HARARE - While access to health is a basic human right, in Zimbabwe it remains a pipe dream as the State fails to ensure that hospitals are functional, something that observers say is a serious indictment to the governing party Zanu PF.

This year alone doctors and nurses have been downing their tools over little or non-payment of their salaries and thus putting the health sector in a dicey spot.

MDC spokesperson Obert Gutu said Zanu PF’s lack of focus on important issues has been negatively affecting the health sector.

“The Zanu PF regime has got an insatiable appetite for living life on the fast lane, spending money on luxuries such as buying expensive Mercedes Benz limousines and swanky sports utility Range Rovers for its ministers and other top bureaucrats. The Zanu PF regime has a penchant for priori ti sing the wrong things,” he said.

Junior doctors refused to sign contracts of employment, claiming the salary was too meagre.

In Mutare several nurses also went on a strike, claiming they were not being paid their salaries by a broke council.

Zimbabwe National Network of People Living with HIV (ZNNP+) and Family Aids Support Organisation told our sister paper the Daily News during a recent tour of the clinics in Mutare that some of their members went for days without ARVs as the staff was failing to manage the huge numbers of patients.

“The clinics, particularly Sakubva, are overwhelmed by the number of people who need to be resupplied with ARVs and the staff on the ground is failing to cope.

“At Sakubva we counted no less than 300 patients who could not be served by the two people manning the department at the moment,” ZNNP+ Manicaland provincial coordinator Lloyd Dembure said.

As the same situation prevails in many hospitals, Gutu said government is just failing to honour simple obligations.

“They (health staff) are simply demanding a decent income that the government should easily afford if it had its priorities in order. Only a few weeks ago, the government splashed $6 million buying two mansions for the two vice presidents. Actually, Zimbabwe doesn’t need two vice presidents. We can make do with only one...,” he said.

He further said that Zimbabwe is being run by a “rogue and kleptocratic” regime which does not care about the suffering of the toiling masses.

“Instead of making sure that taxpayers’ money is used wisely by rehabilitating and retooling public health facilities such as clinics and public hospitals as well as paying medical staff a decent, living wage, the regime would rather priori ti se footing expensive and unnecessary foreign travel for President Robert Mugabe and his list of hangers, including Cabinet ministers and other top government officials,” Gutu said.

As the country’s health sector hits rock bottom, several ministers and government officials including Mugabe, have been receiving treatment abroad.

In most cases, the ailing Mugabe has been to Singapore on countless times to seek treatment, a feat that no ordinary Zimbabwean can afford.

Several poor Zimbabweans, who are bearing the brunt of the “sick” economy, have been left at the mercy of poorly-stocked hospitals, whose functions are often crippled by incessant personnel strikes.

Political analyst Maxwell Saungweme said the Mugabe-led government enjoyed spending money on less important issues, while neglecting the health sector.

“They would rather host a million dollar birthday bash for the aged leader, sponsor multiple foreign trips and sponsor useless rallies while health workers are not paid.

“The health sector has been poorly funded and is collapsing. The government is not making meaningful investment in that sector. This is why when ministers and the president are sick they go abroad for health services. They cannot trust their own health sector,” Saungweme said.

He said it was clear that the situation was much worse than the 2008 scenario, when every economic sector was crippled.

“In 2008 we had hyperinflation which was easier to fix through introducing a stronger currency but now we have deflation which is trickier to solve in the midst of a governance and political crisis.

“We also have drought this year. In 2008 the third sector, NGO sector was better funded and would easily come in to the rescue of the poor and vulnerable. But this year we have reduced funding for that sector due to donor fatigue among others.

“We are facing a dire situation worse than 2008…banks no longer provide enough money — we now have a liquidity crisis, the government is broke, strikes will soon be the order of the day. This time the government is clueless and have run out of ideas,” he said.

HARARE - Despite the best efforts of Reserve Bank Governor John Mangudya and his team to mitigate the situation, the debilitating cash shortages that hit local banks a few weeks ago are worsening, sending the country’s long-suffering citizens and floundering companies into panic mode.

Analysts who spoke to the Daily News on Sunday yesterday said the cash crunch manifested “the sad reality” that Zimbabwe’s economy was continuing on its catastrophic downward spiral — a consequence of the country’s decades-old political crisis that is widely blamed on President Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF.

This comes as a number of banks have run out of cash over the past few days, in addition to imposing more stringent daily withdrawal limits and other measures.

The country started experiencing serious cash shortages at the beginning of this year, resulting in the central bank imposing limits on withdrawals — a move that is said to have seen many companies and individuals opting not to deposit their money with financial institutions, thereby worsening the crisis.

A snap survey by the Daily News on Sunday yesterday revealed that one government-controlled bank did not have any cash, but promised enough cash would be secured from tomorrow onwards.

“I have been coming to the bank this whole week and the message has been the same. There is no cash, and when I went to a supermarket for a payback I was told I could only get $10. What can I do with $10?” a furious depositor with the bank said.

Another major bank that has until now seemingly not been affected by the cash crunch has just imposed a $600 daily withdrawal limit from $1 500 for individuals, and $1 500 for companies from $5 000.

Other financial institutions have also since moved to temporarily suspend their ZimSwitch inter-connectivity arrangements with other banks at their ATMs — an electronic payment platform for local banks that makes life easy for consumers.

The situation was not any better in many Harare supermarkets, with depositors wanting to access cash at one outlet only able to get $10, after buying goods worth $5.

Efforts to get a comment from Mangudya yesterday did not bear fruit. However, the RBZ chief said recently that the cash shortages were a “logistical issue and nothing more”, implying that the shortages are temporary.

“The problem is people want to declare a crisis where there is none, the situation is under control.

“Note that we import the money, so it is merely a logistical issue,” he said.

Barclays Bank managing director, George Guvamatanga, also assured depositors last month that the cash crunch was “nothing short of a coincidental logistical issue”.

Still, the cash shortages have sent many Zimbabweans, who recall the 2008 economic crisis and hyper-inflation era with dread, into panic mode as they fear losing their money.

The Daily News on Sunday reported last week that there were growing concerns that Zimbabwe had once again hit the depths of humanitarian and economic despair that were last experienced in 2008, when the country’s seemingly unending political crisis precipitated an economic meltdown of monumental proportions — which culminated in the death of the Zimbabwe dollar and mass emigrations out of the country.

In a surprising admission, a Zanu PF politburo member also recently admitted that the country was “in dire straits” — a sentiment that flew in the face of official communiqués by both government and other governing party officials who incredulously continue to claim that all is well in the country despite obvious evidence to the contrary.

Speaking to the Daily News on Sunday’s sister paper, the Daily News, the bigwig said “burying our heads in the sand like ostriches as we are doing” was not helping the country — adding that it “pained” him to see so many Zimbabweans suffering to the extent that they were doing.

