Zim News Blog -NEWS NETWORK

HARARE – President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s daughter-in-law, Kelsea Tafirenyika, and her uncle, Isaac Jessub, have been denied bail after a Harare magistrate ruled that they could pose a danger to society if released.

Harare regional magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa said the allegations involved dangerous drugs and that there were no conditions strong enough to prevent the pair from fleeing or committing similar offences.

“The society should be protected by keeping the accused persons locked,” Gofa said.

She also cited concerns over Tafirenyika allegedly possessing identity documents in another name, saying this made her a flight risk.

“There is a prima facie evidence of identity documents of Kelsea Tafirenyika as she uses another document in the name of Getrude Badza. This indicates she is a flight risk,” she said.

The peosecution alleges police recovered pethidine, morphine and cannabis from Tafirenyika’s Greystone Park home and inside her Lamborghini parked in her yard, while Jessub was allegedly found with morphine and pethidine in a Mercedes-Benz.

Prosecutors allege Jessub led police to Tafirenyika after his arrest, claiming she supplied him with the drugs.

The magistrate rejected her claims that the drugs had been planted, saying Jessub’s arrest and subsequent link to Tafirenyika undermined that argument.

The matter was postponed to August 27 as the two await trial.

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The post-Pep Guardiola era is getting underway in English soccer amid uncertainty and upheaval — not just at Manchester City but across the whole of the Premier League.

Get this: Heading into the new top-flight season beginning Friday, nine clubs have new permanent managers — an unprecedented number at the start of an English top-flight campaign. At age 33, Fabian Hürzeler is the fifth longest-serving coach in the Premier League … and he has been at Brighton for just two years.

The biggest vacuum needing to be filled is at City, following the departure of Guardiola after 10 record-breaking years in charge. Good luck following that, Enzo Maresca — especially after the team’s lamentable performance in the Community Shield loss to Arsenal on Sunday.

Among the other top clubs with new coaches are Liverpool (Andoni Iraola), Chelsea (Xabi Alonso) and Newcastle (Matthias Jaissle) — all of which competed in the Champions League last season.

Heck, it makes Roberto De Zerbi — appointed by Tottenham on March 31 to escape relegation — and Michael Carrick — installed as interim manager at Manchester United for the second half of last season before impressing and getting the permanent job — seem like veritable veterans.

It also makes Arsenal, the reigning champion, appear a haven of stability as Mikel Arteta goes into his seventh full season at the helm as by far the league’s longest-serving manager.

Yet, there’s a big question mark hanging over the Gunners, too: Will there be a hangover after winning the league for the first time in 22 years?

We’re about to find out, though Arsenal’s display in the Community Shield provided early encouragement for its fans.

The non-stop roller coaster that is the Premier League begins in earnest Friday night when Arsenal hosts promoted Coventry, which has a compelling backstory of its own after being out of the big time for 25 years.

Here are some other storylines providing a backdrop to the new season:

Is Premier League lacking superstars?

The Cristiano Ronaldo circus left town in 2022. Harry Kane moved away in 2023. Kevin De Bruyne departed in 2025. Mohamed Salah quit for Turkey this offseason. Rodri looks set to leave these shores for Barcelona, too.

It begs the question: Is the biggest league in the world lacking the biggest players in the world?

OK, City still has prolific striker Erling Haaland, whose brand has never been higher after wowing American fans during the World Cup.

But soccer superstars like Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé, Vinícius Júnior, Lamine Yamal and even England’s own two top players in Kane and Jude Bellingham play in other countries. All-time greats of this century — think Lionel Messi, Ronaldinho, Zinedine Zidane — never played in England, either.

The big blockbuster deal of the offseason could have been Vinícius joining Arsenal, but he chose to stay at Real Madrid.

The Premier League has recently prided itself in having the world’s top coaches, yet Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp are no longer around.

The competition might have to settle, then, for having the greatest strength in depth, with the middle-level clubs having arguably never been better owing to the league’s huge broadcasting deals.

Arsenal starts as title favourite

Amid so much turbulence among its rivals, Arsenal has a great opportunity to retain the title and is the favorite with British oddsmakers.

