Source: Chibaya application dismissed | Newsday (News) BY BRENNA MATENDERE MIDLANDS provincial magistrate, Charity Maphosa yesterday dismissed an application by MDC national organising secretary, Amos Chibaya to have his passport released by the court so that he travels abroad on parliamentary business. The Mkoba legislator’s passport is being held at the courts as part of […]
MIDLANDS provincial magistrate, Charity Maphosa yesterday dismissed an application by MDC national organising secretary, Amos Chibaya to have his passport released by the court so that he travels abroad on parliamentary business.
The Mkoba legislator’s passport is being held at the courts as part of his bail conditions in a case where he is accused of subverting a constitutionally-elected government.
Charges emanate from an interview he allegedly granted to Daily News and was quoted as having said: “… 2019 is the year that we are going to send [President Emmerson] Mnangagwa packing… We are not going to go on the streets to toyi-toyi, but go straight to State House, because that is where there is the person who stole the elections.”
He denies the charge.
Through his lawyer, Tonderai Chitere, Chibaya applied for the release of his passport so that he can travel to Doha, Qatar, on Parliament business. However, Maphosa dismissed the application saying she needed consent from the Prosecutor-General, Kumbirai Hodzi to grant an order for release of the travel document.
“At law I am not allowed to accede to the application without the personal consent of the Prosecutor-General, because the accused is facing a third schedule offence. Section 116 of the Criminal Law and Codification Act is clear that where an accused is facing a third schedule offence, a magistrate cannot relax bail conditions set already without a personal consent for the same coming from the PG. Accordingly, the application for release of the passport is dismissed,” she said.
Earlier on, public prosecutor Namatirai Chipere told the court that the State’s hands were tied on whether or not to accede to the application by Chibaya, citing the same requirement of consent by the PG.
After the proceedings, Chibaya’s lawyer said he will be taking the application to the High Court, adding that there is no reason why his client should be denied access to the passport when he has proven he wants to use it on Parliament business.
The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority says it will continue charging duty in foreign currency on goods designated to pay in forex despite the liberalisation of trading of the United States dollar exchange rate against Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) Dollars…
The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority says it will continue charging duty in foreign currency on goods designated to pay in forex despite the liberalisation of trading of the United States dollar exchange rate against Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) Dollars and all other currencies in the multi-currency basket. Last week, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe floated […]
Source: Call for MDC congress to uplift women – NewsDay Zimbabwe February 26, 2019 BY SILAS NKALA WOMEN’S Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence (Walpe) has called on the Nelson Chamisa-led MDC to give women fair opportunities to take up top leadership positions at its congress pencilled for May 24 to 26. Chamisa, during the […]
WOMEN’S Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence (Walpe) has called on the Nelson Chamisa-led MDC to give women fair opportunities to take up top leadership positions at its congress pencilled for May 24 to 26.
Chamisa, during the party’s thank you rally in Gweru on Sunday, indicated that during the upcoming congress every position will be contested including the presidency.
In a statement yesterday, Walpe said it was necessary for the main opposition party to consider placing women in influential positions.
The organisation quoted remarks by a former Head of the United Nations Women, Michelle Bachelet, who is also former President and Defence minister of Chile, who said: “For me, a better democracy is a democracy where women do not only have the right to vote and to elect, but to be elected.”
Walpe called for a level playing field for all contestants and said the MDC should guarantee a violence-free environment.
“Women’s political empowerment and access to leadership positions, at all levels, are fundamental to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the United Nations Women 50/50 gender representation agenda,” the Walpe statement said.
“As the MDC goes on a leadership renewal exercise, Walpe appeals for a level playing field for all contestants. The party must guarantee an environment that is free of violence, harassment and victimisation of women contesters, name-calling, body-shaming and cyber-bullying of female candidates. Further, the party must outlaw vote buying which creates an imbalance for women who are traditionally under-resourced.”
Walpe urged the party to set up an independent disciplinary and dispute resolution committee to adequately deal with potential cases of violence against women and/or infringement of ethical codes of conduct and those found guilty must be held accountable.
The organisation also called upon the opposition party to ensure that all congress-related processes are done during friendly hours to allow women to freely participate.
“Elections that run well into the night curtails women’s participation as they have other important social responsibilities to attend to. Therefore, all programming related to congress must be gender sensitive,” Walpe said.
“Women’s participation is important for internal party democracy and for broader development of national democracy as such, it is critical to ensure women compete for leadership positions at all levels of party structures instead of second tier positions such as deputies, welfare or portfolio secretaries.
“Going forward, Walpe will closely monitor and report on leadership renewal processes of all political parties to inform national and international opinion on how individual parties are faring in promoting women political participation and leadership,” it added.
In response, MDC spokesperson Jacob Mafume said: “We actually have two areas where women can participate, which is the women’s assembly and the main wing.
“The women assembly is wholly for them, but it doesn’t end there. They can also compete in the main wing of the party if they manage to secure the nomination. We have created a conducive environment for their participation.”
Zimbabwe currently has just above 30% female representation in the National Assembly.
Violence and intimidation during elections in local politics has been identified as a major contributing factor to failure by women to participate in politics.
Netflix beat out competitors in a bidding war to secure the rights to Zimbabwean newcomer Godwin Jabangwe’s musical ‘Tunga’. The musical was inspired by Zimbabwean mythology and the screenwriter’s upbringing. U.S-based Netflix launches in South […]…
Netflix beat out competitors in a bidding war to secure the rights to Zimbabwean newcomer Godwin Jabangwe’s musical ‘Tunga’. The musical was inspired by Zimbabwean mythology and the screenwriter’s upbringing. U.S-based Netflix launches in South [...]