“It is a fact that the economy is in a very bad shape, and that the poor are being particularly hard- hit. I think part of the way out of this is for all of us is to admit that the country is in dire straits so that we can all sit down as Zimbabweans to find the requisite solutions.

“I feel pained to see so many of our people, particularly the poor in towns and rural areas having to make do with so little or nothing, and they have lived like this for so long.

“In fact, many young people who are under 25 years in our country don’t really know a good, normal life. It’s time for us to stop the denial.

“We need to rise above the culture of petty political fights that is now a permanent feature of Zimbabwean life, whether one looks at Zanu PF or the country generally. As Dr Amai (First Lady Grace Mugabe) always says, it’s time to stop all this,” the contrite bigwig said.

The official spoke as analysts warned that Zimbabwe was teetering on the brink of total collapse, a situation they said was spawning worsening citizen despondency which could lead to growing opposition to Mugabe and Zanu PF’s 36 years in power.

Most political and economic observers have also warned that 2016 would in all likelihood be harder all-round compared to 2015, which was itself generally described as an annus horribilis (horrible year).

They said there was “little hope” that life would get better for most Zimbabweans, and that if anything, the country’s ailing economy would get sicker, while the deadly factional and succession wars ravaging the post-congress Zanu PF were set to worsen.

Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) chief executive Christopher Mugaga said with all the country’s key economic indicators — including inflation, unemployment and gross domestic product growth — heading in the wrong direction, the only way out was for the government to “quell the crisis of mistrust within the country”.

“Politicians mistrust each other more than ever before while they are the custodians of policy proposals. This therefore leaves a void when it comes to thoroughness in implementation.

“It is also vital to find feasible strategies to look for foreign direct investment without necessarily relying on the carrot approach of relying on incentivising potential investors.

“Let the policy environment be transparent and consistent while relegating populist policy measures to the dustbin.

“For example, what is the rationale of even considering giving bonuses both to the civil service and the private sectors when all the numbers are pointing southwards?” Mugaga said.

So bad is the economic situation in the country that thousands of companies have closed their doors over the past three years, leaving hundreds of thousands of poverty-stricken employees and their families in the lurch.

And the situation is not any better in the agricultural sector, where the country has moved from being the breadbasket of the region to a hopeless and much-derided basket case over the past two decades.

HARARE - In a calculated assault on restless war veterans aligned to embattled Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, ahead of the nonagenarian’s meeting with former freedom fighters in Harare on Thursday, President Robert Mugabe made it abundantly clear that he would not be dictated to by them.

Addressing Zanu PF supporters at the Harare International Airport yesterday on his return from Japan — via the now seemingly mandatory detour to Singapore — a pumped up Mugabe also made it clear that the once powerful Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) was subordinate to Zanu PF, and not the other way round as some former freedom fighters think.

“Hatitongwe neassociation … never ever. Hatife takabvuma izvozvo … tine gwara reparty … musangano ndiwo unotungamirira vose, maassociations ose, ndiwo unopa gwara kwatiri tose.

“Watsauka watsauka, warasika, wava chipfukuto gamatox … tinoda gwara, gwara nekuti tisina gwara hapana kwatinoenda tinorasika (We are not led by affiliate associations. We will never agree to that. We have party guidelines. The party leads all associations and provides guidelines to all of us. If you waver, you are now a weevil, gamatox),” Mugabe thundered.

Senior party officials present at the airport said the nonagenarian’s combative  address not only set the tone for his eagerly-anticipated meeting with war veterans on Thursday, but was also a “calculated assault” on Team Lacoste (Mnangagwa faction) which was said to be going around boasting that it had now successfully cornered him and reined-in his influential wife Grace.

Zanu PF has for the past decade been ravaged by deadly and seemingly unstoppable factional and succession wars, with the party currently divided along two main factions — one loyal to Mnangagwa (Team Lacoste) and the other, known as the Generation 40 (G40) group, rabidly opposed to the Midlands godfather.

War veterans, who for long were the pillars of the former liberation movement and a major unifying force in the party, have also now been sucked into the often mindless bloodletting.

This has seen the ZNLWVA effectively breaking up into a number of bitterly-opposed factions, with the main formation still led by former War Veterans minister Christopher Mutsvangwa, who is seen as a key ally of Mnangagwa and who was summarily sacked from Cabinet by Mugabe last month.

The Mnangagwa-aligned ZNLWVA has been accused by its Zanu PF enemies of undermining Mugabe and Grace, and promoting factionalism — amid further untested claims that it is working to dislodge the increasingly frail nonagenarian from power, for the benefit of Mnangagwa.

The VP-aligned ZNLWVA leadership has also openly clashed with senior Zanu PF officials over the past few months, going on, recently, to pass votes of no confidence in bigwigs such as Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko and Cabinet ministers that include Saviour Kasukuwere and Jonathan Moyo whom they accuse of being key G40 members. Mugabe’s forthcoming meeting with war veterans, scheduled for Thursday, came at the instigation of the Mnangagwa-aligned ZNLWVA, which is why many Zimbabweans will be watching with keen interest what happens at the get-together after the president’s shellacking of the group yesterday.

This follows the unprecedented move by riot police last month who mercilessly clamped down on the Mnangagwa-aligned war veterans — tear-gassing and water-spraying them before forcing them to disperse, after the group of former freedom fighters attempted to flex their muscles and congregate “unlawfully” in Harare.

The chaos, which the Daily News on Sunday and its sister paper, the Daily News, had accurately predicted for weeks, came as Zanu PF’s ugly internal ructions got dirtier, with the party faction linked to Mnangagwa increasingly mounting an open rebellion against Mugabe and Grace. So bold had some of the utterances and tactics employed by Team Lacoste become that there had been, for some time, real fear within Zanu PF that the ruling party’s escalating brawls could soon boil over into bloody conflict.

But the war veterans’ mission, including plans to march to Zanu PF’s national headquarters, fell apart after the authorities decided to deal with them firmly — a treatment that is usually reserved for opposition supporters and other critics of the government.

Police officers, who gave the fast-aging war veterans five minutes to abandon their march before action was taken against them, said their demo and meeting had not been sanctioned by authorities.

But the war veterans, clearly of the belief that force would not be used against them, said defiantly that they were “not going anywhere,” before breaking into song.

Soon after, all hell broke loose — and to the disappointment of some bystanders with a high affinity for real life drama, the veterans scampered for dear life with barely a whimper.

In his attack yesterday, Mugabe said all Zanu PF’s affiliate associations had to follow the party’s rules and procedures.

“Haungavi nhengo yemusangano usingateeri gwara remusangano. Kana uchienda nerweseri kuda kuputsa musangano. Kushora mazwi akashata atinotuka nawo, uchiri nhengo here? Uchine kodzero here?

