Category: zimbabwe

HARARE – Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube on Sunday suspended the fungibility of three dually listed [...]

Source: Dead bodies recovered at VP’s farm – The Standard

By Rex Mphisa

TWO bodies of a man and woman have been recovered at a farm owned by Vice-President Kembo Mohadi, about 60km from Beitbridge border town.

Police said the bodies were of lovers that were involved in a love triangle.

A source who attended the scene said the woman is suspected to have double-crossed her lover with another man who had promised to take her to sungura artiste Alick Macheso’s show.

Macheso performed in Beitbridge on March 6.

“Her live-in-lover, who was a guard at Mohadi’s farm, intercepted messages about the proposed trip and kept quiet,” said the source.

“When the woman requested money ostensibly to go and order trinkets from Musina in South Africa, he asked her to join him in their room where he locked the door and killed her before shooting himself.”

Police recovered the deceased lovers’ bodies at the bloody scene.

The man, who must have blown his head by firing under his chin, was still holding on to his murder-suicide weapon when their remains were recovered.

Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed the incident, saying it was part of a worrying trend of people dying in crimes of passion.

“We have previously issued a statement on those deaths,” he said.

“In Beitbridge [at Mohadi’s farm] it was a tragic end of a love triangle dispute.

“In the last eight days there were several deaths, including two men who fatally clashed over a woman in Manicaland.”

Nyathi said the alleged murderer was arrested when he returned to roast maize at the murder scene the following day and found detectives waiting.

Police said during the same week, a man in Lusulu, Binga, hacked to death five people including a baby.

The suspected murderer has since been identified as Christopher Gotore.

He allegedly killed Admire Nyangarai, whose age was not given, his wife Bibeat Munsaka (23) and the couple’s one-year-old baby Loice Compassion Nyangarai, who was axed while on her mother’s back.

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Source: Allies tell Mnangagwa reforms only choice – The Standard

BY MOSES MATENGA/RICHARD MUPONDE

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been told by his allies that he has no choice but to implement reforms and end human rights violations in order to win over western countries that are increasingly tightening the noose on his government.

According to reports produced by the Political Actors Dialogue (Polad), a grouping of opposition parties seen as sympathetic to Mnangagwa, diplomats in meetings with the outfit have been emphatic that they are not impressed with the government’s pace of reforms.

A March 13 report presented to Mnangagwa at a Friday closed-door meeting by Polad’s international relations and re-engagement committee led by MDC-T leader Thokozani Khupe painted a gloomy picture.

The committee said it met the British ambassador Melanie Robinson on January 24 and her United States counterpart Brian Nichols as well as European Union ambassador Timo Olkkonen on dates that were not mentioned in the report.

The three diplomats and other agencies met by the Polad committee were not flattering in their assessments of the government’s track record, the report says.

“Your Excellency, one of our findings was that there appears to be general consensus that as a country we must commit to the speedy and sincere implementation of electoral, political, security and economic reforms as a pre-condition for them to consider reviewing the restrictive measures,” reads the report obtained by this publication.

“Their strong argument and conviction is that the process of implementing these reforms seems to be progressing at a snail’s pace,” the report added.

The United States last week slapped State Security minister Owen Ncube, a close Mnangagwa ally, and Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Tanzania Anselem Sanyatwe with travel bans and asset freezes, accusing them of human rights abuses, including the killing of protesters.

Ncube was blacklisted over accusations that he ordered the abduction and torture of government critics, the US Treasury Department said.

The US said Sanyatwe was being punished for directing soldiers that shot to death six protesters during the August 1, 2018 demonstrations over delays in the release of presidential election results.

Mnangagwa’s government has hired western public relations firms to lobby for improved relations with the west.

Zimbabwe has also won the backing of the Southern African Development Community and the African Union to lobby against the sanctions.

Meanwhile, Britain’s Defence minister Earl Howe told the House of Lords last week that London would not soften it stance against Mnangagwa’s government until its implements genuine political and economic reforms.

“My Lords, I acknowledge the noble Lord’s long-standing and close interest in Zimbabwe and its people, and I agree that we must continue to give hope and encouragement to all those who want to see genuine political and economic change in Zimbabwe,” Howe said in response to a question from Lord Oates, a Liberal Democrat, on whether Britain would take the EU’s lead in reviewing sanctions against Zimbabwe.

“However, we have to face the reality that no package of external support will deliver for the Zimbabwean people without fundamental reforms, as he rightly says.

“Therefore, the onus must remain on the government of that country to demonstrate true commitment to change.

“So far, we have seen limited progress.”

Howe hinted that Britain, which pulled out of the EU this year, might tighten its sanctions on Zimbabwe if there are no reforms by the end of the year.

“We are not wholly in agreement with the EU on its approach to sanctions,” he said.

“During the EU’s annual review of its Zimbabwe sanctions regime, for example, it decided to suspend sanctions on Grace Mugabe.

“As I said, the UK remains aligned to the EU’s restrictive measures on Zimbabwe during the transition period.

“We did not agree with its decision to suspend sanctions on Grace Mugabe; we will review the whole sanctions regime at the end of the year, as I have mentioned.

“It is important to stress that our commitment to the people of Zimbabwe did not stem from being an EU member.

“We have long-standing, deep relations with that country, as noble Lords will know.

“We will continue to raise our concerns with a range of international partners and most recently did so at the UK-Africa Investment Summit.”

Howe said Zimbabwe remained on the UK’s 30 human rights priority countries as Mnangagwa’s government continued with the persecution of opposition supporters and civil society activists.

