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Source: MDC top official fumes over Mwonzora heckling | Newsday (News)

BY OBEY MANAYITI/KENNETH NYANGANI

MDC Manicaland provincial chairman David Chimhini has come out guns blazing, accusing bussed supporters for causing disruptions at the party’s weekend thank-you rally in Mutare, saying the actions dented the reputation of party leader Nelson Chamisa.

During the rally in Sakubva, Chimhini and party secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora had to endure booing by a group of party supporters, who were said to be unhappy with reports that the pair was drumming up support to challenge Chamisa at the forthcoming congress.

It was Chamisa who saved Mwonzora from further embarrassment.

However, Chimhini did not mince his words, claiming the supporters were a hired crowd from outside the province.

“This didn’t tarnish my image, what it did was to tarnish the image of the president and the party because how are we viewed by the international community when we have a whole president standing up to tell people to listen to their elected secretary-general?” Chimhini said.

“There are a lot of undercurrents which have become unfortunate, but we are not deterred. People of Manicaland are very cultured and don’t behave in that manner. When you have people coming from outside, then you know that there was a bigger agenda.”

Before the rally, Chimhini said they held a provincial council meeting and there was no evidence of disgruntlement in the province.

“All of a sudden, you get to the rally and there are pockets, two of them sitting on the front, doing those things. I also hear that there were some people distributing money, some $2 notes, given to the few who went on to behave disorderly,” Chimhini said.

He said Manicaland garnered the biggest number of rural votes for Chamisa and there was no way things could just change because of the congress.

After the rally, Chimhini said he received solidarity messages and sympathies from people who felt the disturbances were choreographed.

Some senior officials from Harare accused Chamisa’s backers for the skirmishes while others accused Zengeza East legislator, Goodrich Chimbaira for bussing the hecklers from Chitungwiza.

“The reason why Mwonzora and Chimhini remained defiant when heckled is that they knew the crowd was bussed. They even had placards, but they failed to lift them.

“Before the rally, there was a provincial assembly meeting at Beit Hall, which was graced by standing committee members and it went on well without incidences.
When standing committee members, including Mwonzora, were introduced, there was no booing.

“When Mwonzora was about to speak, the trigger was then pulled and people started booing. This was to give a false narrative that Chamisa rescued Mwonzora.
This must be investigated and anyone found guilty must be disciplined,” a senior official in Harare said.

However, Chimbaira distanced himself from the issue, saying he was not at the rally.

“It’s all lies,” he said while dismissing rumours that he was campaigning for the Harare chairmanship post.

“I don’t have a position that I am earmarking (at congress), but if I am nominated I will consider it.”

The post MDC top official fumes over Mwonzora heckling appeared first on NewsDay Zimbabwe.

The post MDC top official fumes over Mwonzora heckling appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

Source: Tick-borne diseases wreak havoc in Mash Central | Newsday (News)

By Simbarashe Sithole

Tick-borne diseases are wreaking havoc in Mashonaland Central province’s five districts, with farmers lamenting the continuous loss of livestock.

Provincial veterinary officer Wiltmore Chikurunhe confirmed the outbreak.

“I can confirm that the province has had a fair share of tick-borne disease outbreaks, particularly theileriosis. Cattle deaths have been reported in Mt Darwin, Bindura, and Muzarabani (Centenary), Shamva and Mazowe districts,” he said.

The veterinary department is busy conducting awareness campaigns in the affected districts.

“Farmers are encouraged to complement government efforts by ensuring that they dip their cattle every week as this is the only way to contain the outbreak.
Some farms have been placed under quarantine due to disease outbreak and therefore cattle movements are only permissible under valid veterinary permits,” Chikurunhe said.

He said the veterinary department was working tirelessly in providing dipping chemicals, which was not always available.

The post Tick-borne diseases wreak havoc in Mash Central appeared first on NewsDay Zimbabwe.

The post Tick-borne diseases wreak havoc in Mash Central appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has described his political arch-rival and opposition MDC leader Nelson Chamisa as a “rebel”, just like the biblical Satan who could not co-exist with God in heaven. Addressing journalists at the closing ceremony of the Zimbabwe-South Africa Bi-National Commission Summit attended by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Harare yesterday, Mnangagwa said […]

Source: ‘NGOs cancel programmes after ED threats’ – NewsDay Zimbabwe March 13, 2019

BY OBEY MANAYITI

The Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) has claimed that a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) last month cancelled their programming for fear of victimisation following threats by President Emmerson Mnangagwa that his government would go after NGOs who organised the January protests.

In January, residents in many parts of the country participated in a national demonstration against the rising cost of living and a 150% fuel price hike.

The State deployed soldiers to quell the riots. Government was rapped for the indiscriminate assault and harassment of civilians by State security agents.

Following the riots, Mnangagwa said his government would weed out organisations that reportedly encouraged people to riot, among them doctors and lawyers.

ZPP said programming of many NGOs was disturbed following Mnangagwa’s statements.

“Following the utterances of the President, NGOs have been forced by circumstances to cancel some of their programming, as a result, the operating space has become volatile and unsafe for most programming,” ZPP said in a report.

“ZPP is concerned about the continued blame game targeting civic society organisations (CSOs) that have been described as regime change agents by the government, in the aftermath of the violent protests as this tarnishes the role and efforts made by CSOs in supporting engagements towards building lasting peace in Zimbabwe,” the report added.

The report further noted a decreased number of human rights violations between January and February.

The post ‘NGOs cancel programmes after ED threats’  appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

Source: ‘Interbank market forex unavailable’ – NewsDay Zimbabwe March 13, 2019

BY MTHANDAZO NYONI

BUSINESSES in Bulawayo say they are struggling to access foreign currency from the interbank market due to its unavailability, contrary to the central bank’s statement that the firms could not afford to purchase it at the 2,5 rate to the US dollar.

While appearing before the Portfolio Committees on Public Accounts Budget, Finance and Economic Development on Monday, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya said some companies had been struggling to purchase foreign currency on the official market because they can’t afford the 2,5 rate.

“Even some firms (which) are claiming that they do not have foreign currency, it is so because they cannot afford to buy it at 2,5,” he was quoted as saying.
But companies in the second largest city say they were struggling to access forex.

“The current challenge following the monetary policy announcement is that industry cannot access the forex. The seed money that we were told was made available to the banks, very few, if any, have accessed it,” Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) Matabeleland chapter president Joseph Gunda said during a business breakfast meeting held in Bulawayo recently.

“I have been talking to my colleagues and no one has said they have accessed that money. Was talking to one colleague earlier on, he says he went to his bank and was told that all the money has been utilised by pharmaceuticals, about $2 million from one bank. So I was just saying so pharmaceuticals took $2 million, so we should then have all our pharmacies fully stocked with medicines.”

Last month, the central bank boss revealed that he had given banks seed capital to kickstart interbank trading at a rate of 2,5 to the US dollar.

On Monday, Mangudya said, on average, about US$12 million has been traded on the inter-bank foreign exchange market since its launch three weeks ago.

Gunda said some companies in Bulawayo had not yet been able to resume production.

“The issue of forex comes out at the top, it’s not available. Even for the 14 commodities that were mentioned since October 2018, we saw allocation of forex from the RBZ drying out,” he said.

The post ‘Interbank market forex unavailable’ appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.