Source: This is not it Mr President! | Daily News LAST WEEK, at long last, seven long months after last year’s August 1 killings that claimed at least six lives, President Emmerson Mnangagwa finally admitted he deployed the army on the fateful day. He also admitted to deploying the army in January, during a three-day […]
LAST WEEK, at long last, seven long months after last year’s August 1 killings that claimed at least six lives, President Emmerson Mnangagwa finally admitted he deployed the army on the fateful day.
He also admitted to deploying the army in January, during a three-day stay-away organised by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, in which more than a dozen unarmed civilians died.
Mnangagwa’s bolt-from-the-blue admission, which came via a notice read out in Parliament by Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, really took many by surprise because speculation at the time of the killings wrongly suggested the deployments had been ordered by Vice President Constantino Chiwenga.
Interestingly, despite the fact that the general public was wrongly accusing his deputy of illegally deploying the army onto the streets of Harare to suppress post-election demonstrations, Mnangagwa never set the record straight. Instead, he set up a Commission of Inquiry into the August 1 post-election violence.
The assumption at the time was that Mnangagwa set up the inquiry in a bid to provide answers to at least two questions that were on everybody’s lips: Who ordered the army onto the streets of Harare to deal with the violent demonstrations and who pulled the trigger on defenceless civilians?
The president was even praised in some quarters for making the undertaking “to address the matter in a transparent manner and in the public interest.” Even when the expensively-assembled seven-member (Kgalema) Motlanthe commission submitted its report, Mnangagwa had remained mum on the findings, only for him to own up last week and after great expense to the taxpayer.
The admission that he deployed the army on the two occasions was a big anti-climax and has exposed the president’s lack of sincerity.
This is not surprising given Mnangagwa’s apparent unwillingness to take on board most of the recommendations proffered by the Motlanthe Commission.
If indeed the president is really determined to win over the skeptical Western world including the Americans, who recently extended sanctions against Zimbabwe, he has to show more commitment to transparency. Mnangagwa should never for a moment fool himself into believing that the international community will be charmed by mere words and a string of empty promises.
Our government should demonstrate its commitment to creating a genuine, democratic post-Mugabe Zimbabwe.
Source: Students recount sleeping with corpses – NewsDay Zimbabwe March 20, 2019 BY JAIROS SAUNYAMA A SOMBRE atmosphere engulfed Paradise Park in Marondera yesterday during the burial of one of the students from St Charles Lwanga High School, Munashe Jena, who succumbed to Cyclone Idai-induced injuries in Chimanimani on Friday. It was not a narrative […]
A SOMBRE atmosphere engulfed Paradise Park in Marondera yesterday during the burial of one of the students from St Charles Lwanga High School, Munashe Jena, who succumbed to Cyclone Idai-induced injuries in Chimanimani on Friday.
It was not a narrative for the faint-hearted, as some of the students who travelled to Marondera to bid farewell to one of theirs recounted how they spent three days with their colleagues’ corpses in the classroom, waiting for the government rescue teams to take them to safety.
It all started on Friday night when a rockfall hit their dining hall, killing a security guard instantly before landing on the dormitory in which Jena and other boys were sleeping.
According to the students, it happened so fast and one of the deceased was hit by a chunk of glass from the window pane as disaster struck.
One of the students at the funeral still had muddy shoes, a sign that he was, indeed, coming from a difficult situation.
The chilling moment came when the boys narrated how the bodies were placed in the Form 1 classroom as they waited to be rescued.
“After retrieving the bodies, they were placed in a classroom as we waited for rescue. It was terrible and scary. The bodies were lying in the classrooms covered with blankets,” one of the students, who was visibly traumatised, recounted.
The students, after realising that there was no rescue for almost three days, embarked on an uncertain journey to Skyline for safety.
They recounted that some villagers and the boarding master made some makeshift coffins to ferry the corpses to safety.
“Some villagers and the boarding master then made some makeshift coffins to ferry the corpses of our colleagues. We went ahead, at night, not knowing where we were placing our feet. It was gambling, any mistake one would slip and that would have been the end. The road, the terrain was dangerous. The villagers and boarding master were behind us with the bodies, dicing with death as they manoeuvred their way to the nearest rescue point, at Skyline,” one student narrated.
“That was the only option. We couldn’t remain at the school for long since we were now certain that no rescue would come our way. If we had remained there, it would have gotten worse, we were confused. We made it to Skyline before the police took the bodies to Chipinge.”
The school guard was buried in the same area where he hails from.
