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By Staff Reporter

ACTING President Constantino Chiwenga was weekend charmed by a group of children who chanted the slogan “ED Pfee” when the country’s number 2 visited President Emmerson Mnangagwa at his Kwekwe farm.

Chiwenga Sunday visited Mnangagwa, who is on his leave, at the latter’s Pricabe Farm in Sherwood, Kwekwe where the two spent a leisurely afternoon together.

The two also had occasion to visit parts of the soya and maize producing farm while travelling in the same vehicle.

But as they drove past a nearby compound, a group of children on the roadside chanted “ED Pfee”, a slogan first used during the 2018 election campaign period by Mnangagwa supporters who were affirming their resolve to thrust the Zanu PF leader on the job of being national President.

“We were coming from the dam on our last lap of the tour of the farm when the children started chanting the slogan,” Mnangagwa later told state media weekend.

“Acting President Chiwenga then asked the driver to stop and the two greeted the kids and gave them some goodies.”

VP Chiwenga is seen as having his own Presidential ambitions and, according to his estranged wife, Marry, he has been taking stress management drugs on finding his wishes to becoming national leader were fast diminishing.

Mnangagwa has not hidden his interest to remain leader beyond 2023 and has moved to try and patch the country’s constitution in what is set to give him more stranglehold on the country’s most coveted job.

By Staff Reporter

POLICE in Harare have given MDC leader Nelson Chamisa the green light to proceed with his State of the Nation Address (SONA) the opposition chief has planned for this Tuesday at Mbare, Harare’s Stodart Hall.

This follows the ban imposed on the mini rally by police this past week citing their busy schedule occasioned by the opening of Zimbabwean schools for the first term.

But MDC Harare provincial chairperson Wellington Chikombo indicate Sunday that police have since allowed the party to proceed with the event.

“I am happy to inform you that police have cleared our Presidential SONA to be addressed by none other than President N Chamisa on Tuesday in Mbare at Stodart (Hall),” Chikombo said.

“From here, the tempo of our democratic struggle rises. President Chamisa will be laying bare to the people of Zimbabwe our cogent plan of action, our cogent plan in order of prosecution of the democratic struggle and programme of action of how we are going to reclaim the people’s struggle,” he said.

The decision to allow MDC to proceed with the event follows a week of tense relations between the state and the main opposition which claimed authorities were treating it like a terrorist organisation.

This is after police had issued the ban on the party to hold its event.

Chamisa had vowed to defy the police if they proceeded to ban the Tuesday event.

By Staff Reporter

POLICE have stormed the MDC headquarters armed with a search warrant for a cache of machetes they claim are intended for use by the main opposition to commit acts of violence.

Police obtained the warrant of search from the Harare Magistrates’ court earlier in the day.

Reads the warrant in part, “Certain article(s) that is to say: Machetes and subversive material which are concerned or on reasonable grounds believed to be concerned in the commission or suspected commission of an offence of possession of articles for criminal use as defined in Section 40 (1) of Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act, Chapter 9:23 in preparation to commit public violence.”

MDC secretary general Charlton Hwende also tweeted that three 3 truckloads of riot police stormed the party’s headquarters, beating up staff at the Morgan Richard Tsvangirai House (formerly known as Harvest House).

Earlier in the day, party deputy national spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka said his party had been warned of an impending plot to plant some machetes at its headquarters to create grounds for a crackdown on the main opposition.

By Staff Reporter

MDC says it has been warned of an intended police attempt to plant some machetes at the party’s headquarters in Harare this Friday to create grounds for a crackdown on the main opposition party.

This was revealed Friday by party deputy spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka.

“We have gathered from impeccable sources within the regime that the police intend to siege Morgan Richard Tsvangirai House today (Friday) in a desperate bid to plant machetes and justify their unwarranted crackdown on the party’s legitimate activities,” Tamborinyoka said.

“They are on a desperate witch-hunt and are frantically seeking to portray the MDC, the people’s party, as a rogue organization.

