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Source: Govt liberalises fuel imports | Newsday (News)

BY XOLISANI NCUBE

Government has liberalised the importation of fuel by allowing mining firms, transport operators and large corporates with capacity to procure the product on their own so as to ease pressure on the central bank.

Briefing journalists after a Cabinet meeting yesterday, Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa said mining companies and those who consume high volumes of fuel could now import on their own.

“Furthermore, Cabinet has given a greenlight to large companies such as those in the mining sector to use their funds to import fuel for their use,” she said.

Zimbabwe has been experiencing a fuel crisis since last year due to foreign currency shortages and this has resulted in long queues being witnessed across the country.

Energy and Power Development minister Joram Gumbo said the permission given to corporates to import their own fuel does not extend to individuals.

“This is not for individuals. At the moment, we are only allowing corporates,” he said. Cabinet also moved to change the Prisons Act and replace it with a new law that allows inmates to seek medical assistance from a medical doctor of their choice at their own expense as well as incorporate human rights issues as stated in the 2013 Constitution.

According to Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, the proposed law, which will focus on the rehabilitation of offenders and integration of the same back into society, was aimed at conforming the country’s prison system to international standards.

“This new law provides for a mechanism that caters for vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, juvenile offenders as well as disabled and other special categories,” he said.

The new law would also broaden the scope of the parole system so as to accommodate all categories of prisoners to promote the establishment of correctional community centres throughout the country to cater for rehabilitated inmates upon release.

Cabinet further agreed to quicken the partial privatisation of State-owned Zupco and its capacitation through the introduction of electronic ticketing system in order to increase revenue collection and efficiency.

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Source: Foot and mouth affects production at Nestle | Daily News

HARARE – Nestle Zimbabwe is slowing growing stocks of its Infant Formulas (IF) after they had gone off the market for nearly one month owing to a foot and mouth outbreak in South Africa (SA). Nestle’s corporate communications and public affairs officer Yamurai Zhou told the Daily News that because of a ban on SA dairy products the production of the formula was affected.

This also comes at a time when Cerelac has also been in short supply on the local market owing to limited foreign currency to import raw materials for its manufacture. “We are fully aware of the supply constraints currently in the market and the discomfort it has caused our consumers and customers.

As an organisation we are working round the clock to minimise the impact on our consumers and customers. “Nestlé Zimbabwe does not manufacture IF locally. We source our formula from our sister company Nestlé South Africa, which produces the IF that we require in line with local regulations governed by the ministry of Health and Child Care.

“Our supply was affected for close to a month by a foot and mouth disease outbreak in South Africa. Authorities in South Africa and our own local authorities put in place temporary measures banning all export and importation of live animals and their products,” Zhou said.

Zhou added that although our products are 100 percent safe for consumption and were not impacted by this outbreak, IF being a milk-based product was inevitably part of the ban. Zhou emphasised the ban has since been lifted but the situation had created supply gaps to their market and they were gradually rebuilding their stocks.

A survey conducted by the newspaper showed that major retail shops had limited stocks of both IF and Cerelac while some did not have IF completely. Shops that still had small quantities of IF had products that were manufactured in July and August 2018 only.
Cerelac retails for around $11 in most shops while IF products such as Nan and Lactogen range between $10 and $15.

While health practitioners advise to breastfeed exclusively until a baby is six months, IF is beneficial for children with working mothers and has also been fortified with nutrients found in breast milk for maximum benefit.

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MDC MP for Kuwadzana East and deputy treasurer-general Chalton Hwende was on Wednesday morning taken to court where he is facing treason charges. This was revealed by the MDC secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora who characterised as [...]

Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries founder Prophet Walter Magaya has not yet approached the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe to register his traditional medicine which he claimed cured HIV/AIDS, legislators heard yesterday. The authority’s managing director, Ms Gugu Mahlangu, said it was strange that despite Prophet Magaya’s claims that the root was indigenous and found […]

Source: MDC MP to languish in jail | Daily News

HARARE – MDC Harare West MP Joana Mamombe will have to languish in remand prison after the court dismissed her application challenging placement on remand in a subversion case. She will be back in court on March 19.

Mamombe was being represented by Obey Shava who had made the application on the basis that his client was not fully advised of the treason charges at arrest, 48 hours had lapsed by the time she appeared in court and that there was no reasonable suspicion for the offence she was being charged for.

However, Harare magistrate Rumbidzayi Mugwagwa dismissed the application. “Although the arresting officer who testified in court was not eloquent, clearly the accused person was advised of her charge upon arrest.  “This is so because after being arrested she even had time with the speaker of Parliament,” Mugwagwa ruled.

“The accused person was in court before lapse of the 48 hour provision but her matter only had to wait because the court was overwhelmed with other cases.” Mamombe said before her arrest, her mother was put under house arrest by unidentified security agents who demanded to know her whereabouts.

“I had gone for a Media and Parliamentary Workshop in Nyanga and around midnight of February 25 my mother called saying she was in trouble because six men were at the house looking for me. The second call was from one of the men who was at my mother’s house and he told me that I was in hot soup,” she said

Her lawyer argued that the 48-hour provision had been breached. Shava also claimed that one of the arresting details Dennis Muroyiwa was a bogus cop who had been sent by the army to execute Mamombe’s arrest. Muroyiwa claimed to be a member of CID law and order but failed to name his superiors or appreciate basic police procedures.

“You do not know anything about police structures; you do not even know your previous boss nor the department where you are supposedly based. Who is making you masquerade as an officer and when are you going to return to the barracks?” Shava queried.
Allegations against Mamombe emerged on January 14, 2019, when she held a presser at Civic Centre, Marlborough in Harare in her capacity as MDC MP.

The court heard that Momombe together with members of her constituency planned to join hands with other trade unions to coerce and invite them to overthrow president Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government. It is further alleged that the 25-year-old legislator urged members of her constituency to resort to civil disobedience and demonstrations to shut down Zimbabwe in response to public outcry over fuel price hikes, shortages and high cost of living.

The court heard that between January 14 and 16, 2019 and in response to Mamombe’s presser,  members of the opposition, various trade unionists, pressure groups, youth forums and members of the public engaged in violent protests across the country.
As a result property was destroyed, lives were lost, several police officers and members of the public were also injured.

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