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Source: ZIMBABWE POLITICS | IMPACT OF CHAMISA’S EXIT FROM MAIN OPPOSITION

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Rutendo Nyeve, Sunday News Reporter

THE Government has warned traditional leaders and individuals who are parcelling out State land to desperate land seekers in return for kickbacks, saying such behaviour was a criminal offence.

The Government said it will not hesitate to dismiss and prosecute those found on the wrong side of the law. The warning comes at a time when the parcelling out and selling of State land has become rampant countrywide with four village heads from Dema in Mashonaland East Province having been convicted after appearing in court for selling stands in undesignated places and pocketing the proceeds.

To curb the menace, the Government has been carrying out capacity building workshops within the country’s eight rural provinces to conscientise traditional leaders on their role and ensure they do not overstep their mandate. The issue of land distribution in exchange for bribes was one of the major objective of the workshops. The available land is advertised on social media as “Sabhuku deals”. The deals are said to be rampant in most parts of the country, especially in areas near towns and cities.

Responding to questions from Sunday News, Director of Communication and Advocacy in the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works Mr Gabriel Masvora confirmed that they were receiving reports  where village heads were parcelling out State land and receiving payments. He said their ministry conducted workshops with the aim of curbing the illicit land deals by traditional leaders.

“The sale of State land is illegal. The duties of a village head are clearly spelt out in Section 12 of the Traditional Leaders Act 29:17 and do not include allocation of land. Land is allocated by the rural district council concerned after the submission of names of those who want communal land to council and a resolution is then made. Our ministry carried out capacity building workshops from May 2022 to April 2023 at all the eight rural provinces in every district and the meetings were attended by chiefs, headmen and village heads. Duties of each traditional leader were explained and illegalities spelt out. Chiefs and headmen supervise village heads and where rampant sale of land takes place they are empowered by the law to recommend dismissal,” said Mr Masvora.

He said Section 13 of the Traditional Leaders Act 29:17 spells out the disciplinary action that would be taken in the event of an offence or misconduct by a village head.

“We continue to engage the Council of Chiefs which is an assembly of elected traditional leaders and the provincial assembly chairpersons to continue to raise awareness of the illegality of land sales and the consequences thereof. Several village heads have been convicted of illegal land sales in the country with the recent example of Dema village heads who were convicted on 8 January 2024,” said Mr Masvora.

In an interview, Zimbabwe Council of Chiefs president Chief Mtshane Khumalo said as traditional leaders, they know that State land should not be sold and if ever there were traditional leaders selling State land, the law enforcement agents should arrest them.

“It is known that State land should not be sold, so those engaging in that will be contravening the law and are candidates for prosecution,” he said. -@nyeve14

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THE Hwange community is appealing to the Hwange Colliery Company to improve their water and sanitation provision to starve off the cholera epidemic, whose spreading countrywide has forced Hwange to shut down all unlicenced food outlets in the mining town.

Speaking during a Cholera Response meeting recently held in Hwange, community leaders said there is an urgent need to renovate the common ablutions in concession areas. A local religious leader Pastor Emmanuel Nkomo said the toilets in the concession area are in a sorry state.

“The toilets are unbearable, they have burst pipes and some don’t even work at all. In an event we have confirmed cholera cases, Hwange residents will be doomed,” he said.

Zimbabwe has declared a state of emergency over a cholera outbreak, Hwange has recorded 10 suspected cholera cases in the concession area. Another, Pastor Moyo was not happy with the continued open defecation by some church members in Hwange.

Public Health Officer Medicine Shonai from Hwange Colliery Hospital said the  company was working tirelessly to ensure guided safety measures and re-inforcing  good hygiene practices within the concession area.

“We know our common toilets and bathrooms in the concession area are not in the best state, but we really are working towards improving them. We continue to commend the tireless efforts of healthcare workers, community leaders and their resilience.

We are working towards the improvement of water provision in the concession area. We need to work together, as all stakeholders and improve the sanitation in Hwange,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Hwange Local Board has closed all unlicenced food preparation outlets and those operating from undesignated areas. The move was necessitated by the need to fight a cholera outbreak which has been reported in Hwange urban.

The ban was announced by the Acting Town Secretary Paulus Mabhureni, who said the local authority had also banned church gatherings which operate without toilets.

“We have also banned all open –air church gatherings and all worship activities at premises without ablution facilities.

Failure to provide ablution facilities poses a risk to open defecation leading to the spread of communicable diseases such as cholera,” he said.

Mabhureni urged the public to exercise good hygiene practices.

“We urge members of the public to exercise good hygiene, which include thorough washing of hands after using the toilets as well as before handling or preparing food and drinking water from protected sources or boiling water before drinking.

They must desist from buying food, fruits and vegetables from vendors at  undesignated vending sites. Residents are also advised to seek early treatment for suspected diarrhoeal illness.

Hwange district has since activated the Civil Protection Committees with concerns of outbreak of Cholera in Hwange. Sources close to the committee revealed that the Cholera hotspot in Hwange is Number 3 residential area. (source: NewZiana)

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A 26-year-old Sizinda man in Bulawayo was forced out of bed by a friend, only to meet his death moments later at a nearby nightclub on Friday night. The deceased, identified as Mthokozisi Ndlovu, had already retired to bed and had managed to ward off manoeuvres from a friend to go drinking. But when his […]

Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter

THE Government has warned parents and guardians who have taken it upon themselves to ensure they belong to multiple School Development Committees (SDCs) and even in schools where their children were not learning, to stop the rot, urging parents to belong to one school committee at a time.

Addressing school heads in Bulawayo on Thursday, the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Hon Torerayi Moyo, said his ministry was aware of parents who were becoming career SDC members in different schools, just to manipulate the committees for their benefit. He said he had already penned a Statutory Instrument to that effect.

“You cannot be a member of the SDC at two or three schools, I have written a Statutory Instrument (SI) and it is coming. The President has agreed, we are going to harmonise SDC’s and SDA’s, we have done that. What is left is for the Attorney General to look at it but I am sure the SI should come out anytime soon. We want real parents, not people masquerading as parents to be members of the SDCs, no,” he said.

He said only bona fide parents with children at a particular school must be allowed to make decisions. He was speaking following reports of people who join multiple SDCs despite their children not belonging to those schools and manipulating school systems. The minister said parents who do not have children at some schools but are members of the SDCs were influencing school fees increases at the expense of the “real parents” who may not be in the committees. He encouraged schools to be thorough when nominating members to the committees.

Turning to the issue of extra lessons that were clandestinely happening in various schools, the minister said teachers would face the wrath of the ministry.

“It is so disturbing to find a teacher collecting money from a few students, five or 10 students, and concentrating on those 10 whose parents would have paid for extra lessons. The rule is, that no extra lessons must be conducted, and headmasters, it is your duty to write a charge sheet for a teacher who is doing that. Right now we are processing papers for a teacher in Manicaland who had sent messages to parents saying they were only going to teach learners who had paid US$10 per child for extra lessons,” he added.

The minister said lack of internal supervision in schools had an adverse effect on learners as no teaching takes place during working hours and extra lessons were therefore done after hours to benefit those who would have paid. He said the Government was not going to witch-hunt for teachers who conduct extra lessons in their homes or other places, but said in the school setup, it was illegal to do so.–@NyembeziMu

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