“The police have been illegally cracking down on the party’s legitimate programmes, proscribing innocent party activities, arresting the party leadership and stopping Zimbabweans from peacefully expressing themselves in line with the country’s Constitution.

“We understand the police are seeking a search warrant in order to use their presence at the headquarters of the people’s party so as to plant machetes and portray the MDC as a criminal organization.

“The desperate attempts will not wash.”

Zimbabweans in many parts of the country are now living in fear of machete wielding gangs responsible for hacking down a number of innocent villagers to death.

A seemingly new phenomenon in the country, the machete gangs have been linked to some top Zanu PF politicians keen on controlling some mining claims within the lucrative sector.

In November last year, police claimed they had discovered a cache of anti-riot helmets from a privately owned Harare CBD building located next to the MDC’s main headquarters.

By Staff Reporter

THE World Food Programme (WFP) could be left with no choice but to limit its food assistance to fewer Zimbabweans facing unprecedented hunger if no urgent measures are put in place to assist nearly 8 million people.

This was said by the world’s largest humanitarian aid agency’s Regional Director for Southern Africa Lola Castro in the wake of the catastrophe.

The crisis has been caused by repeated drought, widespread flooding and budget constraints among affected countries.

To that end, WFP is set to avail much-needed assistance to 8.3 million food insecure people in eight hardest-hit countries; Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Madagascar, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini and Malawi.

Said WFP: “To date, WFP has secured just US$205 million of the US$489 million required for this assistance and has been forced to resort heavily to internal borrowing to ensure food reaches those in need.

“Zimbabwe is in the throes of its worst hunger emergency in a decade, with 7.7 million people – half the population – seriously food insecure.”

The case is the same with the country’s northern neighbour Zambia which has now resorted to strict cereal exports and accepting outside assistance.

At least 20 percent of the population of drought-stricken Lesotho are also now severely hungry, as are 10 percent of Namibians.

WFP noted that the hunger crisis affecting the countries was impacting negatively by surging food prices, large-scale livestock losses and mounting joblessness.

The countries are already grappling with high rates of malnutrition, population growth, inequality, and HIV/AIDS.

Families across the region are eating less, skipping meals, taking children out of school, selling off precious assets and falling into debt.

“This hunger crisis is on a scale we’ve not seen before and the evidence shows it’s going to get worse,” said Castro.

“The annual cyclone season has begun, and we simply cannot afford a repeat of the devastation caused by last year’s unprecedented storms.”

He added, “If we don’t receive the necessary funding, we’ll have no choice but to assist fewer of those most in need, and with less.

“Nor will we be able to adequately expand longer-term activities vital to meaningfully combating the existential emergency that is climate change.”

Addressing the media this past week, Vice President Kembo Mohadi said government will not allow any citizen to die of hunger.

“It is not the first time that we are having a drought in Zimbabwe and we have always said in government that nobody will die of hunger and still no one is going to die of hunger in Zimbabwe.

“We are going to marshal all the resources that we have towards the provision of food for our people and if need be, then we will call other people like the World Food Programme to assist us but definitely we are on top of the situation,” said Mohadi.

Incidentally, the VP is also a victim of the current crisis, having lost 271 cattle at his Beitbridge farm in the current crisis.

By Staff Reporter

HEAL Zimbabwe Trust has called on authorities to abandon trial on its executive director, Rashid Mahiya who was arrested a year ago and charged with plotting to overthrow President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government.

When he got arrested, Mahiya endured weeks in remand prison until a High Court judge ordered his release on US$1000 bail.

This followed an earlier refusal by a Harare magistrate to remove the prominent rights activist from remand on the grounds he was facing serious charges.

Tough reporting conditions were also imposed in which Mahiya was ordered to report twice a week to police, surrender his passport with the courts, not interfere with state witnesses and to continue residing at his given residential address.

