Zim News Blog -NEWS NETWORK

Source: We’ll investigate basic goods scarcity: Govt –Newsday Zimbabwe

GOVERNMENT says it needs more time to investigate the disappearance of basic goods in supermarkets and retail shops.

During a question-and-answer session in the National Assembly, Mpopoma-Mzilikazi legislator Charles Moyo (Citizens Coalition for Change) asked what measures government had put in place to curtail the disappearance of basic commodities from supermarkets as well as stabilising prices in both local and foreign currencies.

 

Leader of government business in Parliament, Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi (pictured) said the ministry would analyse the situation to verify whether goods are actually disappearing from shop shelves.

“This is extremely specific and it needs me to interrogate it to have the relevant ministry doing an analysis of whether goods are disappearing, whether there is an impact that has happened because of the budget,” Ziyambi said.

“Once they do that analysis, we will be able to inform the government to make the necessary interventions.

“I admit what he is saying may be very correct, but I cannot answer that without specific evidence that this has happened because of this and therefore, there is need for an intervention.”

 

According to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency’s latest data on monthly prices released recently, the minimum amount required for a single person to buy enough food to meet their basic needs rose to ZWL$155 360,39 in January from ZWL$106 696,52 in December last year.

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Source: Armed robbers jailed 92 years –Newsday Zimbabwe

THREE armed robbers who had been terrorising pirate taxis in Beitbridge border town were yesterday slapped with a combined 92-year jail term by regional magistrate Innocent Bepura.

John Allan Nyoni, Tichaona Dave and Bill Machingura had denied the charges, but were nailed due to overwhelming evidence.

 

 

Bepura said Beitbridge residents need safety assurances and protection which the courts can only give through long deterrent sentences on the accused persons.

Dave and Tirihama will serve a 40-year jail term each for the five counts of armed robbery they committed, while Nyoni was sentenced to 12 years in prison for one count.

In his lengthy judgment and subsequent ruling, Bepura said despite the trio being first offenders, they started crime at the deep end and their offences were serious.

“This is a serious offence which calls for stiffer terms. Your short spree on taxi robberies had serious aggravating elements in that you used weapons, knives and guns. You hit your victims and one lost his tooth. You stripped naked another. You tied yet another one and dumped him in the bush and took away his car though it was recovered. You used violence to subdue your victims,” the magistrate said.

 

The three also clobbered senseless one of their victims after he resisted and fought back.

“Your moral blame-worthiness is high. The aggravating circumstances by far outweigh your mitigation and the prevalence of robberies in Beitbridge is high. The residents live in perpetual fear and it is the duty of the courts to assure their safety by giving deterrent sentences,” Bepura added.

Edgar Gutsa — who was stripped of his car, cash and cellphones on December 7, 2022 — asked the court to jail them for 40 years each.

 

He, like all the other victims, said he was traumatised, humiliated and incurred huge loss of business. He could no longer drive at night and feared carrying passengers.

Another victim, Muziwakhe Dube, who was attacked on January 9 last year while having sex with his girlfriend in a vehicle, said there was no difference between these men and murderers.

He suggested that they be jailed 15 years each for his pain.

Reginald Tumbare, who permanently lost his Honda Fit vehicle and a tooth after they attacked him, asked the court to jail them for 20 years each for what they did to him.

Both Nyoni and Dave were artisanal miners in Mazowe, who travelled 700km to Beitbridge to commit the offences.

They targeted lonely taxi drivers under the pretext they were hiring their services, only to violently rob them at secluded places in Beitbridge’s Dulibadzimu high-density suburb.

Willbrought Muleya prosecuted.

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Source: ED nephew assault saga: New details emerge –Newsday Zimbabwe

TOURISM deputy minister Tongai Mafidi Mnangagwa was assaulted by one of the security personnel attached at the Zanu PF headquarters, it has emerged.

Munyaradzi Mwedziwendira, who is accused of assaulting Mnangagwa and one Wellington Vengesai during a heated exchange over parking space, yesterday appeared before Harare magistrate Apollonia Marutya and pleaded guilty to the offence.

He will return to court on Monday for sentencing.

Mwedziwendira, who is also charged with possession of prohibited drugs, told the court that he is employed as a security detail at the Zanu PF headquarters in Harare.

According to court papers, on January 30 at around 10pm, at Number 6 Trud Mansions, corner 6th Street and Five Avenue in the capital, Vengesai accompanied Mnangagwa and Handson Gapa out of his apartment to his motor vehicle parked outside after attending a party held at his flat.

It is alleged that on the way to the parking lot, the complainants came across the accused person, who was talking on top of his voice complaining that Mnangagwa and his team had blocked his motor vehicles.

The accused person charged towards Mnangagwa, who he held by the collar before turning and charged towards Vengesai.

Mwedziwendira held Vengesai by his beard using both hands and asked him why he was not shaving his beard.

The accused person went on to say that if the complainants were to make fun of him, he was going to shoot them.

 

Mwedziwendira, however, did not produce any firearm.

The complainants managed to push the accused person away and the accused tried to assault Gapa, who overpowered him.

The accused person went to one of his cars parked outside, a Nissan Caravan, and sped off.

The complainant did not sustain any injuries as a result of the assault.

The accused was arrested by a team from the CID Homicide led by detective Brian Maigeta.

Mnangagwa is the nephew of President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

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Source: Tshabangu’s CCC confident of victory – The Southern Eye

SELF–PROCLAIMED interim Citizen Coalition for Change (CCC) secretary-general Sengezo Tshabangu says CCC is poised to grab the Mpopoma-Tshabalala constituency in today’s by-election.

Tshabangu’s spokesperson Khaliphani Phugeni told Southern Eye that they have been on the ground conducting door to door campaigns and answering questions from the electorate.

 

“Campaigning was very peaceful, we were going door-to-door, which we find to be a very effective method of selling our candidate to the voters and we do it with the candidate so she can meet the voters face to face. They asked questions and she answered, we also distributed flyers and pasted posters,” Phugeni said.

“We feel the ground is fertile and we are very optimistic of a win.”

Zanu PF Bulawayo provincial spokesperson Archibald Chiponda, however, said their candidate Joseph Tshuma was doing well because he is a former MP for Mpopoma constituency.

 

 

“He is a known member of the Bulawayo community he is seeking to represent. We are coming from general elections and more by-elections, so we are prepared in terms of campaign preparedness, this is something as an organisation we are very used to,” Chiponda said.

A number of by-elections are also being held across the country in constituencies that include Goromonzi South, Mkoba North and Seke.

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Source: Gweru workers declare incapacitation – The Southern Eye

GWERU City Council workers have notified their employer that they are incapacitated and now destitute due to poor salaries.

In a letter dated January 31 addressed to acting town clerk Livingstone Churu, the workers revealed that failing to put food on the table is affecting their ability to fully perform their duties.

 

“After several works council meetings and request for meetings which have not brought any tangible results in terms of salary adjustments for your employees who continue to wallow in extreme economic challenges to the extent of failing of failing to afford basics such as food, rent and transport, we have resorted to concerted action (sic),” the letter read.

“We, therefore, notify you that your employees are now with immediate effect incapacitated to provide the usual services because of lack of food and transport money. We hope that your urgent financial intervention to cushion your employees to avoid the apparent incapacitation will save the situation.”

Contacted for comment, mayor Martin Chivhoko said negotiations between council and workers were on-going to address the workers’ grievances.

 

“We definitely understand the plight of workers, given the economic situation affecting not only our employees, but everyone in the country,” he said.

“Through dialogue, a mutual agreement would be reached and our doors will always be open to listen to the concerns of our employees.”

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