Zim News Blog -NEWS NETWORK

Source: Editorial Comment: Begging bowl exposes govt – The Standard March 3, 2019

Editorial Comment

After months of propaganda extolling command agriculture as runaway success, the government last week joined hands with the United Nations (UN) and other partners to launch an urgent appeal for US$234 million to feed millions of Zimbabweans facing starvation this year.

According to the UN, a staggering 5,3 million Zimbabweans will need food assistance until June this year following poor harvests last season.

UN under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency affairs relief coordinator Mark Lowcock said the money would be used “to enable humanitarian agencies to provide time-critical and multi-sectoral assistance — including food, nutrition, water and sanitation and protection — both urban and rural areas.”

That Zimbabwe is facing a serious economic crisis that has seriously compromised the quality of life in both urban and rural areas is no longer debatable.

The country now has to frequently fend off outbreaks of mediaeval diseases such as typhoid and cholera every year.

Last year cholera killed over 100 people in separate outbreaks across the country.

Lack of proper sanitation has reached crisis levels in almost every urban centre in Zimbabwe due to years of neglect of infrastructure by central government.

However, in the past two years or so the government has been pouring millions of dollars into command agriculture ostensibly to end food insecurity.

Economists estimate that up to $3 billion has been given to companies behind command agriculture through debt instruments, which means future generations would have to pay up at some point.

The government has been proclaiming instant success in command agriculture and Agriculture minister Perance Shiri is on record saying the programme was here to stay because government had made its targets of ensuring food security.

However, Lowcock’s visit last week and the subsequent UN appeal showed that Zimbabwe is still struggling to feed its own people and claims that command agriculture has been a success are misleading .

The situation is worsened by the fact that President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government does not appreciate the fact the mass starvation facing a huge part of the population is a result of its poor planning.

For the government, it is business as usual.

This is demonstrated by the top leadership’s love for luxurious travels with recent reports indicating that Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga could have spent as much as US$5 000 000 flying to India for treatment.

It is an embarrassment for a country with so much economic potential to be going around with a begging bowl to other countries to help feed its own citizens.

It is high time the government produced viable agricultural policies that will mitigate against climate change, which has seen a significant reduction in crop yields and stop burdening fiscus with communist programmes such as command agriculture.

The post Editorial Comment: Begging bowl exposes govt  appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

Following the threat to have him extradited to Zimbabwe, Professor Jonathan Moyo has responded that he’s not afraid of any effort to extradite him: BRING IT ON. Extradition is a legal & not diplomatic process. It would be great to tell the world via an impartial court why & how I LAWFULLY fled Zim! "Noose […]

Source: Let's shame our detractors, cdes! Give ED a chance | Daily News

There are times when I really think we Zimbabweans are very ungrateful.

All we do is moan, curse, rant, rave, and practically do anything to show our people’s President, Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, in a bad light.

This is the same man who secured an overwhelming landslide of 50,6 percent of the vote.

He did not get his mandate by accident, he worked hard for it. And he is still working hard to fulfil it.

I am sure we all remember how he courted the local white and Indian voters during the election campaigns.

I particularly liked the way he addressed them at special venues like halls and at the Borrowdale Race Course, serving them tea and scones while wearing his now famous trademark scarf (oh yes, he personally served them tea!).

And how his party spent millions of dollars on imported top-of- the-range vehicles, those brilliant billboards, bright T-shirts, caps, scarfs, Zambia clothes and other paraphernalia that were printed in China.

He even advertised his campaign on Google Ads, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube!

I mean, how many candidates could do that? Need I mention his place among the vapostori of this nation, who gave him his own gown and stick when he paid them a visit at their shrine?

And those billboards have become the stuff of legend.

Here are just a few of the messages: The Voice of the People Is the Voice Of God… Affordable Quality Health Care Guaranteed… A Visionary Mature Leadership… For A Modern Railway Transportation System… Power Generation To Create Energy Surplus… Promoting International Trade Via World Class Borders.. Delivering The Zimbabwe You Want… For Robust Development… For Real Jobs, Jobs, Jobs… Upholding Our Rich Culture & Values… For The Protection & Nurturing Of Our Girl Child… For Principled & Strong Leadership… Clean Fresh Water For All… the man is fulfilling all these promises.

This man is a legend! What more do Zimbabweans want?