“Saka hatizvide izvozvo … musangano ndiwo unotara gwara. Musangano ndiwo unoziva gwara (You cannot be a party member when you do not follow the party’s dictates. If you plot to destroy the party are you still a party member? Do you still have rights to the party? We do not want that … the party is the one that lays out procedures to be followed),” Mugabe said.

“Hapana association ine mvumo yekuti imire uko, yoti tinoda kuti party iite zvakati, hapana. Association inouya nemugwara reparty — kuhondo ikoko taiti  politics leads the gun.

“Zanla, Zipra vanosungirwa kutevera gwara reparty — mauto ese, madetainees, marestrictees tese topinda muparty totevera gwara reparty. Vatapihwa ivavo kuti tivhotere senhengo dzeparamende tovavhotera. Ndomaitiro iwayo.

(No association has the power to stand aside and make demands from the party. All associations follow the party procedures — during the liberation war our principle was that politics leads the gun — Zanla, Zipra should follow party procedures... ex-combatants, ex-detainees and ex-restrictees must follow party procedures. We must vote for the selected parliamentary candidates, that is how we do things),” Mugabe added.

HARARE - Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed hotel group, African Sun Limited (ASL), says it has exited all its regional markets focusing on local operations to plug cash haemorrhages from the external operations.

ASL chairman Herbert Nkala said the group had abandoned its regional strategy to focus on Zimbabwe operations shutting down business in Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and Mauritius.

“…this will stop the cash drain from the profitable Zimbabwe operations… There was no financial impact from the exit of Nigeria as the company was in a net liabilities position. The exit from Nigeria was effective September 30, 2015.

“The decision to exit Ghana was premised on the sustained losses driven by low revenues and high fixed costs which were pushed by fixed operating lease costs,” Nkala said in a statement accompanying the group’s financials for the year to December 31, 2015.

The ASL boss also said the group had tried to engage its Ghana landlord to revise the operating lease costs without success resulting in a mutual termination of the lease contract and disposal of operating assets to the landlord on August 31, 2015.

During the year under review, ASL also mutually-terminated the lease agreement of its Beitbridge Express Hotel with Dawn Properties effective January 31, 2016.

“This was following approval by the board on November 19, 2015 to exit from the lease. The decision was based on prolonged losses by the hotel which was eroding the group’s equity,” he said.

Nkala said the Beitbridge Express Hotel had reported a loss of $336 311 for the 15 months ended December 31, 2015 up from the $218 535 loss recorded prior comparable period.

ASL implemented a staff reduction exercise that reduced the group employees from 1 490 to 1 179 at a cost of $2,4 million, with annual savings expected from the initiative at about $2,7 million.

The hotel group recorded a loss for the period of $8,3 million from a $2,2 million loss noted prior comparable period.

Revenue for the year at $63,3 million was eight percent lower on prior comparable period attributed to a decline in average monthly revenues.

“The drop in average monthly revenues was mainly a result of a five percent reduction in the average daily rate (ADR) from $98 achieved last year to $93.

“The ADR drop is partly attributed to the introduction of Value Added Tax on foreign revenue,” he said.

Occupancy marginally increased to 49 percent from 48 percent as the effect of the ADR drop and occupancy increase was a four percent drop in revenue per available room from $47 to $45.

During the year under review ASL also changed its business model from a hotel operator to hotel investment company resulting in the appointment of Legacy Hotels as a manager for selected hotels.

This business review resulted in the shrinkage of head office staff complement from 44 to 17 reducing annual costs from $2,1 million to $2,7 million.

HARARE - Zimbabwe's continued economic decline resulting in massive company closures has seen security firms engaging in unethical practises to win clients.

The Security Association of Zimbabwe (Saz) out-going president Chamunorwa Ngwerume said depressed demand for security services and the acute liquidity crunch were forcing some companies to break the law for survival.

“We have seen an unprecedented increase in the mushrooming of security companies some of which are genuine and most of them are fly-by night security companies.

“The absence of a tight regulatory framework is now threatening the existence of law abiding security companies,” he said at the association’s annual general meeting held in the capital last week.

Ngwerume added that there are a number of unscrupulous individuals fleecing people of their hard-earned cash through offering bogus security guard training under trees and open spaces with no proper training facilities and then promise nonexistent jobs.

“This is bringing the image of the industry into disrepute and we call upon the ministry of Home Affairs to reign in these companies and individuals. They must stop it,” he said.

Ngwerume noted that the long-running wage dispute between employers and unions in the security industry has been resolved.

“The arbitrator noted that under the prevailing economic environment it was not feasible to award any wage increase and hence ruled that the existing wages should be allowed to continue until the macro-economic situation improves,” Ngwerume said.

Home Affairs minister Ignatious Chombo, who was guest of honour at the event, said the security industry must come up with regulatory framework to foster business growth and employment creation.

“The regulatory authority instrument will enable all security organisations to operate with some mutual understanding, enable you to negotiate both the wages and the tariffs, standards in your industry thereby building trust and harmonising operations.

“With this instrument in place, it will be possible to harness all the other illegal operators who are currently operating without licences,” he said.

Chombo added that Saz must keep up creating employment as this helps in alleviating poverty in the country.

“It is pleasing to learn that your association employs 24 000 workers, representing 72 percent of the total number of employees registered with the National Employment Council for the security industry. This, in my view is quite commendable,” minister said.

At the meeting, Michael Mazhazhate was nominated to be the new Saz president.

BULAWAYO - The Affirmative Action Group (AAG) has leapt to the defence of Indigenisation minister Patrick Zhuwao over his threats to sue foreign companies that will not comply with the controversial empowerment law.

Zhuwao recently threatened to close non-compliant firms, warning that he would assist workers of the non-compliant companies to take legal action against their owners and directors.

The move has been met with stiff resistance from industrialists, investors, opposition parties as well as war veterans, who accused Zhuwao of sabotaging the country’s already failing economy.

Speaking to the Daily News on Thursday last week AAG president Chamu Chiwanza said there is nothing amiss with the widely-condemned empowerment policy.

“The deadline for firms to comply is not a Zhuwao deadline,” Chiwanza said.

“This is a legislation passed through an Act of Parliament comprehensively as Indigenisation and Empowerment Act. What minister Zhuwao is simply doing is implementing what is contained in that document. This deadline was passed through a whole Cabinet presided over by the principal himself the President (Robert Mugabe).”

Chiwanza said anyone who wanted to do business in Zimbabwe should comply with the domestic laws or else they ship out.

“Those who want to do business must then subscribe to it and not politicise it and say Zhuwao is looking for political relevance and so forth. This is a law passed in 2008.

“We have taken so long to implement it and this is where we must say push has come to shove, people must ship out or comply,” he said.

