawcett in Oxford in 1942, Mrs Johnson-Wahl was the daughter of the barrister Sir James Fawcett – who was president of the European Commission for Human Rights in the 1970s.

One of five children, she studied English at Oxford University. But she interrupted her education to travel to America with Stanley Johnson, whom she met at Oxford and married in 1963.

Speaking about meeting Stanley, she told Tatler magazine in 2015: ‘I was engaged to somebody called Wynford Hicks, who was extraordinarily beautiful to look at but actually quite boring.

‘Anyway, [after the dinner] Stanley sent me a note asking if he could come to tea and go for a walk.

‘So a few days later we went for a walk and he suddenly said, ‘Love is sweet. Revenge is sweeter far. To the Piazza. Ah ha ha har!”, which made me laugh so much I fell in love with him.’