Source: Battlefields: A place of blood, conflict and pain | Newsday (News) By John Mokwetsi Ronald Dzumbunu’s face reflects a picture of concern and torment as the sputtering sound of a generator powering the water pump being used to flush water out of a mine shaft to rescue four trapped miners could be heard kilometres […]
Ronald Dzumbunu’s face reflects a picture of concern and torment as the sputtering sound of a generator powering the water pump being used to flush water out of a mine shaft to rescue four trapped miners could be heard kilometres away.
Dzumbunu’s distress has been felt in the rural setting of Muzvezve, about 180km from the capital, Harare, where a mine shaft was flooded by water after torrential rains burst the makeshift soil walls.
Scores of artisanal miners were trapped and many died. Of the trapped, 24 bodies have been recovered while eight people were rescued in one of the biggest disasters to befall the country.
Dzumbunu, with a measured voice and as he gawps into the blank space as if deep in thought, said: “I know two people from the four who are still trapped underground.
“I sometimes feel like they are calling for help and urging us not to give up on them.
“Those are the people we grew up with. I am saying that they are still to be rescued, deliberately, because I believe God is with them and they will come out alive.”
But even as Dzumbunu is hopeful that the four might come out alive, he lapses at intervals and uses the past tense: “These were family men. They were breadwinners and it saddens us that this happened.”
This has been day five and relatives of the affected have kept vigil at the disused Cricket mine.
BATTLEFIELDS DISASTER: WHAT REALLY HAPPENED
Silent prayers, fighting tears and agonising occasional pump breakdowns defined the wait and the sombre mood.
For some, it was just a wait for the normalisation of mining activities.
“This is where the food comes from. This is my job and our livelihood,” said an artisanal miner called Mike who was smoking marijuana with a host of others who vowed that as soon as the rescue mission is called off, they want to go back underground in search of the stone that glitters — gold.
“We do not know any other way and while this is sad, this mine is what our lives are all about,” one of them said.
“We are waiting to continue digging.”
Mike added that as an artisanal miner, he had experienced horrible accidents underground, but the Battlefields disaster was the worst.
“We go underground, knowing that anything can happen to us at any given time, and that is alright with us,” he said.
“People die for various reasons and the major one being a collapse of the shaft.
“We experience that as we do our work but that is our employment that is what keeps my family alive.”
However, there is nothing that reflects that gold glitters in this rural community.
Workers using earth moving equipment were busy patching the gravel road that branches from the Harare – Bulawayo highway to the mines.
The stretch is about 7km to Silver Moon and Cricket mines.
Mining conglomerate RioZim holds the licence to mine, but, according to the company’s group corparate affairs executive Wilson Gwatiringa, they have no operations in the area.
“It is almost a misnomer to have these earth-movers here as if we finally have the gold to rescue us from the poverty that gnashes us.
“People died and this is just not a number to flaunt and a time for politically correct actions.
“We are saying these were breadwinners and we can do without the hypocrisy of government people ordering a road to be sorted.
“We deserve better,” said Takura Mutambo, who was among the gold panners waiting for the rescue mission by the Civil Protection Unit and other mining companies called in for technical support.
Mutambo added: “We are unemployed. We have never had support. You need to be politically connected to get an opportunity.
“For example these mines were a reward to the youths and without being part of the group you could not go underground. It is dangerous to be panning, but what options do we have?”
Many drop out of school to pursue what is regarded as easy money.
A vendor who referred to herself as Gogo Mutema said most children were dropping out of school to fend for their families.
“Schools are far away from where we live. Children here grew up working in farms around or the only other life they got exposed to is this way of life.
“The problem is that even when they get the money, the only way they celebrate is by drinking and having sex and this has been a cycle. The gold is both a curse and a blessing,” she said.
Besides deaths from working without the required safety protocols for mining given the illegality of gold panners, there is also a high number that have been murdered in the mining fields around the Zimbabwe.
In Kwekwe, which is about 40km from Muzvezve, residents of the city have been living with the reality of the machete wars among gangs that attack each other over gold.
This is a town that is supposed to show wealth and status owing to its strategic positioning above goldfields, but it has instead become a place of blood, conflict and pain.
“This is my fear,” Dzumbunu said.
“We prefer it here because we managed to talk to each other and protect what we have.
“This is a no machete zone. At some point in the past the Mashurugwi (colloquial for gold panners from Shurugwi notorious for using the machete to settle scores) came here with their machete behaviour and we stopped it.”
Last month Mbizo legislator, Settlement Chikwinya (MDC Alliance) vowed to confront head-on youths moving around attacking residents with machetes over politics and mineral resources in and around Kwekwe, but enjoying impunity because of their alleged links to Zanu PF.
Speaking to Southern Eye, Chikwinya vowed to end the lawlessness, saying: “Mbizo now deserves peace”.
He added then: “We can’t be counting bodies every month and injuries every day from people we are aware of.
“Mbizo has recorded a death rate of close to three people per month in the past six months due to machete violence.
“The machete-wielding youths are largely gold-panners who enjoy impunity provided by the Zanu PF leadership in Kwekwe and so this is what I want to fight against.”
In an interview with one victim last year, the man who had machete injuries and feared for his life told The Standard that being a gold panner was more dangerous than being in a war situation.
As the pump roared and relatives shed tears by each gallon of water that came out, Muzvezve constituency was in a reflective mood, wondering if an ounce of gold was worth the struggle.
“Do they shut down the mine? Do we stop? The human instinct is that we have to survive and we will do all we can for that plate of sadza because our lives depend on it. We are all ready to go underground and earn a living,” Dzumbunu said before digging into a plate of sadza and sour milk.