The controversial indigenisation law which compels foreign-owned companies to cede 51 percent of their total shares to locals has been dismissed by analysts as an anti-investment legislation that is repealing the much needed foreign direct investment.

And Chiwanza lashed out at such economists whom he said are against the Indigenisation Act.

“The economists need to go back to their books of economics and study again. These laws are not only found in Zimbabwe, you can find them in Dubai or South Africa.

He added that foreigners wanted to use their local firms for political purposes.

“What is really shocking us is that foreign capital wants to have the control of our economy, they don’t want to let go that grip, they want to use it not only for economic purposes but also for political purposes, they want to pursue the regime change agenda.”

Since Mugabe’s appointed Zhuwao last year as the new minister of Indigenisation, there has been policy inconsistencies in government and he has also clashed with fellow Cabinet ministers.

MUTARE - Chinese diamond mining company, Anjin Investments, says it has no clue on the mysterious disappearance of the $15 billion which President Robert Mugabe claimed was realised from the Chiadzwa fields.

The director of the company, a fifty-fifty joint venture with the government of Zimbabwe, Munyaradzi Machacha told the touring Indigenisation portfolio committee of Parliament that his company had never realised anything close to the amount that Mugabe recently claimed was looted from the fields.

“ We have not had diamonds of that value, maybe government knows better but like we said we never produced such diamonds. We are actually struggling to service our debts so even if it was Anjin being targeted, our overall production does not speak to that figure.”

Machacha said that since the company began its operations they had generated a total revenue of about $324,5 million from the 9 million carats they produced up to 2015.

Out of the total revenue, the company claimed that $78 million went towards taxes and other statutory obligations.

Machacha would not comment on whether the company, that government has since directed to cease operations, would still fulfil its $10 million pledge to the community share ownership trusts in Marange-Zimunya saying he would wait for the outcome of the court application in which Anjin is challenging government decision to stop its operations.

Machacha said the company did not understand the government decision given “what we have done in contributing to the national economy.  It is clear that what is said about us has no basis. There are a lot of things that are said by some people that are not true but are presented as facts. I wish your committee had come earlier maybe you could have saved us but now we are in the intensive care and we are struggling for oxygen hoping we could survive a day longer.”

Anjin, which is run by Chinese nationals, is a joint venture between the government’s Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation and China’s State-owned Anhui Foreign and Economic Construction Company

Mugabe recently made the stunning claim that $15 billion had been looted from Chiadzwa under his government’s watch.

HARARE - At least 21 Zimbabwean fishermen are languishing in a Zambian remand prison after they were denied bail following their arrest on allegations of entering the neighbouring country without appearing before an immigration officer.

The 21, who were arrested on the 19th of last month, are also accused of fishing in Zambian waters without a permit, and have since pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

The Siavonga Magistrates’ Court remanded all the suspects in custody and they will be back in court on April 14.

Their lawyer has since applied for their release on bail and the return of their confiscated fishing equipment.

The magistrate will make a ruling on the application on Thursday.

Lake Fresh director Dave Webster, whose 16 employees are part of the arrested group earlier stated that the fishermen were arrested at Musampakaruma Islands, Lake Kariba, where they were fishing at least two kilometres away from the Zimbabwean border with Zambia.

“During the night of 19th March 2016, Zambian police authorities unlawfully arrested 21 Zimbabwean kapenta fishermen while they were fishing in Zimbabwean territory on Lake Kariba.  There were also seven kapenta boats confiscated.  The confiscated rigs belong to Lake Fresh Fisheries…Mawere of Kalesh Investments… and… Mavhurere…,” Webster said.

He added, “The fishermen were approached by Zambian police, who demanded to know why they were violating Zambia’s full moon mandatory shutdown.

The fishermen explained that the Zimbabwean shutdown falls on different dates, the Zambian authorities then left,” he said.

He said that armed Zambian police officers reportedly later came back and bundled the fishermen in one rig before consfiscicating their cell phones.

Webster told the Daily News that his company’s representatives, together with Zimbabwean security officials visited the Siavonga Police in Zambia, where they were told the 21 fishermen had been arrested for fishing in Zambian waters.

He said the officials had problems in visiting the arrested fishermen as they were being denied access by the Zambian police.

“They (arrested fishermen) were also not supplied with water or food, until this was arranged by the company representatives.

“The Zimbabweans reported to us that one of the fishermen was in fact very ill.  This was reported to the Zambian authorities,” he said.

He claimed this was an act of revenge by Zambian authorities after eight of their fishermen were arrested on the Zimbabwean side in December last year.

HARARE - MDC Vice President Thokozani Khupe has savaged President Robert Mugabe saying the nonagenarian has robbed the nation of its dignity and has run the economy down so badly that many Zimbabweans now live as vendors and beggars.

Addressing hundreds of MDC supporters at a belated International Women’s Day celebrations in Watsomba on Saturday, Khupe said the 92-year-old and his deeply-divided Zanu PF are failing to provide basics, apart from implementing ruinous policies that are costing women their lives while giving birth.

“We are told to pay for maternity services…why are we being punished for performing a national duty? If anything you should be paid for giving birth, that is what other countries do…currently 15 women die daily during child birth. This is unacceptable,” Khupe claimed.

With more than 80 percent of the country’s productive sector jobless Khupe, who is passionate about maternal and child health, said in Zimbabwe “ almost everyone is now imprinted poverty on their foreheads”.

She said the admission by Mugabe that government has lost $15 billion in murky Marange diamond operations means his government owes every Zimbabwean at least $1 000.

“Mugabe said we lost $15 billion meaning the Zanu PF government owes each and everyone here $1 000. If you have a husband and seven children then your family is owed $9 000,” Khupe opined.

Speaking at the same occasion the MDC women’s assembly president Lynette Karenyi said in the wake of a devastating drought government should not distribute food aid on partisan lines.

“We are not advocating for lawlessness but hunger will force you to grab the available food…we are saying food will not be distributed if only Zanu PF members will benefit.

“As MDC women we are only celebrating our womanhood because there is nothing we have in hand to be happy with,” Karenyi said.

An emotional Karenyi added that women in Zimbabwe have to watch helplessly the children they struggled to send to school being thrown on the ever-growing jobless heap.

“We have now been reduced to a nation of vendors…our children have been reduced to vendors after graduating from university. Zanu PF has utterly destroyed our country,” she said.

The party’s Manicaland provincial chairperson, David Chimhini said while the MDC has managed to have all its envisioned women empowerment provisions in the new Constitution, there is delay in aligning existing legislations with the new supreme law.

“All our positions were adequately captured during the Constitution-making process as we essentially wanted women to take up seats in Parliament, assume leadership positions in government and even take up traditional leadership positions.

“The only problem now is the constitutional provisions are not yet enabled through the enactment of relevant pieces of legislation,” Chimhini said.