“We are seriously concerned about human rights in Zimbabwe,” he said.

“There are abductions, arrests and assaults on civil society and opposition activists.

“The country remains one of the UK’s 30 human rights-priority countries.

“We provide extensive financial and technical assistance to civil society organisations in their efforts to hold the state to account on issues related to human rights.”

He said the UK would, however, continue supporting Zimbabwe through United Nations agencies.

“We work primarily through multilateral organisations, notably United Nations agencies. The economic crisis in Zimbabwe is very serious indeed.

“We are disappointed that the staff-monitored programme agreed with the IMF has gone off-track.

“Our focus at the moment is on mitigating the worst impacts of the economic crisis and concentrating on the most vulnerable Zimbabweans.”

Nick Mangwana, the government spokesperson, said Zimbabwe was not seeking a rescue package from Britain, but wanted the sanctions against the country removed.

“We have not asked for a rescue package consideration from the British government and we are not in the process of developing such a consideration,” he said.

“We have only asked for a fair chance to develop our country by having the impediments placed against us to be an unhindered member of the community of nations removed.

“So we are not clear on how people turn down something, which is unsolicited for.”

Mnangagwa has so far refused to hold talks with MDC leader Nelson Chamisa to discuss political reforms because his rival does not recognise his controversial victory in the 2018 elections.

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Source: UK MPs moot Zim bailout | The Sunday Mail

The post UK MPs moot Zim bailout  appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

Source: Police officer challenges women to recognise their value – The Standard

By Grant Moyo

Police officer Saul Utete (pictured) is calling for women to appreciate and recognise their value in society before they expect men to respect them. He bares it all in his anthology titled Reading Printout from the Invisible where he tackles pressing issues affecting both the young and elderly people in African society.

Utete is also a reputable fingerprint expert under the Ministry of Home Affairs in the Zimbabwe Republic Police CID Department. His love for writing started in 1990 and his writing style is inspired by Chinua Achebe and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. He writes about anything or anyone, it could be politics, social life or economics. In this regard, he gives clarity to particular poems in the anthology specifically dedicated to women.

In the poem titled Girl Child, Utete questions the negligence of morals in the modern times. He is deeply concerned at the rate at which young women are used for sexual immorality and as a source of attracting attention. Utete is curious to know why young women allow men to publish their nudity publicly. He gives reference to strip clubs, music videos, modelling shows and certain private parties where girl children dance naked in exchange of money. Concerning sexual immorality, Utete suggests that if people feel like indulging they need to protect their dignity by at least finding a building to go to, somewhere far from the public eye.

“I wrote the poem while walking from work going home. On my way I pass through a bushy area where people indulge in vehicles and under trees,” said Utete.

“When I see women indulging in public I’m like ‘girl child why are you easily taken and left, why? You are a sacred human being whose body is not just to be exposed anyhow’.

“Yes, some are hiding behind that during the Iron Age we were moving naked, but we are past that time.

“We are in current times where decency counts, we move clothed, may we cover up those private parts?

“When I was writing, I was trying to say girl child don’t just let yourself loose, protect your dignity, there is more to you, preserve yourself.

“If one is to say ‘let’s go under a tree, meaning to say you are being devalued, what value do you have? Why do you let people strip you off your value?’”

Utete applauds the present day generation for having regard towards young and elderly women unlike in the past. He challenges the girl child to complement the efforts being put by the government and civil society to appreciate her.

“Now that girl child you have been given a chance, everyone is crying for you to be somebody,” he said.

“What are we doing as girl children? So many prominent women are being known for making money through showing their private parts, but what is that to the world?

“We are devaluing our mothers. Is there no other way to be doing some activities that will go with decency and dignity of your characters?

“Girl child, sit down look at yourself, see what you want to be, your vision and mission in life. Remember you are sacred and of great value.”

After experiencing one of the most disheartening incidents in his family, Utete put his emotions into writing in the poem titled My Sister.

The shattering poem is clearly dedicated to a close family member who was infected with HIV. It is an encouragement to her not to mind what is in her body for flesh will rot with time, but her spirit is just as pure as it was from the day she was born.

“In the poem I was trying to console my sister to mould and nurture her spirit not to think and ponder about the disease in her system,” Utete said.

“I was urging her to look into the future, have love and forgive whoever infected her.”

The poem titled African Woman is in praise of every woman of African origin. Utete urges women to enrich their dignity such that society has mothers who nurture and give proper guidance in terms of how children should behave and carry themselves with dignity. He encourages women to portray decency arguing that for a state to be habitable it should have attributes found in a woman which are peace, love, and compassion.

“A woman encompasses everything and tries her best to give it all in whatever circumstance,” Utete said.

“Looking at every mother, I have so much respect for women to the extent that I told myself that I will never put my hand on a woman no matter how much she wrongs me because she is of value.

“I bestow honour to African women, to say mothers you are not just women, but you are mothers to continents. You are a ‘she’ representing a mother who carries a human life for nine months, thereafter nurture it until the human form is taken back to the soil.”

Topical issues concerning gender equality and women rights have been trending for a while worldwide. The world knows that somehow the girl child has been deprived of certain privileges, independence and status in their life. Calls by civil society and women for the government to enforce policies and laws that protect and empower girl children are loud and clear. Awareness has been raised — it is up to the young and elderly women to entirely engage.

l Grant Moyo is a prolific writer, innovative media personality, entrepreneur and a creative artist who is passionate about using his creative mind for the betterment of society. Follow him on Twitter: @TotemGrant

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