Zim News Blog -NEWS NETWORK

Source: Housing co-op rubbishes Mutare audit | Daily News

Musha Mukadzi Housing Cooperative has dismissed suggestions that it might not have paid for the land on which it developed and sold 187 stands in Hobhouse high density suburb.

Given Muchinguri, an official, told the Daily News that they had settled the full $176 000 early last year before the Forensic Investigation Audit into the local authority’s land management that flagged their transaction.

Muchinguri was furious at council’s failure to keep records leading to the ministry of Local Government and National Housing audit’s questioning of their project.

“We are fully paid up and this is why we are getting more projects to develop. How would they be giving us if we were not paying anything as the newspaper report is suggesting?” Muchinguri said while showing the Daily News the receipt for the initial $53 000 payment and bank statements indicating the rest of the payment in bank transfers.
Musha Mukadzi might not have gone on to get receipts after the bank transfers.

The audit had suggested that the company “might not have paid for land to council” as there was “no proof of payment in the council records made by Musha Mukadzi Land Developer towards the land sale”.
Even the memorandum of agreement between council and the land developer “was not availed to audit for verification” leaving the auditors with unanswered questions over the nature of the land deal which was entered more than five years ago.

They noted that “there was no transparency in the allocation and sale” of the land.
The audit slammed council officials in land management as it “failed to uphold or cause the upholding of contracts resulting in subjecting the loss of revenue in violation of section 44 (b) (1) of the Public Finance Management Act Chapter 22:19.”

It accused council of allocating land to land developers whose financial capacity they would not have assessed.
“Council should assess the financial capacity of land developers before allocating them land for development.”
The audit also recommended that “council should follow-up the outstanding debt from Musha Mukadzi Land Developer.”

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Source: Govt the worst human rights abuser: MPs | Newsday (News)

BY VENERANDA LANGA

OPPOSITION MPs yesterday labelled the Zanu PF government as the worst human rights abuser in the country.

This emerged during a debate on the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) report on the state of human rights for the year 2017.

The ZHRC report was debated in the National Assembly and listed a number of human rights infractions by government during former President Robert Mugabe’s era.

Kambuzuma MP Willias Madzimure (MDC Alliance) castigated the current President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government, saying it was failing to observe human rights given the arbitrary arrests of opposition supporters, including legislators Joanah Mamombe (Harare West) and Chalton Hwende (Kuwadzana East), as well as failure to tackle acute poverty and joblessness, which were affecting the nation.

“Poverty in Zimbabwe has increased and we hear of vision 2030 and that the country will be a middle-income one, but how can that be possible when the people are living in abject poverty and in 10 years? We are told we can move from poverty to a middle-income country,” Madzimure said.

“Infrastructure is decaying and in January, we decided to close the internet and infringe the right to access to information. For a country to move to the next level, we need to get rid of bad governance and arbitrary arrests.”

Zanu PF legislators interjected fiercely as Madzimure made his contributions.

This resulted in Norton MP Temba Mliswa (independent) raising a point of order to say that they were disrupting debate because they (Zanu PF) were the worst human rights abusers.

“It is important to have a human face. The issue of one having been incarcerated and freed is something human, and for some of you to make noise is because you are the ones that incarcerate, but for some of us, we are the incarcerated. There is no smoke without fire and when you see them heckling, it is because they are the biggest human rights violators,” Mliswa said.

Mbizo MP Settlement Chikwinya (MDC Alliance) said the ZHRC report highlighted that opposition parties continued to struggle to offer solutions to alleviate the deteriorating human rights situation in the country, adding that their observation was correct.

“It is a blame that we take as MDC, but we tried and came up with the SMART document as an alternative, and our president Nelson Chamisa gave five propositions to Mnangagwa which included resolving the issue of legitimacy, proposals on the economy and re-engagement, national healing and issues of reforms, including electoral reforms and the Judiciary,” he said.

Kwekwe Central MP Masango Matambanadzo (NPF) said failure by political parties to dialogue and unite was an infringement on human rights.

Hurungwe Central MP Doubt Ndiweni (Zanu PF) said sanctions were denying Zimbabweans human rights such as access to education.

Nkulumane legislator Kucaca Phulu (MDC Alliance) said in order for the ZHRC to be effective, there was need for the commission to be adequately funded and all statutes to be aligned to the Constitution.

Proportional representation legislator Lynette Karenyi (MDC Alliance) deplored the inhumane prison conditions in the country, saying female prisoners were severely affected by the uninhabitable conditions.

The post Govt the worst human rights abuser: MPs appeared first on NewsDay Zimbabwe.

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Source: 'Zimbabweans lack knowledge on inheritance laws' | Daily News

Despite being ranked among the nations with a highly educated populace, it is worrisome that Zimbabweans lack knowledge on inheritance laws, Ambassador Mary Mubi said in Bulawayo this week.

Mubi, the senior principal director in the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC), Department of Public Affairs and Knowledge Management said because women lacked knowledge on the laws, they could not influence the shift from some of the pieces of legislation that have become unfit and only infringe on their rights.
The ambassador was addressing scores of women at the Large City Hall during the first lady’s out-reach programme on inheritance and property rights targeted at women and the girl child.

Addressing the meeting, Mubi commended First Lady Auxilia Mnangagwa’s initiative, labelling it as a noble programme since women needed to be knowledgeable so that they can influence a change of laws, to suit the present times.
“Women come to the office with inheritance problems. While our country is recognised as having the most educated population, we are less educated on the issues of the inheritance laws,” she said.

“During the difficult times of the passing away of their spouses, women become vulnerable as predators take the opportunity and want to benefit from the estate of the now-deceased. Many times, women have approached my office after having been failed by the justice delivery system.”