Chimhini also bemoaned what he felt are entrenched stereotypes that cast women as inherently inferior to men as another huge impediment to equality.

“Unfortunately, some men are yet to appreciate women as full and equally capable human beings,” Chimhini said.

BULAWAYO - With former Education minister David Coltart opening a can of worms with his recently released autobiography — the Dumiso Dabengwa-led Zapu has dared beleaguered Vice President Emmerson Mngangagwa to come clean on the role he played in the Gukurahundi atrocities.

Although President Robert Mugabe came short of apologising for the atrocities  — where an estimated 20 000 people lost their lives — saying it was a “moment of madness”, his deputy preferred to say the issue is now a closed chapter, something that Zapu and other human rights organisations say is an insult.

In his autobiography — The Struggle Continues: 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe — Coltart quotes Mnangagwa describing dissidents as “cockroaches”, and the Fifth Brigade, the military wing that orchestrated a reign of terror in the regions of Matabeleland and Midlands as “DDT”, a deadly pesticide that is used to kill vermin.

In a statement, Zapu deputy national spokesperson Patrick Ndlovu said Mnangagwa should “either tell the truth about his publicly known role in the Gukurahundi massacre or just keep quiet and enjoy the feeding frenzy on the gravy train”.

Incensed by Coltart’s hard-hitting autobiography, Mnangagwa threatened to sue the former government minister.

But Zapu says instead of issuing threats Mnangagwa and everyone who had an alleged hand during one of the darkest periods in the history of post-independent Zimbabwe, must at least own up.

“The victims and their families deserve closure on that painful and shameful chapter in the history of this country.

“Zapu knows that the Zanu regime lacks the moral courage to own up to its role in the planning and execution of its massacre of Zimbabwean citizens simply on the basis of their preferred political allegiance.

“As the government, Zanu PF owes an explanation to the victims, the country and indeed the world at large as to the true motive behind a holocaust similar to the Nazi anti-Semitism, not in scale but in cruelty and effect.”

With the governing party reluctant to own up to the dark era of the 1980s, Ndlovu said the Mugabe-led regime has a legal obligation to release to the public the findings of the Chihambakwe Commission that was set up to investigate the killing of civilians by the army.

“We therefore advise ... Mnangagwa that should his conscience compel him to talk about Gukurahundi it should be on the above issues and not some thinly-veiled attempts to justify his bloody hands.”

Ndlovu said instead of burying their heads in the sand, government should also draft a comprehensive reparations policy to redress the political and social imbalances that have taken place in independent Zimbabwe.

“The government should just stop its rhetoric on a Truth and Reconciliation Commission and act to establish the commission to deal with its numerous human rights abuses.

“It should draft ... policy to redress the imbalances caused by its actions among the communities affected by its embargo during the Gukurahundi period.

“The Zanu PF regime remains the only government to impose internal sanctions and unleash highly trained murderers on its own unarmed civilian population. Those people who now confess losing their sanity should also ask for forgiveness from their victims.”

Human rights activists and political parties have continuously piled pressure on Mugabe to at least apologise for the massacres but the nonagenarian leader has intractably remained quiet.

Respected Zanu PF elder Cephas Msipa in his book titled In Pursuit of Freedom and Justice — A Memoir, that was launched last year, dismissed the official massaging of narratives on the Gukurahundi atrocities as “a moment of madness”, saying as the massacres happened over a period spanning more than five years, hence they could not therefore be described as such.

Msipa who helped broker the unity accord of 1987 that ended hostilities between Zanu and Zapu — described the killings as “gruesome”, calling on authorities “to look into the aftermath of Gukurahundi.”

While in the past it had appeared more like a taboo to openly speak about Gukurahundi, lately there has been an upsurge in voices condemning the genocide.

LUSAKA/HARARE - Former Zambian vice-president Guy Scott has chided President Robert Mugabe over the use of political violence to remain in power.

He said he differed with his country’s president, Edgar Lungu, over the use of political violence.

“I told the president (Lungu) that if you want me back, allow all (former President Michael) Sata’s people to come back. I went all the way to western, north-western Copperbelt and I can’t just leave them. My other condition was ‘get rid of violence’.

“We don’t want this country to be like Zimbabwe. Why should we voluntarily become like Zimbabwe, where the president can lose an election and eight years later, he is still there?” Scott wondered.

Mugabe has in the past been accused of using violence against his opponents to gain support for his Zanu PF party.

“I know it’s not trivial. You have to be committed to stopping violence. I admit part of it is my fault because when I wanted William Banda out of Bauleni, I went and recruited people and say ‘can you protect the people in Bauleni’  but they themselves became thugs. I apologise, because they thought they were more powerful than police, so they started getting money from buses.”

In an interview, Scott said Lungu’s election was  merely driven by the mourning period  and its immediate need to replace Sata and not necessarily based on serious scrutiny of the state of affairs.

“If you look at the map of this country, half of the country is green and the other half is red. If you take the line to the Copperbelt, including towns down to the corner where Luangwa flows into the Zambezi, you will find every district on the left has majority of its people for Hichilema Hakainde.

Every district on the right is for PF or Edgar. So that tells you something. Do you want your country split into two?” Scott asked.

“We want to put an end to that split. We don’t want a split country where the majority of PF is on one side and the other majority for UPND is on the other side.

If we can spread across the divide, it is a powerful unit. So the UPND is a natural factor in this because we are bringing different people to the areas. It is a complimentary situation. What you must get first and foremost is a government with strength but that has also got integrity in view of the corruption that we have in this country at the moment and the craziness.”

He said he could not join the Rainbow Party because it had no members, hence his decision to support Hichilema’s candidature.

“We have to have something that works. It is no use, for example, joining the Rainbow Party because the Rainbow Party does not have members. Are we going to be talking about Fidel Castro everyday in the newspapers or Cuba? Or Bolivia or Venezuela?” Scott asked.

And Scott said it was nonsensical for members of the PF to charge that he was a finished, old politician who had no political influence left in him.

“They are saying I am aging, who is not aging? Rupiah? Chikwanda? Inonge Wina? Who is not aging among us?

“Let them have a sweep of all the old people, then we can have a political party of people who have Grade Twelve certificates and less than 60 years old and another party of the madalas and under Grade 12s. Which group will have more people?” he asked.

Scott said it was lack of gratitude for the PF to accuse him of not supporting Lungu in the January 2015 elections.

“The last 14 days (before the election), I went to Copperbelt every single day and addressed rallies. I told people that the election was not about politics, I said ‘we are in mourning so let us choose a leader and we can talk politics later’ and they agreed. If they are now telling us that I did not support Lungu, they are liars.

“Let us see their diary of movements over that period of election. What were they doing apart from listening to my phone calls in State House?” asked Scott.

