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Source: COVID-19 cases at Mat North school rise to 122 – NewsDay Zimbabwe

THE number of COVID-19 cases at John Tallach Secondary School, 40km outside Bulawayo, has risen to 122 amid fears the figures could still go up.

Testing is still ongoing and the figure could rise, Primary and Secondary Education ministry spokesman Taungana Ndoro said yesterday.

The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland-run school has an enrolment of over 623 pupils.

“As of this morning, we have 118 students and four teachers who have been infected with the virus,” Ndoro told online news outlet ZimLive, adding that the majority of them were asymptomatic.

The Health ministry has set up a temporary clinic at the school and stopped people from coming in or going out at the institution.

“Students, school employees and teachers are isolated at the school, so parents and families are protected,” Ndoro said.

An emergency was declared at the school last week after six pupils were found to have above normal temperatures during routine screening.

Five later tested positive for the virus which has infected 9 046 Zimbabweans and killed 265 others since March.

The government has been criticised over its decision to reopen schools in the middle of a pandemic, but Ndoro maintained that they have so far been successful in curtailing the spread of the virus.

“The situation across the country is manageable and the infection rate at the school in Matabeleland North represents 0,002% of learners affected countrywide, showing that the ministry’s standard operating procedures have currently got a success rate of 99,998%,” he said. — ZimLive

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Source: Red Cross boss fires subordinates ‘for exposing corruption’ – NewsDay Zimbabwe

 

ZIMBABWE Red Cross Society (ZRCS) acting secretary-general Elias Hwenga yesterday appeared before a Harare magistrate facing charges of obstructing or defeating the course of justice after he allegedly fired subordinates who had exposed corruption within the organisation to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc).

BY MIRIAM MANGWAYA

The State, represented by prosecutor Ephraim Zinyandu, alleges that sometime in May 2020, some ZRCS employees received anonymous information through their emails which allegedly unearthed rampant corruption and they forwarded it to Zacc.

Following the submission of that information, Zacc launched a probe on three senior officials among them ZRCS board president Edson Mlambo, secretary-general Maxwell Phiri and Midlands provincial chairperson Vutete Mazorodze Hapanyengwi who are all facing fraud charges at the courts.

The complainants in the case, Davison Mutikori, Norman Takawira, Bernard Mupandira, Morris Machawira who are former ZRCS managers and Fidelis Muyedziwa, were fired following their participation in interviews during the Zacc probe, which led to the arrest of the three bosses.

After they were arrested, Mlambo and Phiri, who is still at large, then appointed Hwenga as the acting secretary-general who then signed letters which terminated the contracts of the four managers.

The complainants were served with suspension notices, called for a hearing, but the charges were later withdrawn before they responded to the allegations and were fired instead.

According to the State, almost every employee who was interviewed by Zacc during investigations on the bosses was fired as their superiors suspected that they had leaked information which resulted in them being investigated.

The State also alleges that the tip off to Zacc was written by one or more employees at ZRCS since it contained internal information which was only known to employees.

Hwenga, who is being represented by Admire Rubaya, applied for bail, but the State opposed, arguing that he was likely to tamper with evidence which was under his custody as the police had not yet retrieved the documents from him.

The State also argued that he was likely to interfere with the witnesses who are his former subordinates as he had already blocked their emails.

Hwenga was not asked to plead when he appeared before magistrate Ngoni Nduna.

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Source: Family feuds delay Moana burial | Newsday (Entertainment)

THE burial of late fitness trainer, video vixen and model Michelle “Moana” Amuli was stopped at the 11th hour yesterday as family wrangles took centre stage.

BY KENNEDY NYAVAYA

Her burial was initially set for Wednesday at Zororo Park Cemetery along Seke Road and was later moved to yesterday, before being called off again as her parents could not agree on religious rites and burial site.

Moana died in a horrific accident last week that also claimed the lives of socialite Genius “Ginimbi” Kadungure, Malawian businessman Limumba Karim and Mozambican model Alicha Adams.

While Ginimbi was buried in style on Saturday, Moana’s burial has been delayed by endless fueds between her parents who are on separation.

Moana’s maternal Uncle Austin Chimedza confirmed the chaos saying they had resolved to have the burial order cancelled until the matter is finalised.

“The Amuli family has changed goalposts on us because we had agreed on how we were going to conduct the funeral, so we are not happy with that,” he said.

“They also went to get the burial order, but we want to get it cancelled because they have changed all our plans including where she will be buried because we had bought a grave at Zororo Cemetery, but they now want to bury her at Warren Hills.”

On Wednesday, dramatic scenes characterised a meeting between both parties which ended in a stalemate as Moana’s father, Ishmael and his family refused to process the burial order if their wishes to conduct Muslim rites were not granted.

This resulted in the shelving of the initial plans to conduct a church service at Doves funeral parlour before a night vigil in Highfield ahead of the abandoned burial.

Her maternal side had organised a drive to the accident scene along Borrowdale Road before proceeding to Highfield.

Meanwhile, Doves Holdings said despite the squabbles it would play its part since it had an obligation to do so.

“We charge for the service and since we have not done it yet, we are still going to carry out the burial tomorrow,” said Doves Holdings spokesperson Innocent Tshuma.

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THE Government is currently the highest paying employer in the [...]

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