Speaking at the same occasion, Master of the High Court Eldard Mutasa said widows should register the estate of the deceased within 14 days after the occurrence of death.

“Failure to register the estate with the Master of the High Court or your nearest magistrate’s court within 14 days attracts a penalty that may be 30 days’ imprisonment or a fine,” he said.

Mutasa cautioned women to have full knowledge about the types of marriages they enter into noting that the type of marriage determines the manner in which the estate of the deceased will be distributed.
The first lady came up with this programme, targeting all the country’s provinces, upon realising that relatives cheated women out of their inheritance following the deaths of their husbands.

Most women lost out because they were not aware of laws safeguarding their rights while others did not know who to approach.

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Source: 'Export retention thresholds temporary' | Daily News

Export retention thresholds imposed by government on the productive sectors are a temporary measure meant to create confidence in the market, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya has said.

In the monetary policy presented last month, Mangudya said the export retention thresholds are meant to allow exporters to benefit from the inter-bank foreign currency market and to promote uninterrupted supply of forex in the economy.

Appearing before the combined Public Accounts Committee (Pac) and Budget, Finance and Economic Development Committee yesterday Mangudya said the export retention threshold was not meant to be a punitive policy but meant to liquidify the economy.

Pac chairperson Tendai Biti queried why the central bank was retaining exports earnings at a time when it is liberalising the market.

“You have tried to liberalise the demand side by floating the exchange rate and removing the artificial 1:1 rate, why do you need export retention? Why pretend to liberalise when you still have control on the supply side?” Biti asked.

Mangudya responded by saying that the economy is undergoing a transition hence there was need to tread with caution.

“We need to liquify the economy so this (export retention thresholds) is a temporary stop gate measure,” Mangudya said.

“We are transitioning from an era of distortions. At the risk of not wanting to do things in whole, we decided to take baby steps by liberalising the demand side first. We do believe that when confidence has gone up through the implementation of these measures, we will also liberalise the supply side.

“Had we liberalised both the supply and demand side at a time when there was no confidence in the banking sector, the danger was, and still is that they will not deposit the money in banks but keep it at home thereby minimising circulation,” he added.

He also said the retained forex is redistributed towards other sectors such as fuel.
Mangudya told the parliamentarians that the central bank is retaining 50 percent of tobacco net proceeds and are negotiating with players in the industry to review the retention days upwards.

In the Monetary Policy Statement, Mangudya had said exporters are entitled to utilise their retained export receipts within 30 days, after which the unutilised export receipts will be offloaded into the market at the prevailing market exchange.

He expressed hope that when the tobacco auction floors are opened on March 20, the rate would have reached equilibrium.

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Source: Mnangagwa descends on Beitbridge – NewsDay Zimbabwe March 13, 2019

BY REX MPHISA

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa is expected in Beitbridge this morning, where he will launch fixed telecommunications service provider, TelOne’s US$7 million optic fibre link with South Africa.

Preparations for his visit, the second after ascending to Presidency, are on at the TelOne Exchange, where the function is expected to be held, while government departments have been holding a series of meetings to make full use of the presidential visit, normally associated with appeals for assistance likely to get the presidential nod.

Mnangagwa was last in Beitbridge — Zimbabwe’s only land port between the two countries which enjoy supreme trade and political relations — last year when he incidentally launched the expansion of the Beitbridge Border Post now underway.

The trip was coupled with his impromptu campaign leg at Dulivhadzimo ahead of last year’s disputed elections.

TelOne has already rolled out optic fibre from Mutare to Harare under Phase 1, carried out in 2010.

It also completed the Harare-Bulawayo route in May 2012 under Phase 2.

TelOne’s project is expected to increase the network’s capacity and efficiency, while consumers hope this will also translate to cheaper services, considering Zimbabwe is regarded as the most expensive in that line of service.

“He is expected to spend the day here. Beitbridge is a vital and strategic town and the President might also visit the border post and see the construction he launched last year,” a security source said.

“On his visit last year, Mnangagwa mentioned the importance of Beitbridge to Zimbabwe and the region, and his coming for the second time inside a year confirms his administration commitment to that.”

TelOne is presently the only major Zimbabwean company which has equity in the East African Cable System (EASSy), through WIOCC, a firm partly owned by a consortium of 14 African telecoms operators.

TelOne accesses EASSy and SEACOM via Mozambique (TDM) and South Africa (InfraCo).
EASSy is an undersea fibre optic cable system connecting East African countries to the rest of the world, while SEACOM is a private venture, offering wholesale
broadband services and products.

It is understood that TelOne is currently implementing projects generated from own funds as the network provider migrates to new technologies with broadband effects.

Broadband is effectively delivered through terrestrial networks the world over in the form of optical fibre, copper and microwave (wireless) over the surface of the earth.

Away from TelOne activities, Beitbridge residents expect Mnangagwa to address a nagging road access fee levied on motorists entering the country from South
Africa, which they feel should be abolished after the introduction of toll gates.

“It is stopping us from driving to South Africa, journeys we make out of need rather than luxury. When tollgates were introduced, road access fees should have been abolished. We are far away from the country’s major towns and depend on South Africa for certain essential services,” Andrea Moyo of Dulivhadzimo said.

In the sprawling district, villagers will expect a more vibrant restocking exercise after years of drought have reduced the district herd.

Most of the villagers in Beitbridge are on food relief registers due to recurrent droughts, and they hope Mnangagwa will bring lasting solutions for food security in a district with 120 000 people.

Resettled farmers want permanent solutions to the foot and mouth diseases.

Cropping enthusiasts will also be eager to know what had become of the water pipeline from Zhovhe Dam that was expected to benefit thousands of villagers downstream of Zimbabwe’s number 11 largest dam, which is only benefitting a handful of commercial farmers.

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