Brazil midfielder Bruno Guimaraes has joined from Newcastle to bolster an already-strong midfield, left winger Christos Tzolis signed from Club Brugge to replace the departed Leandro Trossard, and there is strength in depth in every position.

Counting against Arsenal, however, is an injury to defensive mainstay William Saliba that will rule out the France centreback for the first few months.

Also, there’s an intangible: Will there be a drop-off in intensity or motivation after finally winning the league?

Arteta is determined that won’t be the case.

New faces — and some old ones — are backWelcome back, Marcus Rashford. The England winger has rejoined Manchester United after a loan spell at Barcelona. Whether he wants to be at Old Trafford remains to be seen.

Hello, again, to Frank Lampard, a Premier League great for Chelsea who is now manager of Coventry.

Coventry, a founding member of the Premier League, was relegated in 2001 and plunged into such financial chaos that the club lost its home and went on to drop into the fourth tier.

The Sky Blues’ rise is one of English soccer’s feel-good stories and they are back as one of three promoted teams, along with Ipswich and Hull.

$3 billion and counting: England still the big spendersEngland is in a league of its own when it comes to spending power and Premier League clubs’ outlay on new players in this transfer window is approaching $3 billion already.

The biggest signings so far have all been midfielders: Morgan Rogers to Chelsea for $156 million; Elliot Anderson to Man City for $155 million; Sandro Tonali to Tottenham for $133 million; and Guimaraes to Arsenal for $100 million.

Chelsea’s net spend is almost $300 million as Alonso reshapes the squad. Tottenham has spent around $300 million on new players alone in a reversal in policy following back-to-back 17th-place finishes.

The window is open for two more weeks, as transfer activity cranks up after the World Cup.

Will Premier League still be set-piece heavy?

A significant change in English soccer last season was a reversion to old-school tactics such as long throws into the area, a reliance on set pieces and long clearances by goalkeepers, in a perceived snub to the Guardiola-influenced style of play where possession of the ball was king.

With Guardiola now out of the picture, will this trend increase further? Marco Rose at Bournemouth, Pierre Sage at Crystal Palace, Alvaro Arbeloa at Fulham and Alonso at Chelsea are all coaching in the Premier League for the first time. Will this wave of new managers establish another different approach?

Watch this season.

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BANGKOK — Shares were mixed in Europe and Asia on Monday after U.S. stocks edged back from their all-time high following a weaker than expected report on the U.S. economy.

Oil prices also were mixed.

In early European trading, Germany’s DAX was nearly unchanged at 26,438.04, while the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.1% to 8,628.32.

Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.2% to 10,766.46.

The future for the S&P 500 edged 0.1% higher, while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2%.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index gained 0.7% to 69,220.25 after the Japanese government reported the economy grew slightly faster than forecast in the April-June quarter, expanding at a 1.1% annual pace even as private spending and investment stayed flat and export growth slowed. In quarterly terms, the economy grew 0.3% in the second quarter of the year.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng picked up 1.3% to 25,453.23, while the Shanghai Composite index rose 1.4% to 3,982.65.

Markets in South Korea were closed for a holiday.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.5% to 9,073.20.

Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.1%, while the Sensex in India fell 0.3%.

On Friday, The S&P 500 fell 0.2% following a report that showed shoppers spent less at U.S. retailers last month. Such data could help the Federal Reserve keep interest rates low, which is positive for investors. But it also suggests growth may be slowing at a time when inflation is still high.

The Fed has no good tool to fix both a stagnating economy and high inflation at the same time, which is why what’s called “stagflation” is seen as a worst-case scenario.

The Dow industrials dipped 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite shed 0.3%.

Wall Street will get financial updates from some of the nation’s biggest retailers this week.

Home Depot reports its latest results on Tuesday, followed by Target and Lowes on Wednesday and then Walmart on Thursday. The results will help give investors a more detailed picture of how businesses and consumers are handling stubbornly high inflation.

Wall Street and economists will get more details about the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy when the central bank releases minutes from the July meeting on Wednesday.

In other dealings early Monday, Brent crude, the international standard, rose 0.4% to $88.84 per barrel, while U.S. benchmark crude slipped 0.2% to $82.20 per barrel.

With prospects for a deal toward ending the war with Iran unclear, the stability of oil supplies remains uncertain with the Strait of Hormuz nearly closed, blocking a vital route for oil and gas tankers from the Middle East.

