Zim News Blog -NEWS NETWORK

The MDC is shocked by the revelation of a baseless ban on Charlton Hwende who intended to visit the Mabvuku fuel reserve Depot as part of his parliamentary duties.  Hwende is a full member of the portfolio committee on energy and power development and has an obligation to fulfill the oversight and representational roles around the sector. Barring his attendance is a serious disservice on the

Energy and Power Development Minister Dr Jorum Gumbo says the Cyclone Idai devastating effects did not affect the feruka pipeline which pumps fuel from Beira to Zimbabwe as being reported.   Dr Gumbo made the remarks this morning at the presentation of a forensic report into the operations and affairs of ZESA Holdings to the new board led by Mr Collins Chihuri.   “It is the docking terminals

Source: Corporate Zim, embassies step up | Daily News

The corporate and diplomatic response to Cyclone Idai has been strong and swift and is on track to surpass all previous relief efforts.

Corporations and diplomats have donated millions in cash, and more millions in products and services, and corporate relief efforts are on track to dwarf or exceed the $50 million put up by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government.

Embassies in Harare have largely made cash donations.
The companies’ contributions to Cyclone Idai are in addition to regular corporate philanthropy efforts and social responsibility programmes, and the companies do not plan to reduce any of their ongoing commitments as a result of the outlay for Idai relief.
Company employees have also given clothing items and utensils to villagers displaced by the disaster.

Cyclone Idai ravaged Manicaland, destroying crops and critical infrastructure and flattening villages.
In its wake, United Nations humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock yesterday allocated US$20 million from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to ramp up the humanitarian response to Tropical Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

“Vulnerable groups such as children, women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, people with disabilities, and those affected by chronic illnesses will be prioritised,” said Lowcock.

The US Embassy in Harare twitted: “The US Embassy is contributing an initial US$100 000 through @USAID to bring relief to victims of #Cycloneidai in Zim. Working with civil society partners to provide safe water, hygiene and sanitation svcs, & shelter to Zimbabweans in need.” Former US president Barrack Obama solicited for emergency funds to help victims of Cyclone Idai, imploring his followers to help by donating to humanitarian organisations currently working in Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe.

The European Commission announced an initial emergency aid package of €3,5 million (approx. US$3,97 million) to help those affected.

The New Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe Guo Shaochun yesterday sent a truck carrying relief aid materials worth US$50 000 to the eastern highlands to provide further assistance. Prior to this, the Chinese community in Zimbabwe had gone to Mutare and handed over the relief aid they put together to the ministry of Defence and the ministry of Agriculture worth US$200 000.

Zimbabwe’s biggest mobile phone operator Econet Wireless’s insurance business donated 50 coffins as part of its relief efforts towards victims of Cyclone Idai.

Along with the coffins, EcoSure also gave six tents with a combined capacity to shelter 3 000 people. The company, which earlier this week announced a $5 million donation towards the relief effort, said most of the tents were sheltering supplies at Silverstream relief camp in cyclone-hit Chimanimani.

Diversified financial services powerhouse, FBC Holdings, donated 20 tonnes of groceries worth more than RTGS$60 000 for assisting people affected by Cyclone Idai as part of the group’s corporate social responsibility initiatives and a call to assist victims during this time of a national disaster.

It has also pledged to construct classroom blocks and finance the education of children who lost their parents and guardians due to the tropical cyclone.

State-run mobile phone operator NetOne pledged RTGS$50 000 towards the purchase of key basic food items to feed the affected families.

South Africa’s Standard Bank’s Zimbabwe unit Stanbic also joined the list of well-wishers for Cyclone Idai victims in Chimanimani by purchasing an assortment of goods worth RTGS $ 200 000.
Another RTGS$50 000 has been set aside for other items once other critical needs are established as rescuers continue to access the epicentre of the disaster, which only started yesterday after some roads where cleared of debri.

Zimbabwe’s fast food retail group Innscor Africa raised approximately $250 000 worth of products for those affected by Cyclone Idai.

Innscor’s convoy of eight by 30 tonne vehicles left Harare yesterday afternoon bound for Mutare.
The vehicles were from Baker’s Inn, National Foods and Irvine’s. Innscor donated 100 tonnes of maize-meal, 6 000 loaves of bread, 12 tonnes of salt, 200 duvets and blankets; accommodation tents,  two tonnes of canned colcom meat,  2 000 dozen table eggs,  6 tonnes of self-raising flour, 1.5 tonnes of sugar beans, 1 tonne of peanut butter, 1 tonne of jam, 6.5 tonnes of animal feed,  3 000 litres of UHT Long Life Milk, 4 000 kg of Rice, 19 000 litres of soft drinks, 12 tonnes of product hampers (c550 hampers) containing maize-meal, flour, rice cooking oil, salt, sugar beans, sugar, cordial soft drink, candles and soap.

