Category: zimbabwe

Columbus Mabika-Herald Reporter

THE independence flame is lit and yesterday began its journey from Harare by road to Mt Darwin for the historic Independence Day celebrations that will, for the first time in history, be held in a rural setting.

Last year, the Independence Celebrations were in Bulawayo, in line with President Mnangagwa’s stance of “leaving no one and no place behind”.

In the same spirit, next Tuesday, Zimbabwe will mark 43 years of independence, celebrating under the theme, “Nyika Inovakwa nevene vayo; Ilizwe lakhiwa ngabanikazi balo”, an apt theme that captures the transformation the country is going through under the Second Republic.

Lighting the flame at the Zimbabwe Museum of Human Sciences in the capital, National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe executive director Dr Godfrey Mahachi said the populace is being reminded of this very important day in the history of Zimbabwe.

“The purpose of lighting the flame is to kick start the commemorations and informing the people of Zimbabwe of this very important day by bringing to their attention the independence flame which we will be taking on a roadshow to Mt Darwin via Mazowe, Bindura, Madziwa and Dotito among other places so that the general population acknowledges that this important day is coming,” he said.

“This is a very important day in the history of Zimbabwe as it provides a visible icon of the liberation struggle as well as a source of inspiration for national aspirations. We are encouraging the populace to turn up in their numbers for the big day to be presided over by President Mnangagwa.”

Dr Mahachi said this year’s commemorations are different as it will be the first time they are held in a rural setting with the President set to headline the main events, starting with a children’s party on Monday and then the main event on Tuesday.

According to the schedule, a lighting ceremony will be held at Chibondo at the Mt Darwin District Heroes Acre on Monday, and then the flame will be taken to the venue on the 18th, by athletes.

Taking children aboard the philosophy, the host province will have 400 children coming from the districts of Bindura, Mbire, Guruve, Mt Darwin, Rushinga, Shamva, Mazowe and Muzarabani, districts that are synonymous with the liberation struggle that culminated in Independence in 1980.

A day before the country celebrates its 43-year milestone, amid tangible economic development, modernisation and transformation towards Vision 2030, to become an upper-middle-class economy, President Mnangagwa will host a Children’s Party for children drawn from the country’s 10 provinces (400 each), and another 400 from the districts that form Mashonaland Central.

In line with the Government’s devolution and decentralisation thrust, the 2023 Children’s Party celebrations will be held at Pfura Stadium, Mt Darwin Centre on April 17.

The President will lead in the planting of at least 43 trees on April 17 at the Independence celebrations venue to mark 43 years of Independence.

An assortment of fruit trees will be planted at the Mt Darwin High School orchard.

And on the 18th, the most important day on the country’s calendar, President Mnangagwa will lead proceedings at the stadium where final touches are being put in place to ensure the turf meets the standards of the country’s Premier Soccer League.

This is because later in the day, after the formal proceedings, the country’s most popular teams Dynamos and Highlanders will lock horns for the Uhuru Trophy.

Musicians from across the country will then entertain the crowds at the Uhuru Gala which will have a flavour of Mashonaland Central, notably Njerema Boys, who hail from Njerama Hills in Muzarabani.

Sungura maestro Alick Macheso will also provide entertainment for the main Independence celebrations.

They will be complemented by a Cultural act of 100 artistes who will synchronise with the 500 school children doing gymnastics, and supported by the Zimbabwe Republic Police band.

Yeukai Karengezeka-Court Correspondent 

Two teenage boys from Christon Bank have appeared in court for allegedly killing an older acquaintance, Nisand Maruza (25), by stabbing him with two knives on the chest and in the back after a misunderstanding.

The incident took place on a farm compound on the northern outskirts of Harare. The cousins both, aged 15, appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Dennis Mangosi charged with murder.

They were remanded in custody to June 27 and were advised to apply for bail at the High Court.

One of the alleged killers is a Form Three student, while his co-accused is a former school drop out who is now doing Grade 7. The State alleged that on April 6, one of the boys was slapped once on the face by Mr Maruza after a misunderstanding and this triggered a fight.