HARARE - With former Vice President Joice Mujuru’s Zimbabwe People First (ZPF) continuing to attract dozens of disgruntled senior Zanu PF officials to its ranks, the ruling party is stepping up its efforts to stem the tide by extending an olive branch to its disaffected members, including those currently under suspension.

Zanu PF insiders who spoke to the Daily News yesterday said President Robert Mugabe’s announcement at the weekend that the central committee would this week move to deal with all outstanding disciplinary issues was an indication of the anxiety gripping the party in the face of the growing desertions.

Speaking at Harare International Airport on Saturday on his arrival from Japan, Mugabe revealed that the party would convene a central committee meeting this week, where all pending disciplinary appeals would be deliberated.

The central committee is, at least on paper, Zanu PF’s highest decision-making body between the party’s congresses.

Most of the party’s members who are on suspension or facing dismissal are under the cosh on suspicion that they support Mujuru and ZPF.

“There is a real fear in the party that many more of those officials who are on suspension could cross the floor and join ZPF, hence this decision to finally hear all outstanding cases,” a Zanu PF bigwig said.

Political analyst Maxwell Saungweme said yesterday that the party was teetering on the brink of total collapse due to its worsening factional and succession wars, and was thus keen to do anything to mitigate the often mindless bloodletting.

“The possibility of pardons is high given that the party is so divided and on the verge of collapse. On the other hand, common sense does not reign in Zanu PF most of the time.

“The party has been pressing the self-destruct button for a very long time and it could continue on that destructive trajectory by maintaining the suspensions and risk encouraging more people to cross the floor,” Saungweme said.

Contacted for comment, Zanu PF spokesperson Simon Khaya-Moyo referred the Daily News to the party’s secretary for administration Ignatius Chombo, who was not reachable yesterday.

In a recent report by the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute (ZDI), titled Zimbabwe Political Economy Review: Elite Discohesion and Authoritarian Erosion — Zanu PF on the Precipice, the prominent think tank said the centre of power within Zanu PF was definitely no longer holding.

It said further that due to the party’s escalating ructions, more of its members were going to desert it as the country hits election mode in preparation for the 2018 plebiscite.

“The occurrences of internal fragmentation, elite discohesion and defections in Zanu PF may consistently increase over the next two years as Zimbabwe treads towards the 2018 elections.

“The more internal party fragmentation, the higher the costs of repression and the higher the chances of defection (exit) and the more probable the possibility of defeat of the hegemonic political party,” ZDI said.

Political analyst Shakespeare Hamauswa said what was happening in Zanu PF was virtually predictable because of the devastating divisions.

However, he said, the fear that its members could join other political parties was not that big considering the fact that Zanu PF had access to State resources and machinery, which it abused to maintain its hold on power.

“The warring factions within Zanu PF know it very well that they will only need the support of critical structures for them to rule. So the focus is just on getting control of the power of the party. After all, 2018 is still far, such that the vanquished factions including Mujuru can rejoin the party,” he added.

HARARE - The stage is now delicately set for a potentially explosive encounter that could radically reshape Zimbabwe’s turbulent political landscape when President Robert Mugabe meets restless war veterans in Harare on Thursday to try and iron out their deepening differences.

In a daring act of defiance yesterday, war veterans aligned to embattled Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa openly contradicted Mugabe saying they were “equal partners” in Zanu PF and that the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) was not just an affiliate organisation of the ruling party as the nonagenarian said on Saturday, on his return from Japan.

Speaking in an interview with the Daily News, the spokesperson of the Mnangagwa-aligned ZNLWVA formation that is led by former War Veterans minister Christopher Mutsvangwa, Douglas Mahiya, also said it was folly for anyone to think that former freedom fighters did not have a key role to play in Zanu PF.

“Just as you cannot separate Jesus from God, and cannot separate Jesus from the Holy Spirit, you cannot separate war veterans from Zanu PF. After all, we (war veterans) are the ones who introduced Zanu PF to the masses during the war of liberation.

“If someone wants to separate us from Zanu PF, I think it will be a betrayal of the liberation struggle,” Mahiya said as he unapologetically contradicted what Mugabe said at the weekend.

This sets the stage for a potentially bruising battle when Mugabe meets war veterans this week — who have for some time now been of the view that they are being marginalised in national politics and not also enjoying the dividends of democracy as Zanu PF leaders are doing.

Mahiya said further that ex-combatants “are not supporters of Zanu PF but are members of the party”, and as such were not supposed to operate under the leadership of people they had taught politics.

“During our training as liberation fighters we were taught how to use the gun and also taught how to handle the masses in terms of politics. So you cannot say we must go under them while we are the ones who were educating them. War veterans have a big role to play in Zanu PF politics,” he said.

Prodded to comment further on the view that war veterans should play second fiddle to Zanu PF, Mahiya said this was a misunderstanding as each party needed the other, adding that one side could not dictate to the other on issues that had to do with how the party must be run.

“The issue is not about direction. As war veterans we already have direction. However, the direction must not constantly be renewed because if you do so you will lose that direction.

“You cannot renew the direction that we had, the direction of fighting the colonial regime. We think that as war veterans we are taking the right direction. Now, it’s about how government functionality and programmes benefit the people that we fought for,” he said.

Mahiya also admitted openly that Zanu PF was “collapsing like a deck of cards” because of its seemingly unstoppable factional and succession wars.

“What we are experiencing is tantamount to total chaos in the country and total destruction of the party, and if we leave people destroying the party as war veterans we will be left with nothing at the end of the day.

“Zanu PF is being manipulated to produce a different product altogether, which is a misdirection of the liberation war. This thing is becoming tense because our former enemies have infiltrated us,” he said.

Mahiya’s sentiments follow Mugabe’s pronouncement on Saturday that former liberation struggle fighters needed to take a back seat in Zanu PF politics and allow party leaders to steer the wobbling ship.

“Hatitongwe neassociation … never ever, hatife takabvuma izvozvo … tine gwara reparty … musangano ndiwo unotungamirira vose, maassociations ose. Ndiwo unopa gwara kwatiri tose, watsauka watsauka warasika, wava chipfukuto, gamatox … tinoda gwara, gwara nekuti tisina gwara hapana kwatinoenda tinorasika (We are not led by affiliate associations, we will never agree to that. We have party guidelines. The party leads all associations, it is the one that provides guidelines to all of us and if you faulter, you are now a weevil, gamatox. We need guidelines, without which, we are lost),” Mugabe said.

Mahiya was confident that their meeting with Mugabe on Thursday would resolve the many political and economic challenges bedevilling Zanu PF and the country — taking a dig at senior party officials that are said to belong to the Generation 40 (G40) group.

“If we are going to get a platform, we are going to tell the president about the current economic situation and our plight as war veterans. What we need is to provide solutions to the current situation and that is why we went to war.

