Category: zimbabwe

Source: Deeds Office halts operations –Newsday Zimbabwe

THE Department of Deeds, Companies and Intellectual Property (Deeds Office) has temporarily stopped the issuance of copies after running out of copier toner, NewsDay has established.

In a notice last week, the department said: “Please be advised that with immediate effect the office has stopped issuing copies of documents, as our copiers have run out of toner. The service will be restored once the toner is procured.”

The Registrar of Companies’ main role is to provide for the constitution, incorporation, registration, management and internal administration of companies and winding up of companies and private business corporations, among others.

Source: Mudenda lobbies for African seat on UN Security Council -Newsday Zimbabwe

Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda

SPEAKER of Parliament Jacob Mudenda has lobbied for an African seat on the United Nations (UN) Security Council.

Mudenda said this during the just-ended Russia-Africa Parliamentary Speakers’ Conference held in Moscow, Russia where he had an opportunity to discuss Parliamentary issues with several high-ranking officials.

The platform was also an opportunity to strengthen Parliamentary diplomacy and share notes on best Parliamentary practices.

“This collaboration should be guided by the equal partnership based on the sovereignty and legal equality of States where all Parliaments treat each other as equal legislatures as enshrined within Article 2 of the United Nations Charter. ‘

“‘The sovereignty and legal equality of states implicitly predicates the sovereignty and the legal equality of our national Parliaments whose common barometer is their tripartite roles of citizen representation, the legislative role and oversight on the Executive,” Mudenda said.

He acknowledged the need for Russia to strengthen its political and economic relationship with African Parliaments and through them, their respective governments in various areas of economic development.

Mudenda’s call for restructuring of the United Nations Security Council was buttressed by the Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa Mapisa-Nqakula and the chairman of the Namibian Council, Lucas Muha.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa and other African Heads of State have on several occasions also pleaded for the reformation of the UN Security Council.

Source: Nurses fret over global recruitment ban –Newsday Zimbabwe

UNDERPAID Zimbabwean nurses and doctors have vowed to find alternative ways to circumvent a foreign recruitment ban recently imposed by the World Health Organisation (WHO), saying they cannot bear the poor working conditions anymore.

WHO recently red-listed Zimbabwe among 53 other nations experiencing acute shortage of health personnel, a development which prompted the United Kingdom (UK) to stop active recruitment of nurses from the southern African country.

Zimbabwe Professional Nurses Union secretary-general Douglas Chikobvu described the recruitment ban as a major blow for health professionals.

“As it stands, the future of Zimbabwean nurses set to leave for greener pastures has been dealt a big blow,” Chikobvu said.

“The government has been sort of abusive on how (it is) handling the plight of nurses. Instead of addressing the root causes, (it is) coming up with a raft of measures to tie our already impoverished and starving nurses. The reason for massive brain drain is due to measly wages. What we all expected the government to do was to swiftly address bread and butter issues by awarding nurses a living wage in US dollars.”

Latest statistics by the UK’s Office of National Statistics showed that Zimbabwe was among the top five countries that registered the highest number of citizens granted work visas to Britain over the past two years.

Zimbabwe has over the past years recorded a mass exodus of skilled workers, including at least 3 000 health professionals to the UK in the past two years, with some opting for menial foreign jobs owing to poor remuneration back home.

“The government of Zimbabwe should consider the concept of formalising the export of surplus health professionals in order to protect its citizens working abroad because if migration is not formalised, health professionals will still leave the country anyway,” Community Working Group on Health executive director Itai Rusike said.

“Not every nurse trained has to work for the State throughout their working life. But the country’s health delivery system can benefit from the experience of the returnees gained while in the receiving countries. It’s important to invest in people to harness talent. Why train and let people go.? This is a highly critical and precious resource. It’s a death sentence to citizens as they cannot access quality health care.”

Health ministry spokesperson Donald Mujiri was unreachable for comment.

Source: Vic Falls Carnival joins anti-poaching drive –Newsday Zimbabwe

THE Victoria Falls Carnival has for the first time in its long history partnered the Wild Africa Fund to raise awareness on the poaching scourge, habitat loss and human-wildlife conflict.

This year’s 11th edition of the Victoria Falls Carnival runs from April 28 to 30 at Elephant Hills Resort.

Poaching has remained a major global concern, resulting in many animal species being threatened with extinction.

According to the Global Poaching Vortex, poaching has morphed into a serious crisis as it is now being enabled by sophisticated syndicates who include park rangers and customs officials in many wildlife-source countries, including southern and eastern Africa and south-east Asia.