Ever since he won the July 30 elections, he has been flying in and out of the country, signing mega deals with friendly countries, hardly having enough time to sleep.

He has chartered the most expensive planes and booked the most expensive hotels to make sure his efforts come to fruition, iwe woshora…  And his minister of Finance Mthuli Ncube has hardly been in the country, flying all over the world, flying first class too and sleeping in the best hotels, sparing no expense to give us the prosperity we so desperately want.

Like everyone says, let’s give ED a chance.

Already, he has seen the plight of Zimbabweans who can no longer go to work because of high transport fares, and he recently introduced privately-owned buses to transport people under the Zupco banner.

This was after he had announced higher fuel prices, in order to deal the black market a huge blow!

Then he revived all those buses that had been off the road for a long time and put them onto rural roads.

Everyone is now happy.

And now the good news is government will soon partner with a baker who will bake a special loaf for the low income earners.

This is sweet news to those who love their tea with bread every day!!!

I now foresee a situation where our president will soon embark on a fast track rehabilitation of rural and urban roads after he is finished with widening and tarring the highways. Vakarongeka vakururu ava.

The rehabilitation of rural roads should fairly be easy: all the president has to do is announce that he will be visiting a certain growth point.

I assure you the road to that growth point will be tarred a few days before he even goes there!

That’s how effective our president is.

Something profound about the way he carries that scarf around his shoulders as a reminder to the weight of our problems he carries on his shoulders.

Now imagine him visiting all the growth points in the country….

The post Let’s shame our detractors, cdes! Give ED a chance appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

A top MDC official has sensationally claimed that party officials, especially those who will be voting in the upcoming congress are being paid large sums of money to vote out Nelson Chamisa from the party’s presidency. But Zanu PF has angrily dismissed the allegations. MDC vice president Morgen Komichi said on Friday that Zanu PF […]

Source: Kereke, prison bosses embroiled in chicken scandal | The Standard (Local News)

BY CHARLES LAITON

Three senior Zimbabwe Prison and Correctional Services (ZPCS) officers have been arrested on charges of engaging in a chicken project with jailed rapist and former senior Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe official Munyaradzi Kereke.

The trio are being charged for their links with Humanity Earth Trust founded by Kereke.

Senior sssistant commissioner Norbert Chomurenga, chief correctional officer Cephas Chiparausha and assistant commissioner Tonderai Mutiwaringa were all not asked to plead when they appeared before Harare magistrate Learnmore Mapiye last Friday, facing charges of criminal abuse of duty as public officers.

They were all remanded out of custody on $100 bail each.

Prosecutors said the three men also gave preferential treatment to Kereke in the form of allowing unscheduled visits from his relatives, enjoying extra free time compared to other prisoners and not allowing him to carry out any manual work in terms of set-out procedures.

Allegations against Chomurenga (58), Chiparausha (43) and Mutiwaringa (56) are that during the period extending from September 25 to August 2018, Chomurenga was the officer-in-charge at Chikurubi Maximum Prison being deputised by Mutiwaringa, while Chiparausha was the head of security.

After Kereke was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in July 2016, he was committed to Chikurubi Maximum Prison under prison number 594/16 where he then met the three top prison officers.

On September 25, 2017, it is alleged Chomurenga and Chiparausha, who were acting in connivance with Mutiwaringa, in their personal capacities, entered into a memorandum of understanding with Humanity Earth Trust.

Prosecutors said the manner in which the contract was signed was inconsistent with how ZPCS enters into contracts and it was unknown to ZPCS commissioner-general Paradzai Zimondi.

They said during the period extending from September 25, 2017 to August 2018, Humanity Earth Trust provided a total of 3 000 birds, feed, medication and other sanitary requirements for the chicken-rearing project.

The three accused, as part of the agreement, provided space and labour in the form of prisoners, but for their personal benefit.

When the chickens were being sold, the customers paid money into Chiparausha’s EcoCash number 0773 834 712 and in the end his account was credited with a total of $8 282.

In December 2017, Mutiwaringa, who took over as officer-in-charge after the promotion and transfer of Chomurenga, received $2 252 from Chiparausha through his EcoCash number 0772812662 being project proceeds.

The post Kereke, prison bosses embroiled in chicken scandal appeared first on The Standard.

The post Kereke, prison bosses embroiled in chicken scandal appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.