“The economy will not recover if we continue to have people like Jonathan Moyo and Saviour Kasukuwere. I am surprised why the likes of Moyo and Kasukuwere are not resigning as we have passed votes of no confidence against them.

“For Moyo, who deserted the liberation struggle, we know that he is in Zanu PF to destroy the party. Moyo once said the only way to destroy Zanu PF was to join it and destroy it from within,” Mahiya claimed.

He also demanded that the G40, which is said to comprise party Young Turks opposed to Mnangagwa succeeding Mugabe, should stop bad-mouthing ex-combatants.

“The so-called G40 wants to destroy the legacy of President Mugabe and war veterans so that they will then takeover. But I want to tell Zimbabweans that the country will continue to face economic woes if we allow this to happen,” Mahiya said.

HARARE - Indigenisation minister Patrick Zhuwao says his ministry has approached Treasury after it emerged that amendments to Zimbabwe’s black empowerment laws would, in the long run, force empowered employees to sell off their shares to meet tax obligations.

Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting with stakeholders in the capital last week, Zhuwao said fixing the loophole fell out of his purview, so the matter had been referred to the minister of Finance Patrick Chinamasa.

“Of course, we have looked into the issue of the tax loophole and have referred it to the ministry of Finance as we do not have the powers to solve the issue,” he said.

However, in light of the Indigenisation compliance deadline lapse last week the minister said he was unaware when the matter would be resolved.

When the deadline lapsed, the majority of foreign-owned companies had scrambled to submit compliance plans which will see the shares being transferred to black Zimbabweans despite the glaring loophole.

“I cannot tell VaChinamasa how to do his job, we left it in his hands and now we wait for the final position,” Zhuwao said.

This comes as Bankers Association of Zimbabwe legal counsel Neeta Joshi recently told delegates at an indigenisation meeting that amendments to the piece of legislation, which has been blamed for repealing Foreign Direct Investment, had failed to address a crucial taxation loophole.

“We have noticed that the Indigenisation laws and tax laws are not aligned. The current regime provides that when shares are allocated to indigenous Zimbabweans they have to start paying tax obligations, as soon as the shares are allocated.

“However, most of these employees are unable to pay the taxes so in the end they are forced to sell off the shares, this will diminish their shareholding and compromise the company’s indigenisation threshold at the same time,” Joshi said.

She said in the end, employees were going to end up selling their shares to the company that originally gave them the shares thus defeating the purpose of the empowerment law.

The law in question, which compels foreign-owned companies to sell majority shareholding to black Zimbabweans, was recently amended with all foreign-owned companies initially being given up to April 1 to submit compliance documents to their various line ministries.

Through Indigenisation, shares disposed of by foreign companies will be acquired among others by entities such as the National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Fund, the government’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, Employee Share Ownership and Community Share Ownership Trusts, the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation and any other company incorporated by government.

The advocate also said the people who were supposed to be empowered were “being forced” by the law to sell their shares in the end.

“It makes very little sense for the workers empowered under Employee Share Ownership Trusts to have to sell their shares to pay tax obligations that come with the shares.

“Rather it makes more sense for the tax to come into play when the shareholder chooses to sell,” she said.

HARARE - Popular comedy group PO Box has re branded to Bus Stop TV.

PO Box TV, a comedy skit production that has left Zimbabweans from all walks of life rolling with laughter and gained celebrity status overnight was initially started by Rolland Lunga (Boss Kedha),

Admire Kuzhangaira (Bhutisi) and Luckie Aaroni.

But due to misunderstandings the trio split with Lunga and Bhutisi launching PO Box Reloaded sometime last year.

This then left Aaroni to engage new faces for PO Box who comprise Prosper Ngomashi (Comic Pastor), Sharon Chideu (Maggie) and Samantha Kureya (Gonyeti).

They have however, decided to rebrand to avoid “confusion.”

“Our clients and our audience have been affected by this, in our bid to end the confusion we have decided to re brand, dropping the title PO Box to Bus Stop TV.

“We chose Bus Stop TV among many other names because a bus stop is one place in our communities which brings people from all walks of life together, affording them a chance to interact and talk about topical issues,” said Aaroni.

They will also be introducing an animated version of Bus Stop TV.

“This re branding process is part of our growth as a comic start-up and production house. As part of our growth, strategic partnerships have been made to produce more exciting projects.

“It is from these partnerships that an animation version of Bus Stop TV will be unveiled to our audience. As a production house we have decided to set the yardstick further by partnering with budding filmmakers to produce short films which will feature at least one of the Bus Stop TV faces,” he said.

It is not only about comedy, their work touches on current affairs in a humorous way.

Be it political, social issues, PO Box TV has managed to deliver daily doses of laughter through their Facebook Pages and sharing of videos via WhatsApp.

HARARE - Dendera musician Suluman Chimbetu shared the stage with rookie afro-jazz artiste Sam Dondo at a memorable concert held at Mushandirapamwe Hotel, Harare on Friday night.

Despite the fact that Dondo is still new in the industry and without an album under his name, he gave a polished act which left fans calling for more.

Dondo, a star in the making, performed songs from his debut nine-track album Zviuya which include Zviuya, Kanganwa Nhamo, Dyara Minamato and Peka Uende among others much to the delight of the partially packed hall.

The album is set to be launched on April 15, 2016 at Alexandra Sports Club in Harare.

At the album launch, Dondo will be supported by superstar Oliver Mtukudzi, sungura kingpin Alick Macheso, Chimbetu and Jah Prayzah and Winky D among others.

After mesmerising fans, the 30-year-old artiste and his Impala Subway group paved way for Dendera crooner Chimbetu who performed until the wee hours of Saturday.

Chimbetu kept fans on the dance floor with songs from his catalogue as well as from his late father, Simon.

Songs performed include Ndambarakishoni, Nyuchi, Ndarangarira Gamba and some new ones from his forthcoming album.

Orchestra Dendera Kings publicist Joe “Local” Nyamungoma told the Daily News on the sidelines of the concert that his group is happy to introduce Dondo to the showbiz.

“We have groomed a number of musicians and we are happy that they are able to stand on their own.

“As a group we feel it is our duty to groom talented artistes as this will grow and develop our music industry. We are happy that Dondo is getting better with each show,” he said.

Nyamungoma also hinted about the group’s forthcoming project.

“We are certain that our forthcoming album will comprise nothing but only hits. Fans who attend our concerts can now sing along most of the songs on the album in pipeline and this is a positive development for us as a group,” said Nyamungoma.

Dondo said “I am happy and encouraged with the reception I am receiving in the music industry — from fans, promoters and fellow artistes.

“Up to now I still find it difficult to believe that Mtukudzi, Macheso, Chimbetu and Jah Prayzah are coming to support me on my album launch.