Jena, a Form 1 student had joined the school on February 6 after his parents had transferred him form another school to the Catholic-run institution, which is regarded as one of the best in the country.
The students, however, bemoaned the treatment they got from army officers, who mistreated them upon arrival to safety.
“When we arrived at Skyline, the soldiers who were there said they were not in a position to assist us since they had come to clear the road. It was only after we threatened to proceed on our own that they agreed to ferry us to a safer destination. One of our teachers almost got manhandled by the soldiers as he argued that we needed assistance,” the student said.
The trauma of the students worsened as people, including authorities, jostled to take them photographs, while some falsely claimed credit for rescuing them.
“We made it on our own to Skyline. No one helped us. Some were taking pictures of us. It was disturbing,” another student said.
The two deceased students were wrapped in blankets provided by the boarding master.
Scores of Marondera residents thronged Paradise Park Cemetery to bid farewell to young Jena who was laid to rest yesterday.
His body arrived on Monday night before burial was fast-tracked, since it was in a bad state.
According to his relatives, it was not an easy task to fetch Jena’s body, but said they were glad that finally he was laid to rest.
The burial was attended by acting provincial administrator Clemence Masawi, students from St Charles Lwanga, Marondera mayor Chengetai Murowa, Chief Makoni and civil servants, among others.
At least 100 people reportedly died while several others are still missing in the wake of the cyclone which made landfall in neighbouring Mozambique.
Government yesterday advised relatives of the deceased to go ahead and bury the bodies to avoid decomposition as mortuaries in the district were dysfunctional following extensive destruction of the power supply system throughout Chimanimani.
St Charles Lwanga High School students arrived in Mutare on Monday night, where they received counselling before being reunited with their families.
A huge baboon population has invaded parts of Buhera where it is attacking women, children; raiding fowl runs and killing chicken, peacocks and small goats for food. The broad daylight robberies are alarming in the Ndongwe area under Chief Nyashanu. Pe…
A huge baboon population has invaded parts of Buhera where it is attacking women, children; raiding fowl runs and killing chicken, peacocks and small goats for food. The broad daylight robberies are alarming in the Ndongwe area under Chief Nyashanu. People who spoke to The Mirror said that there is a definite upsurge in the […]
Source: MPs have to push for DCP reform: Chamisa | Newsday (News) BY BLESSED MHLANGA OPPOSITION leader Nelson Chamisa wants his legislators to push for capacitation and reform of the Department of Civil Protection (DCP) in the aftermath of the devastating Cyclone Idai. Currently in Chimanimani, where the opposition leader is lending weight to ongoing […]
OPPOSITION leader Nelson Chamisa wants his legislators to push for capacitation and reform of the Department of Civil Protection (DCP) in the aftermath of the devastating Cyclone Idai.
Currently in Chimanimani, where the opposition leader is lending weight to ongoing rescue operations by volunteers, army and government arms, Chamisa said there was need for a legislative agenda to reform institutions.
“We have to ensure that our MPs push an agenda to reform the DCP into a proactive, well-resourced and funded unit than a reactive arm, that is being caught flat-footed when disaster strikes,” he said.
Chamisa said DCP had been caught flat-footed at the Battlefields mine disaster which left nearly 40 dead and was napping in Manicaland were school children were not evacuated ahead of the cyclone.
He said there was need to ensure that the DCP had sufficient funds to procure its own reaction equipment and improve its disaster awareness and response ability.
“Legislators should come to the party, one life lost is one too many, we have to ensure there are laws that ensure the DCP has its own air rescue capacity, its own vehicles not this thing that they have to wait for help from other arms of the State who are slow in reacting,” he said.
Build Alliance Zimbabwe, leader Noah Manyika said the lack of preparedness by DCP and government was alarming and should be redressed.
“The tragedy of lack of preparedness is that the victims will simply be unaccounted for and, therefore, forgotten, without living witnesses from such communities the authorities who, but for their deadly negligence, could have saved many lives will only be too glad to pretend that the tragedy never happened,” he said.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has however committed that no effort or resources under his command will be spared to reach the affected and save lives.
Source: Cyclone Idai ‘might be southern hemisphere’s worst such disaster’ | World news | The Guardian Millions from Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe affected as houses and roads submerged Survivors clinging to buildings in the district of Buzi, Mozambique Photograph: INGC The devastating cyclone that hit south-eastern Africa may be the worst ever disaster to strike the southern […]
Millions from Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe affected as houses and roads submerged
Survivors clinging to buildings in the district of Buzi, Mozambique Photograph: INGC
The devastating cyclone that hit south-eastern Africa may be the worst ever disaster to strike the southern hemisphere, according to the UN.
