Zim News Blog -NEWS NETWORK

MDC-Alliance leader Mr Nelson Chamisa yesterday threatened mass action and to shutdown Harare if President Mnangagwa does not agree to a power-sharing arrangement. Mr Chamisa is calling for an arrangement where he will be given two years to rule the country on a rotational basis. His sentiments fly in the face of an ongoing broad-based […]

Source: Army torture details revealed – The Standard February 24, 2019

BY KENNETH NYANGANI

TWO top MDC Alliance officials in Mutare were allegedly beaten with tree logs and subjected to electric shocks after they were detained overnight by soldiers at Herbert Chitepo Barracks, it has been revealed.

Jack and Dunmore Saunyama who are MDC Alliance’s Mutare South district chairman and Dangamvura/Chikanga constituency ward 6 councillor respectively, were allegedly abducted at Jack’s house in Zimunya township last Tuesday night by at least eight armed soldiers.

They were detained at Herbert Chitepo Barracks (formerly 3 Brigade) before they were “dumped” outside the premises the following day.

Prominent Mutare lawyer Christopher Ndlovu said they now feared for the pair’s safety and had been constantly transferring them to private hospitals secretly for security reasons.

Although Ndlovu refused to identify the private hospital where they were admitted, sources said the two were actually on their way to receive specialist treatment in South Africa after a security breach at a private hospital.

“They were tortured using electric shocks, assaulted with booted feet and tree logs all over their bodies,” Ndlovu said.

“They were asked to make confessions that they participated in a stay-away and they were told to implicate senior officials in the party.

“They were assaulted heavily when they did not make the confessions.

“They are receiving medical treatment at a private hospital and we are hopeful that they are going to recover.

“We are worried about their security. This is the reason why they have been receiving treatment at private hospitals and we are hopeful that the doctors are going to come up with a comprehensive medical report because they are torture victims.”

Ndlovu said when he first attended to the two victims, they were crying for water.

“They had been denied water because I understand that if you give them water they will have internal bleeding. I got that knowledge since I have been covering murder cases for many years,” he added.

Another human rights lawyer in Mutare who requested anonymity confirmed the two brothers would seek help in South Africa.

“As you are aware, our President Emmerson Mnangagwa said that he is coming after us for assisting arrested protesters. We are now afraid to come out in the open to help such victims,” he said.

“But they are on their way to South Africa to seek further medical attention; their air tickets are being processed.”

One of the two officials’ brothers, who also chose to speak on condition of anonymity, said his siblings were traumatised.

“I am now on the wanted list by the soldiers, but what I can say at the moment is that my brothers are traumatised. They are even struggling to eat or drink anything,” he said
“They were subjected to inhumane treatment at the barracks, but we are hopeful they are going to recover.”

MDC Manicaland spokesperson Trevor Saruwaka said soldiers had no right to arrest civilians as it was the duty of the police.

The torture of the Saunyamas followed reports that Noah Sahumbe, also from Zimunya township, was allegedly beaten up by soldiers on January 20 and died later due to internal injuries during the army crackdown following last month’s countrywide protests.

He was allegedly beaten up by soldiers while watching a football match at a local bar.

He died of kidney failure, a post-mortem report revealed.

Human rights organisations say at least 17 people were killed during the army clampdown.

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Source: Muradzikwa steps down from Nicoz | Sunday Mail (Business)

Business Reporter

Veteran insurance expert and managing director of one of the country’s top insurance brands, NicozDiamond, Grace Muradzikwa has stepped down, but is set to bounce back into business in the next month or so.

She steps down from NicozDiamond with effect from 1 March 2019, with Mr David Nyabadza taking over. The development follows NicozDiamond’s merger with TristarInsurance Company owned by parent company First Mutual Life.

Mrs Muradzikwa who has been in the insurance business as way back as 1984, however, said after serving her notice, she will take a short break, probably a month before starting work again.

“To be honest, I am serving my notice, I intend to take a break, maybe a one month break before I start running again, so basically I just want to take a month’s break, my body needs it, then I will start running again.”

She was, however, not at liberty to disclose her next adventure.

“I want to take a break and recharge,” said Mrs Muradzikwa in a phone interview with The Sunday Mail Business.

Her work in the insurance business started at Zimbabwe Reinsurance Corporation in 1984, when she worked in the human resource department before venturing into marketing, years later.