“I grew up listening to Mtukudzi and up to now he is my hero. I feel humbled to have him on my event,” said Dondo.

HARARE - Gospel singers Mathias Mhere, Takesure Zamar Ncube, Tembalami and Sabastian Magacha will share the stage on April 9 at Kingstone House in Harare at a concert theme Taking Gospel to another Level.

Mhere told the Daily News that it will be a night to celebrate God’s power through music.

“It was our wish as gospel artistes to join forces and give all the glory to our God through music.

“We are all ready for the event and we hope the night will be a memorable one for our fans,” said the Favour hitmaker.

Zamar Ncube is popularly known locally for his blockbuster song Prayer For Zimbabwe which is a darling song for First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe,  Kuregerera In Advance and Agere Pachigaro a song he collaborated with high-flying South African group, Joyous Celebration.

While the award-winning artiste Magacha is known for hits such as Ridza Bhosvo and Go Back to Sender among others.

Mhere is expected to take the platform to popularise his 10 track latest album Double Double which is made up of the following songs: Double Double, Makorokoza MuChurch, Nhau YaNoah, Elijah NaMwari, Kesari, Chanza, Simba, Nhava Yebenzi, Jatrofa and Zimbabwe.

The album was unveiled in Harare late last year.

Mhere started his musical journey in 2005 while in the Midlands province capital where he recorded an album Hakuna Anoramba with the group Rock of Ages.

In 2007, he moved to Harare and recorded a solo album Tinoda Nyasha where the song Jambanja naSatani is found — the album was recorded at Mono Mkundu’s Monolio Studios before moving to Lyt-On Studios for a second solo production Anoita Minana.

Some of Mhere’s albums include Nguva Yenyasha and Glory to Glory.

HARARE - Zimbabwe’s Warriors yesterday hailed Zifa President Phillip Chiyangwa for bringing stability to the national soccer team and urged him to go out of his way to look for more sponsors like flamboyant businessman Wicknell Chivayo.

Speaking from Johannesburg yesterday, Warriors captain Willard Katsande said Chiyangwa came at the right time for football after years of decline under the leadership of previous regimes.

Katsande was reacting to State media reports yesterday which railed into Chiyangwa and Chivayo.

Said Katsande: “As Warriors we are more than happy with the new Zifa board under...Chiyangwa, he is a practical man who wants to ensure that players are happy and that we get our dues. Right now, we are not owed anything and all the players are happy.

“Our football has reached a stage where it is now steady but we always get surprised that some people want to disturb the ship when it is sailing properly under...Chiyangwa.

“I have been talking to a number of my teammates in the national team, and they are all surprised that back home, there are people who are busy deliberately creating problems for the Warriors by trying to push away our sponsors, we will not succumb to that.”

After yesterday’s attacks in the State media, Chivayo reportedly threatened to stop supporting the Warriors saying his image was now being tarnished although he was financially supporting them.

Describing the criticism on Chivayo as “blatantly unfair”, the furious national team players said the businessman cannot be blamed for any late payments but insisted that they are not owed anything by Zifa.

HARARE - Zhemba Jemusse feels his chess game is heading in the right direction after he was crowned the Easter Open winner in the capital Harare on Monday.

The 19-year-old former Seke 4 High School student shrugged off challenges from top Zimbabwean opponents in Spencer Masango and Dion Moyo and Zambian Chitumba Mwale.

It was Jemusse’s second title having won the Mutare Grand Prix at the beginning of March this year.

Jemusse also broke the stranglehold of Zambian chess players who had been winning the tournament in the last three years.

“I am really happy to have won. It means I am going in the right direction and I want to continue like this,” Jemusse told the Daily News yesterday.

“I think I am now ready to compete in even bigger tournaments. I hope one day I will be called to represent the country.”

Jemusse is also set to represent the country later this month in South Africa at Copa Blanca Open.

“It will be another opportunity for me to compete with the best in the game,” he said.

“I hope to go there and do my best. I always want to improve from my previous performances.”
 

BULAWAYO - Premier Soccer League debutants Bulawayo City proved they will be no pushovers after rallying from behind to draw 2-2 with 10-man How Mine in the first match of the 2016 Castle Lager Premiership season on Friday.

How Mine looked like they would steamroll past the newcomers after racing into an early 2-0 lead inside the first half.

Former Triangle midfielder Pasca Manhanga opened the scoring with a first time shot from inside the box after he connected a shot corner kick from Adolf Muganyi halfway through the first period.

Manhanga’s rising shot beat City goalkeeper Ndodana Sibanda at his near post as the gold miners took control of the game.

Three minutes later, new How Mine coach Kelvin Kaindu was celebrating again when his side increased their lead after a fine strike from Charles Sibanda.

The former Highlanders forward was teed up by Kuda Musharu and produced a fine low shot from outside the box.

For a moment, it looked like Amakhosi were in for a long and painful afternoon as How Mine continued to threaten Sibanda’s goal.

However, all of the gold miners’ good work in the opening period was undone shortly before halftime when towering defender Victor Kamhuka pulled down City forward Mkhululi Moyo inside the box.

Referee Philani Ncube awarded the home side a penalty kick and correctly sent off Kamhuka since he was the last man.

City striker Xolisani Moyo sent How Mine keeper Munyaradzi Diya the wrong way from the spot, to begin his side’s revival.

At the start of the second half, Kaindu pulled out midfielder Tawanda Muparati for defender Marshal Machazane to protect his fortress.

On the other hand, City coach Philani “Beefy” Ncube made a double substitution pulling out veteran striker Mkhokheli Dube and Morris Kadzola for wide midfielders Trevour Ndlovu and Humphrey Ncube.

The move seemed to have worked as six minutes after the restart, City were back on level terms through their substitute Ncube.

Lewis Ncube delivered a beautiful cross into the box that found the unmarked Humprey whose whose first attempt at goal was blocked by Diya.

The rebound fell kindly to him and he used his chest to prod the ball home.

City, however, failed to use their numerical advantage as they could not get the winning goal in the remainder of the match.

After the game, Kaindu was disappointed with the referee’s decision to award City the spot kick.

“We were leading comfortably but from where I was standing I felt it was a bit harsh for us to concede a penalty and at the same time get a red card,” he said.

“Because it was a fifty-fifty situation the player just went down so the decision was a bit harsh but we are not disappointed to come up with a point in a game where we feel it was not balanced in terms of how decisions were made.’

City coach Beefy Ncube said he was happy with the response made by his players despite initially going 2-0 down.

“We didn’t know what to expect hence we conceded two soft goals but when we went to the dressing room we said we need character.

“Luckily we got a goal which inspired us,” he said.

“What we wanted was to come back and match them man for man of which we did and with lady luck we could have won.”