The problem has also been fuelled by the participation of communities living near parks, and rise in global demand for wildlife products.

Elephants, rhinoceroses and tigers are some of the animals mostly being targeted by poachers on a massive scale.

Locally, poaching incidents spiked during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to wildlife authorities.

The absence of tourists and reduced economic activity in communities surrounding the parks were cited as having contributed to widespread poaching during that period.

Wild Africa Fund aims to promote wildlife tourism as a source of conservation and sustainable development funding.

The organisation also directly supports local wildlife programmes and promotes humans and wildlife co-existence.

“Victoria Falls Carnival is proud to join forces with the Wild Africa Fund to raise awareness and promote its efforts to preserve Africa’s natural beauty and wildlife, as well as the communities that rely on it,” the carnival organisers said in a statement.

“Another greening partnership for Victoria Falls Carnival this year is the We Are Victoria Falls initiative representing the tourism community of Victoria Falls. Formed under the direction of the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Tourism, and Hospitality Industry, they co-ordinate all events in the Sadc region to be cognisant of the fact that they are playing in a wildlife space.

“Victoria Falls Carnival will be the ‘blueprint event’ that is aligned with looking after the animals and creating an event that is animal friendly and animal safe. Some of the initiatives we will be implementing are the use of buses to transport people instead of having cars on the roads at late hours to protect both animals and festival goers.”

Fun, thrills and excitement best describes the atmosphere that usually characterises the Victoria Falls Carnival that also offers participants from around the globe adrenalin-pumping adventure activities.

Festival oganisers said the three-day cultural jamboree will this year feature a star-studded line-up of some of the biggest local and international multi-award-winning performers.

“The Vic Falls Carnival main stage at Elephant Hills Resort features a stellar lineup of over 30 of Africa’s hottest music acts on one stage from Friday April 28 to Sunday April 30, 2023,” the carnival organisers noted.

“Victoria Falls Carnival has once again created the best way to spend three days at Victoria Falls. Travel, adventure, and of course, African music, all in one renowned setting, Africa’s majestic Mosi-oa-Tunya, the smoke that thunders.”

With more acts to be announced soon, some of the artistes who have been confirmed and scheduled to perform at the festival are Black Motion, a South African house duo, Jah Prayzah, Mzansi’s mmapiano musician Musa Keys, Mafikizolo, Andrea the Vocalist, Mi Casa, Enzo Ishall, songbird Anita Jaxson and Oskido, among others.

“With Victoria Falls Carnival firmly embedded in its new spot on the April calendar, festival-goers are offered more competitive packages, a wider selection of artists from around the continent, and great weather and Victoria Falls in all its glory after the summer rains,” said the carnival organisers.

In another first, the carnival will this year be crossing the Zambezi River to include Zambia in a series of special events titled Vic Falls CarnivalPresents — Destination: Livingstone.

Some of the headlining acts from the main carnival will be held in partnership with Timedia and Radisson Blu Hotel Mosi-Oa-Tunya Livingstone Resort, the host venue.

The carnival’s general access ticket for day one pass is pegged at US$50, two-day pass is US$65 and three-day pass cost US$90.

For the VIP ticket, a three day pass is selling at US$295.

It includes access to a VIP viewing deck with a private VIP bar and toilet facilities, private pool party (April 29), sunset cruise that will include drinks and snacks.

The pass also allows the holder to attend live performances at Pure Africa on April 28 and April 29.

It also includes a private VIP party with headline acts on April 30.

Source: Katsimberis trial set for April 19 –Newsday Zimbabwe

THE trial of property developer, George Katsimberis, on a charge of constructing a showroom without approved plans from the Harare City Council, has been set for April 19, 2023.

Katsimberis, who is now being represented by Tinotenda Chinyoka after dumping his previous lawyers, has had his trial postponed on several occasions at his request.

He has previously engaged more than eight lawyers, among them advocates, Chinyoka, Lewis Uriri, Tawanda Kanengoni, Charles Warara, and Tendai Biti.

Katsimberis has also filed several court applications seeking the recusal of magistrates, prosecutors, postponements and other requests.

He allegedly entered an agreement with a local property developing company to build cluster houses in Borrowdale, Harare, at a cost of US$1 million.

Contrary to the terms of the agreement, Katsimberis allegedly constructed a showroom without an approved plan from the City of Harare.

It later allegedly emerged that the plan had been fraudulently acquired and the building material used was substandard, leading to the demolition of the structure by city authorities.