She was to later assume the managing director’s role for the then Diamond Insurance Company in 1995 before the company was merged with National Insurance Company of Zimbabwe in 2002 to form NicozDiamond, which was then listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange in the same year. But because of its acquisition by First Mutual Life, and the subsequent merger with TristarInsurance Company, NicozDiamond was delisted from the ZSE on August 20, 2018.

At her last analysts briefing for NicozDiamond, Mrs Muradzikwa could not help but go nostalgic about her journey as one of the very few women at the top of Zimbabwe’s corporate ladder. Clara Mlambo of BAT and Mercy Murevesi formerly of GetBucks probably count as the only other women to head ZSE listed entities.

With emotions visible in her face and audible in her voice, Muradzikwa took those in attendance down memory lane, from when it all started back in January 2002, when insurance companies, Nicoz and  Diamond merged to form NicozDiamond (NDI).

Then, she never appreciated the role of analysts and the media, who, without any experience of running companies, questioned her company’s activities.

Said Muradzikwa: “I used to have butterflies just thinking about analysts’ briefings. I remember some of the questions coming from the young people from the analysts’ fraternity.”

“I would go back to the office saying you know these young people, have they ever run a company. It’s easy to sit there and critic performance when you have never actually been right at the helm of a company, having sleepless nights about what you are going to do about costs, making important decisions in a hyperinflation era.”

But it’s a journey she is now happy to have walked with analysts and the media, whose questions and criticism, she says, helped her team think outside the box.

“Regional expansion strategies have been an experience that provided her with opportunities to learn and share from other markets.”

This to Muradzikwa was an awesome experience which also afforded her a chance to learn Portuguese, a lesson she was to later use when they opened shop in Mozambique.

Calling some milestones throughout the journey as “exciting periods” and the venture into Mozambique as “our baby”, Grace took time to highlight other achievements such as getting an A+ rating for NicozDiamond’s claims paying ability and also attaining ISO certification.

She also boasted of how her company was the first to come to the market with a rights issue, post- dollarisation, with the 67 percent subscription rate setting the limit for other companies who followed with their own rights offers.

But her journey has come to an end, at least for now.

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Source: Why forex rate should drop to 60% | Theindependent (Zimbabwe)

The post Why forex rate should drop to 60% appeared first on The Zimbabwe Independent.

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Source: Govt works on goods price structure | Sunday News (local news)

Kuda Bwititi, Harare Bureau
GOVERNMENT is developing a framework for providing basic commodities at fair and affordable prices within the next two months.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has already given his blessings to the programme, which is expected to cushion consumers against extortionate and punitive prices. The envisaged programme will begin in rural areas before spreading to urban centres.

Industry and Commerce Minister Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndlovu told our Harare Bureau last week that Government was working on the best possible way of making the project operational.

“We are putting a framework in place where we will be able to assist the public in the access and provision of basic commodities at affordable prices. We want to make this initiative a very successful programme, so we are looking at all angles and strategising how best the programme can be made operational. So it is work in progress and we will be able to give finer details as the programme becomes clearer,” said Minister Ndlovu.

Selected parastatals such as the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) are reportedly being primed to work in public-private partnerships with business to create a sustainable platform for supplying and retailing the commodities. It is understood that Government will leverage on GMB’s commercial arm — which will be duly capacitated — to guarantee the supply of products such as mealie-meal, rice and flour under the Silo brand. Government tentatively expects the programme to take off by April.

After successfully introducing a mass public transport system through Zupco (Zimbabwe United Passenger Company), which helped tame runway transport fares, Government also intends to act as arbiter in the market by controlling predatory prices by unscrupulous businesses.

“We are going to work with industry, but the programme entails giving them enough support so that the products are readily available and they reach the end-user at affordable prices. Cabinet is worried about the issue of prices and inflation; that is why we are looking at alternative means to protect the consumers and ensure that they do not always have to bear the brunt of an increase in prices.”

The new political administration has become increasingly accommodative to businesses. Last week, firms that were affected during the January 14 to January 16 violent demonstrations begun accessing the $30 million Business Emergency Relief Fund from Government. Through the emergency relief, businesses would receive concessionary loans to help them rebuild and restock. Addressing a Meet the People Rally in Rutenga last weekend, President Mnangagwa said he had given the go-ahead for the basic commodities programme to be implemented.

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