The U.S. dollar fell to 159.13 Japanese yen from 159.32 yen. The euro rose to $1.1601 from $1.1588.

Source: AP

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Police sergeant shot dead after confronting husband over alleged abuse of teenage stepdaughter Pharaoh Dombodzvuku was found critically injured beside Sergeant Portia Dzanwa after two shots were heard at a house in Hopley Zone 5 HARARE — A police sergeant was shot dead in Harare on Sunday night after confronting her husband over allegations that […]

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Source: President calls churches to action – herald

Debra Matabvu

CHURCHES must move beyond their traditional spiritual role and become active partners in Zimbabwe’s economic and social development, President Mnangagwa has said.

Speaking at the National Spiritual Conference of the Johane Masowe Chishanu Church in Highfield yesterday, he said churches should actively participate in programmes under the National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2), national clean-up campaigns and community development initiatives.

He called on religious organisations to help the Government tackle the scourge of drugs and substance abuse, poverty, crime and youth violence.

“Moving ahead towards the attainment of Vision 2030, I look forward to see all the churches of our beloved motherland playing their part in the programmes and projects outlined in the National Development Strategy 2,” he said.

President Mnangagwa urged churches to work closely with Government officials, local authorities and traditional leaders to drive development in their communities.

“All churches in the provinces should continue working with Ministers of Provincial Affairs and Devolution, all arms of Government, councils and traditional leaders as we develop our regions and provinces,” he said.

The President said such partnerships should also extend to national programmes such as the Government’s clean-up campaigns.

“I also invite the churches to collaborate with Government in all programmes, including the national clean-up campaigns for cleaner living and working spaces,” he said.

The President said churches had an even more urgent role to play in tackling social problems affecting Zimbabwean communities, particularly young people.

“I call upon the church to scale up programmes that fight the social vices in our society which include poverty, drugs and substance abuse, violence and crime, especially among the youth,” he said.

“In addition, I urge you to also help increase the number of vulnerable children that have access to education. Let us never neglect the widows and the elderly.”

President Mnangagwa said the Church must be a refuge for those in need.

“Imi vapostori, you worship freely; let the youth stay away from drugs. Let the Church be a refuge for children fleeing from evil,” he said.

The President called on churches to mobilise their congregations around food production and pray for adequate rainfall during the 2026/2027 agricultural season.

Although weather experts have warned of the possibility of an El Niño season, President Mnangagwa urged churches to join hands in praying for good rains while encouraging communities to increase agricultural production.

“Even though those responsible for weather forecasts say there could be an El Niño, we encourage you to join other churches in the country in praying for rain,” he said.

“We want our 2026/2027 agricultural season to be productive. Let us encourage one another wherever we are to farm intensively and fill our granaries.”

He said food security remained a national priority.

“Our households and country must continue to be food self-sufficient,” said the President.

He also used the gathering to reinforce the political relationship between the ruling ZANU PF and the Apostolic faith church.

“ZANU PF is going nowhere; it will continue ruling, ruling and ruling, Hallelujah.”

He said the Church was an important constituency for the ruling party, thanking it for supporting the process that resulted in the enactment of Constitutional Amendment No. 3.

He added that churches had an important role to play in supporting the country’s development agenda while the Government would continue protecting their right to worship.

“As the Government of the people of Zimbabwe . . . we will continue to uphold the principle that churches must always have the proper freedom to worship.”

The President also commended Johane Masowe Chishanu for its contribution to communities, including the donation of 570 hospital beds, 560 wheelchairs and other medical supplies.

He said the church’s involvement in promoting peace, unity and love was commendable and urged religious organisations to intensify their contribution to national development.

President Mnangagwa also recognised the philanthropic work of Johane Masowe Chishanu elder Madzibaba Wicknell Chivhayo, particularly his contributions to the church and wider community.

He said the country’s development could not be left to the Government alone.

“Let us continue to work hard for a strong partnership between the Church and State as we promote Godly values and the overall development of our motherland, Zimbabwe,” said President Mnangagwa.

The event was attended by Minister of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training Tino Machakaire, Presidential adviser Dr Paul Tungwarara, Harare Mayor Councillor Jacob Mafume and other senior officials.

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