One year on, the civic organisation says the continued placement of its head on remand violated his rights to fair trial.

In a statement, Heal Zimbabwe said it was “dismayed” by the denial to remove Mahiya from routine remand.

Said the group, “Heal Zimbabwe notes that the refusal to remove Mahiya on routine remand creates a cloud of uncertainty within civil society in as far as human rights work is concerned.

“This will directly impact on the operations of the affected individual and that of Heal Zimbabwe Trust.

“Mahiya has spent a lot of time in courts diverting him from exercising his internationally recognized right to promote and protect human rights enshrined under the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.

“Worrying is the fact that the incessant postponements of the trial of Mahiya also reveal the state’s inability to furnish the courts with adequate evidence incriminating Mahiya on the said charges.

“Heal Zimbabwe also views the denial to remove Mahiya on routine remand as an exercise meant to frustrate Mahiya in his fight for democracy and human rights as a human rights defender.”

Heal Zimbabwe also cautioned Mahiya’s prolonged remand placement did not just inconvenience its leader but everyone else involved in the case, including key witnesses.

“Further to this, long periods of routine remand also erode citizens’ trust in the judiciary.

“Added to this, international best practices on people awaiting trial dictate that justice must be served timely to avoid interference and hesitancy on the part of the judiciary.

“Article 14 (3c) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1966 stipulates that people awaiting trial must ‘be tried without undue delays’.

“In light of the above, Heal Zimbabwe implores the state to unconditionally drop all charges against Mahiya and create a conducive environment for human rights defenders to operate.

“The authorities must also guarantee the right to free trial for Mahiya including the right for him to be removed from routine bail.”

By Staff Reporter

EXILED former minister, Jonathan Moyo, once fierce defender of government’s land grab policy in the last decade, has suffered similar fate with his Mazowe farm repossessed by the same authorities for alleged failure to put the property into productive use.

The property, named Patterson Farm, is 622 9125 hectares big.

Moyo has filed papers with the High Court seeking to stop the reversal of a Lands Minister Perence Shiri’s withdrawal of the offer letter issued to him by government 2001.

At the time, Moyo was Information Minister who launched a strong defence of then President Robert Mugabe’s violent land grab policy in which over 5000 white farmers lost their land under the ostensible government bid to distribute the country’s greatest resource equitably.

Nearly two decades later, Moyo now plays victim and is adamant he was being stampeded off the property for “political” reasons.

Moyo became rivals with incumbent President Emmerson Mnangagwa after the former Tsholotsho lawmaker mounted a fierce campaign to block the former from succeeding Mugabe.

He was forced to skip the country when Mugabe was ousted by Mnangagwa via a November 2017 military led coup.
Moyo says claims his farm was not being utilised were false.

He also claims he actually bought the property.

“The decision implicates a breach of administrative law standards in that it is substantively unreasonable in the extreme and constitutes state sanctioned theft,” Moyo says in court papers filed through his lawyers.

Moyo added, “The withdrawal of the offer letter is based on material falsehoods of a concocted alleged under-utilisation of the land which does not take into account the manner in which the State has sought to sabotage my investment for cheap political ends.

“No account was made, in breach of my proprietary rights, to take into account the close to a million dollars investment that I have sunk into the farming project.”

By Staff Reporter

MARRY Mubaiwa, estranged wife to Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, has confirmed her husband’s long-held presidential ambitions, further claiming the one-time top soldier was now taking drugs to manage stress caused by his diminishing prospects of one day becoming national leader.

The ex-model made the revelations in papers she filed in response to the VP’s claims she was not suited to be granted custody of the couple’s minor children on the grounds she was a drug addict and practised sorcery in the family home, among other claims.

But Marry, through her lawyers, hit back at her VP husband, claiming the latter has been taking some drugs on noticing his chances of one day becoming president were vanishing.