Mr Maruza had been sitting near a tuckshop where he observed the two teenagers arguing with two other people. He is reported to have reprimanded them and went on to slap one. 

The other teenager joined the fight and the cousins both produced knives and pinned Mr Maruza against a wall.

One of the boys stabbed him on the chest while the other stabbed him in the back.

The boys ran away after Mr Maruza collapsed and while unconscious was taken by a friend, Lawrence Mwale, to his father Nyikadzino Maruza who observed a wound and blood on his chest. 

The two rushed the attack victim to Christon Bank clinic where he was pronounced dead on arrival by the sister-in-charge.

Residents spotted the accused persons in the farm compound and effected a citizen’s arrest before handing them over to Marlborough Police. 

Victor Maphosa Mashonaland East Bureau

Police in Mashonaland East Province have launched a manhunt for a 37-year-old man from Mudzi who allegedly raped a minor after giving her some beer.

After raping her, the suspect threatened her with death if she ever revealed the incident.

The incident occurred on April 8, at around 10pm in Mbengo Village under Chief Mukota, Mudzi.

Allegations are that the suspect and the 15-year-old girl were at a memorial service and at around 10pm, the man offered the minor some beer and she took it until she was intoxicated.

It is alleged that the suspect asked her to accompany him to a nearby tuckshop and she agreed.

Along the way, it is reported that the suspect grabbed and dragged her away from the road into a nearby bush where he forced her on the ground and raped her once.

It is alleged that soon after, he disappeared into the darkness.

The matter came to light after the girl narrated her ordeal to her cousin who then informed the girl’s mother.

Police spokesperson for Mashonaland East Province Inspector Simon Chazovachiyi confirmed the incident.

He appealed to the public for information which may lead to the arrest of the suspect.

Insp Chazovachiyi urged parents and guardians to always observe activities of their minor children.

Thupeyo Muleya-Beitbridge Bureau

Beitbridge Municipality intends to register all bulk water vendors in the town, with the view to minimise cases of people accessing unsafe water, which in turn causes the spread of cholera.

On Wednesday, Beitbridge recorded seven suspected cholera cases, out of the 12 reported countrywide on that day.

As of Wednesday, Zimbabwe had 12 hospitalised cases of cholera, with Beitbridge District Hospital (Cholera Treatment Camp) having half of those, a development that has prompted the municipality to explore ways of reducing, if not eliminating the disease.

Since cholera broke out in Zimbabwe, there have been 428 suspected cases, 90 confirmed cases, two confirmed deaths and seven suspected deaths.

It is thought that cholera cases are on the rise in Beitbridge as some new suburbs have issues related to sewer and water reticulation, just like most urban centres run by the opposition.

In a public notice this week, Beitbridge Municipality said: “In light of cholera outbreak in Beitbridge, especially in the SDP area (Kwalu 2), all owners or operators of water vending trucks are called upon to come forward and register with council on their operations. This has been necessitated by suspected unsafe water supplies being sold to members of the public.”

Beitbridge Municipality said the new measure, which is effective from today, will help its environmental officers to monitor the quality of water for the safety of residents. 

Those that are unregistered with the council, will not be allowed to trade.

The move comes shortly after the local Civil Protection intensified cholera awareness campaigns across the district.

Health authorities have since put medical staff on standby to deal with any cholera-related cases.

Acting district medical officer, Dr Tafadzwa Nyeve, said during a recent stakeholders meeting that they were treating every diarrhoea-related case as cholera until it is medically proven otherwise.

He said they have alerted all the medical staff from the over 16 primary health care facilities in the district to be on high alert.

“We are also doing surveillance through the Environment Health Department and testing water samples regularly. In addition, we have since established a Cholera Treatment Camp within the hospital to handle all the cholera-related cases and we are grateful for the support we are getting from local stakeholders,” said Dr Nyeve.

The setting up of the Cholera Treatment Camp was strategically done to avoid contaminating the hospital and other services offered to members of the public.

Civil Protection Committee acting chairperson, Mr Jahson Mugodzwa, said they have since activated their health sub-committee to raise awareness and trace all the cases within the district.