Cyclone Idai has swept through Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe over the past few days, destroying almost everything in its path, causing devastating floods, killing and injuring thousands of people and ruining crops. More than 2.6 million people could be affected across the three countries, and the port city of Beira, which was hit on Friday and is home to 500,000 people, is now an “island in the ocean”, almost completely cut off.
The official death tolls in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi are 200, 98 and 56 respectively. But these totals only scratch the surface; the real toll may not be known for many months as the countries deal with a still unfolding disaster.
Mozambique’s president, Filipe Nyusi, announced three days of national mourning late on Tuesday and said his government would declare a national emergency.
Houses, roads and telegraph poles are completely submerged. The Mozambican and South African military and other organisations are working to rescue people from the air, though many are struggling to get supplies and teams to the region because roads and bridges have been ripped up or have huge sinkholes in them.
Cyclone Idai leaves trail of destruction in southern Africa – video report
Some people are stranded clinging to trees; others are on houses or “new islands” that have formed, and have no food, according to rescue workers.
“Sometimes we can only save two out of five; sometimes we rather drop food and go to someone else who’s in bigger danger,” Ian Scher from Rescue SA told AFP. “We just save what we can save and the others will perish.”
A pilot doing a survey for Mission Aviation Fellowship flew over the basin of Buzi river in Mozambique, which had burst its banks, and was able to provide the first information on the area.
“It was a heartbreaking flight today as we flew over many miles of flooded land in the Buzi River basin. We saw many people stranded on roof tops surrounded by kilometres of water. It was difficult to comprehend and think about that probably many have perished,” Rick Emenaker told the South African site Lowvelder.
Drone footage of Praia Nova village after Cyclone Idai made landfall in Sofala province, central Mozambique. Photograph: Care/EPA
With the first flight leaving on Sunday and one mobile network, Movitel, just restored, more details are beginning to emerge of what happened in Beira when the cyclone hit.
“It is a total mess here. Please pray for the thousands and thousands who have lost their homes,” said Jill Lovell, an Australian who runs a mission school in Beira, in an emailed message. “People are in trees and on rooftops. Emergency relief crews are slowly coming in. Rains continue to make it all even harder. So many lives lost and homes destroyed.”
A satellite image of Cyclone Idai tracked over Mozambique on 15 March. Photograph: Meteosat-11/EUMETSAT
The Red Cross managed to get one truck containing chlorine tablets and 1,500 tarpaulins and tools to make shelters into Beira before it was cut off. Another was diverted to Manica, while the Red Cross is also trying to bring in more supplies from the island of Réunion by boat. The World Food Programme managed to get food supplies in and is doing airdrops to stranded people.
“Where there was land, there’s now sea. The city itself is completely cut off. It’s really an island now in the ocean,” said Matthew Cochrane of the Red Cross, adding that an emergency appeal would be launched to raise an initial 10m Swiss francs to provide mostly shelter and clean water.
Aerial footage shows Cyclone Idai devastation in Mozambique – video
Health is a major worry and the risk of outbreaks of cholera and typhoid is high, especially as there are reports that water pipelines to the city have been cut.
Mark Ellul, a British doctor who was in Beira when the cyclone hit, said conditions at the central hospital, next to the sea in the middle of the city, had already been bad and it had been operating at full capacity when the storm hit. He heard that patients had been in the wards when Idai struck, ripping off part of the roof and destroying what windows were left.
“The ones that could walk tried to get out of there and get into the corridors and the ones who couldn’t walk just kind of held on to their beds,” he said.
Ellul pulled out the plumbing and barricaded himself under the sink in his hotel room during the cyclone. When he came out, he saw debris thrown everywhere, trees ripped up, roofs ripped off and electricity poles pushed over the roads. He said met many people who said they had seen bodies in the street or whose neighbours had been killed.
Residents of Beira said there were reports of dams 70km from the city bursting, possibly Chicamba dam above Chimoio, north-west of Beira, or perhaps the Mavuzi dam, a smaller reservoir. Other dams are thought to be full to the brim and will have to open their floodgates soon. The colossal Kariba and Cahora Bassa dams on the Zambezi river are not thought to be under threat, but both were built about 50 years ago and the Kariba needs urgent maintenance.
The Red Cross has started a list of people registered as alive, or missing, which family members can search or add to.