“Defendant (Marry) avers in reconvention that the demise of the customary law union was brought about by plaintiff’s (Chiwenga) acute paranoia brought about by his poor health, his being under heavy doses of drugs including unprescribed opiates, his surrounding himself with persons who want to take advantage of him and his belief that his ascendency to the position of Presidency might be in jeopardy,” she said.

VP Chiwenga is believed to be harbouring presidential ambitions but incumbent President Emmerson Mnangagwa has already declared his interests to remain national leader beyond the next elections in 2023.

Mnangagwa has also pulled all the stops to try and scrap the presidential running mate clause in the constitution which could see him forced to choose Chiwenga as mate.

In her court papers, Marry claimed she was a better parent to their three minor children compared to Chiwenga who is always away seeking medication abroad.

“Defendant denies that she is a drug addict and pleads that the children were under her exclusive care for long periods of time without any adverse consequences on them and it is denied that the children’s best interests would be served by custody being awarded to a sickly absentee parent who is more in hospital than out,” she said.

Marry is currently on bail following her December arrest on alleged attempts to kill her husband, money laundering and fraud.

Her troubles are believed to be a vindictive act by Chiwenga after the couple has been involved in a messy divorce.

By Staff Reporter

MDC leader Nelson Chamisa has vowed to proceed with his State of the Nation Address to followers should the state ban the event again.

This, he said on Twitter following a police ban on the event which the opposition chief had set for this Wednesday.

“ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. We’ve exhausted all channels. We can’t continue to be victims of unjust application of the law. Rights are for all. On Tuesday 21st Jan we will deliver the people’s Agenda 2020 to the nation come what may.#peoplesgovernment,” Chamisa said.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.We’ve exhausted all channels.We can't continue to be victims of unjust application of the law.Rights are for all.On Tuesday 21st Jan we will deliver the people’s Agenda 2020 to the nation come what may.#peoplesgovernment

— nelson chamisa (@nelsonchamisa) January 15, 2020

Police on Tuesday issued a ban on Chamisa’s event which the MDC leader had planned for Mai Musodzi Hall in Harare’s Mbare suburb.

Police said they were called to issue the ban as they were short of manpower to cover the potentially chaotic event.

The law enforcement agents said they had deployed a lot of their officers for the current schools opening period.

The controversial police move, which comes after several MDC events were banned last year for one reason or another.

The Tuesday ban by police elicited a strong reaction from MDC deputy national spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka who accused police of treating the main opposition as a terrorist organisation.

“We are noting a disturbing trend where the police are routinely proscribing MDC events and treating the party as a banned organisation in the country.

“We continue to be treated like a banned or a terrorist organisation when we are a legitimate political party that is in Parliament and that controls 28 out of 32 urban local authorities,” Tamborinyoka told journalists in Harare Tuesday.

By Staff Reporter

EMBATTLED wife to Vice President Emmerson Chiwenga is a holder of two valid Zimbabwean diplomatic passports and another ordinary one.

The startling revelations were made in opposing papers filed by the VP against Marry Mubaiwa’s recent suit on the him.

In the suit, Marry claimed the country’s number 2 abducted the couple’s minor children and had blocked her access to the family’s Borrowdale home.

But in trying to discredit his estranged wife, VP Chiwenga revealed through his lawyers that Marry was a holder of three passports.

Marry is currently on bail after she was arrested last year and charged with attempted murder, money laundering and fraud.

She surrendered her diplomatic passport as part of her bail conditions, and retained two other valid passports, according to the VP.

According to Chiwenga in his court papers, Marry is a holder of two diplomatic passports (AD005170) and (AD005759).

They are due to expire on December 11 this year and November 2, 2022 respectively.

The third passport (CN701555) will expire on February 21, 2022.

Zimbabweans are entitled to a single passport each.

The revelations of her holding more than a single passport would most likely be received with anger among many local passport applicants who have endured months of waiting for the precious document amid claims by authorities the country was short of special paper to print them.

The country’s passport backlog currently runs into hundreds of thousands with government seemingly at a loss on how to remedy the situation.