Law firm Dube, Banda, Nzarayapenga and Partners law firm donated food stuffs, sanitary ware and kitchen utensils to victims of the cyclone, worth RTGS$2 000.

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Source: Cyclone Idai death  toll continues to rise | Daily News

Areas devastated by Cyclone Idai last week are continuing to count the storm’s cost as the number of confirmed dead rises.

At least 139 deaths have been caused by the cyclone that swept across Buhera, Chimanimani, Chipinge, Makoni, Mutare rural and urban, Mutasa and Nyanga — a number expected to increase further.

Officials are still trying to find more than 189 people believed to be unaccounted for.

Most of the missing are said to be elderly, disabled or lived alone, and officials have created a platform for people to report friends and loved ones missing.

The storm destroyed buildings and flattened communities as it tore largely through the Manicaland region. The trail of destruction left by Cyclone Idai is almost everywhere – the ruined buildings, swept away bridges, uprooted trees, twisted signs and billboards.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa visited the storm-affected region on Tuesday and Wednesday.

As of yesterday morning, several homes and businesses were still reported to be without power.
There are difficulties accessing hard-hit areas and poor mobile phone coverage means they are moving very slowly.

“We are still trying to rescue those who are marooned and we are trying to identify, get all the figures of Zimbabweans that are still missing,” Information ministry secretary Nick Mangwana said.

“We are digging up all the places that have been ravaged by landslides to account for everyone that is missing,” he said, adding he could not yet authoritatively confirm reports that some bodies were washed into Mozambique.

Authorities said 4 313 people were believed to have been displaced by the floods, with 144 injured while 19 are critically ill.
About 74 bodies are said to have been buried while 189 are still missing.

Fungayi Chinyayi, a villager from Dzingire Growth Point, popularly known as Kopa in Chipinge — which is one of the hardest hit — told the Daily News that only about five houses were left standing in the area while more than 60 houses were ravaged by the floods.
He told the Daily News they fear most of the missing residents from Dzingire have been washed into Mozambique by floods while several could be dead and buried under huge debris that now occupies the growth point.

“A few houses were left near Mutambara and there are around 49 people who survived, 10 injured,” said Chinyayi, naming some of the villagers who have gone missing and those who are still alive.

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Source: Airlifted leather sofas trigger PR  disaster as ED meets Idai victims | Daily News

President Emmerson Mnangagwa made his way to Manicaland this week to take in the damage from Cyclone Idai and meet with officials responding to the disaster, but the trip was sullied by featherbeddings flown in for his comfort, including leather sofas.

Mnangagwa, who cut short his visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to fly back to the country, highlighted the “extraordinary work” done by local first responders who worked around the clock to rescue residents stranded by high water in a place that had not flooded in years.

Mnangagwa  visited the affected areas aboard a military helicopter and was surrounded by an unusually high security detail swarming around him and preventing the traumatised villagers from getting any closer to the strongman, who survived a bomb attack last year. He visited the recovery effort before surveying some of the damage around the most severely affected parts of the Manicaland Province.

He visited emergency management officials, and spoke at an impromptu rally where security details struggled to push villagers away who wanted to shake his hands.

There was widespread resentment when one of the choppers airlifted black leather sofas where Mnangagwa was to recline on.
Yesterday, pictures of the sofas went viral as Zimbabweans reacted angrily to images of the sofas being ferried to provide comfort to the septuagenarian amid a disaster that claimed almost 140 people.

Authorities  said that the team surrounding the president were not focused on optics, saying he wanted to be very cautious about making sure that any activity does not disrupt any of the recovery efforts.

Government’s spokesperson Nick Mangwana said people should not waste time talking about luxuries such as sofas when the country is in mourning.
He slammed “people who want to talk about sofas in the midst of a national crisis of this magnitude” whom he said “should hang their heads in shame for being petty.”

“Should we be talking of sofas when so many of our fellow citizens are missing? Should we be preoccupied with why there is a picture of people carrying a sofa when whole families have been wiped out by this catastrophe?

“The seating arrangement of people including that of the president is such a banal distraction in the context of this grand tragedy. There are so many angles of conversation but that one is not one of them,” fumed Mangwana.

Sources in Manicaland Province told the Daily News that “overzealous” ruling party officials in the region acted on impulse to organise the sofas in an unsanctioned move that was meant to curry favour with Mnangagwa, “even though it was not appropriate”.

Government has been leading from the front the rescue operations. Soldiers and specialised police sub aqua units are leading the search operations as fears grow that the number of victims could rise.

At least 139 people have so far been recorded dead since the storm hit the country, with the death toll expected to rise as rescue and recovery efforts continued.
The devastating cyclone swept away schools, bridges and homes in low lying areas in Manicaland.

This followed a week of heavy rains and flooding across south-east Africa that has also killed hundreds of people in neighbouring Malawi and Mozambique. At least one million people have been affected in the region in what is regarded as one of the worst natural disasters to hit sub-Saharan Africa.

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