He said the risk communication team was already on the ground educating people about the disease in all high risk areas.

During the last cholera outbreak in 2008, Beitbridge was one of the most affected districts in the country due to its geographic location as a transit town.

Beitbridge district has an estimated population of 200 000, with 80 000 being in the urban settlement.

Additionally, the town hosts 15 000 travellers in transit through the Beitbridge Border Post daily and relies on one major Government hospital and 16 clinics.

Trust Freddy–Herald Correspondent 

The Government has started paying out compensation to owners of industrial, commercial and residential properties that must be demolished to make room for the massive Mbudzi interchange road project.

This was revealed yesterday by the Permanent Secretary in Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development, Engineer Theodius Chinyanga.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Mbudzi interchange tour, Eng Chinyanga yesterday said so far 51 of the 52 property owners with title deeds had signed their compensation agreements and 19 had already received their entire compensation.

Treasury has since released US$12 million out of the US$34 million towards compensation.

It was a hive of activity yesterday at Mbudzi as ecstatic families raced to de-construct their houses before the deadline.

While the property owners cannot refuse the forced sale, they are entitled to full compensation, set at the value of their properties.

“We had committed ourselves to make sure that everyone who has been impacted negatively on this project in terms of property holders, was compensated on time,” Engineer Chinyanga said. 

“We have 52 title holders around this area who should be compensated and the properties have been evaluated by the local government and two other independent companies so that we give those who are affected fair compensation.” 

He also said that the Ministry was still in discussion with one title holder and they were looking forward to reaching a common ground.

To date, of the $34 million that should be paid out as compensation, finance has moved $12 million, which is a total of 19 properties out of the 52. Further, Engineer Chinyanga said land for lease holders has already been located in Hatcliffe and will soon be relocated.

“There are 95 lease holders along Chitungwiza Road that are blocking the way of the construction and these will be relocated to Hatcliffe. 

“Local government has found land and are in the process of planning on the land subdivisions, we are going to build three-roomed core houses for the lease houses,” he said. 

Carefully, they were taking apart portions of buildings with the aim of capturing useful material such as windows, wood and bricks for incorporation into their new houses.

“Unfortunately the owner of the house is not around but I can confirm that the owner of the house is very excited,” Mr Givemore Chibayambuya who was among the team that was removing the components of the house for reuse. 

“The house had 15 rooms and double garage plus a 3-bedroom cottage, it’s a blessing in disguise because he got full compensation and he is set to benefit from the selling of these bricks.

Residential owners that used to reside near the old roundabout had not been included in the first demolitions of Tefoma construction because by law the Government had to ensure that they were fully compensated. 

The other 13-bedroomed house that used to be a centre of attraction had been raised down and owners were also removing important building materials.

“We are now staying in Uplands, my daddy is at work,” a family member of one of the affected families said.

“We are racing against time because we had been given today (yesterday) as a deadline for us to remove everything.” 

The majority of home affected residents expressed satisfaction with the compensation deal, however, they refused to give further details and referred questions to their spokesperson Bishop Maruva Goka who could not be immediately contacted by the time of publication.

The interchange replacing the old Mbudzi roundabout, with its 14 bridges and bridge- like structures, plus the left-turn slip roads will occupy far more land than the old inadequate roundabout so the nearby private property had to be bought out.

The Mbudzi roundabout is at the intersection of Simon Mazorodze, Chitungwiza and High Glen Roads that feed traffic from western Chitungwiza and many old and new suburbs into Harare city centre, as well as the heavy national and regional traffic on the Harare-Masvingo Highway.

The huge interchange uses a lot more land than the old roundabout and has meant that buildings near the roundabout have to go.

When complete, the world-class interchange being constructed under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme, is expected to eliminate congestion at the point where two major highways meet the Beitbridge-Harare highway, with the traffic circle that was deemed adequate a few decades ago now totally overwhelmed.

The widening of the Beitbridge-Harare Chirundu highway plus its reconstruction and rehabilitation is a critical component of the north-south corridor and huge delays as this highway met the major southern urban roads in Harare would negate many of the advantages won, as well as jamming traffic crossing the highway.