HARARE - Zimbabwe's mobile and Internet transactions breached the $1 billion in March, as locals migrate to cash-lite payments on the back of acute cash shortages.
Data from the central bank indicates that mobile and Internet transactions in Zimbabwe — which has been battling a cash crisis for over a year — closed the month of March 2017 at $1,1 billion up from the $796,3 million recorded in February 2017.
“Cash transactions stood at $316,6 million in March 2017, a 12,1 percent decline from $360,4 million recorded in February 2017.
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“However, the total value of mobile and Internet-based transactions closed the month of March 2017 higher at $1 billion, compared to $796,3 million registered in February 2017,” the John Mangudya-led Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) said in its monthly report for the month of March.
The apex bank also said the value of card-based transactions at $451 million in March 2017 had gone up from $385,7 million recorded in February 2017, with most Zimbabweans now forced to use Point of Sale (POS) purchases in the absence of a cash alternative.
In value terms during the month of March, total cheque transactions increased from $7 million in February 2017, to $7,4 million in March 2017.
Since the country’s cash shortages began, cash-obsessed locals have been forced to migrate to alternative payment methods with the RBZ aggressively lobbying for a migration to cash-lite transactions.
The central bank is also moving to review electronic transaction fees downwards, in a move aimed at promoting cash-lite payments.
Mangudya recently said in the wake of pressing cash shortages, the apex bank was working on a raft of measures to promote the enhanced use of plastic and electronic money which currently accounts for 70 percent of retail transactions.
While there has been a lot of lobbying for Zimbabweans to dump a cash-based system in favour of cash-lite transactions, uptake has been low with market watchers pointing out that the reason the transition is slow is because Zimbabweans have little trust in the local financial sector.
According to the 2017 Monetary Policy Statement both mobile and Internet transactions have been on the rise.
Mobile money payments in Zimbabwe accounted for 81,2 percent of all electronic payment transactions maintaining the dominance mobile money services have had in transaction volumes, with this increase in alternative cash methods attributed to the cash shortages.
In 2016, 298 million mobile money transactions were handled, up from the 228,2 million in 2015.
In the same drive, the POS footprint in the country has increased 11 percent to 32 540.
As the country’s cash shortages peak, the RBZ has resorted to several measures to minimise the use of hard cash, with increasing POS infrastructure at the core of this thrust.
Last month, the apex bank pegged the maximum “cash back” withdrawal at $20, arguing the measure was aimed at curbing cash hoarding.
BULAWAYO - The two-day Zimbabwe International Book Fair (ZIBF) returned to Zimbabwe’s second largest city yesterday after a two-year sabbatical.
Over 18 exhibitors — who include publishers and book sellers drawn from Harare, Gweru, Masvingo and Bulawayo — are participating in the book fair running under the theme “Making the book pay.”
According to ZIBF executive chairperson Blazio Tafirei, the book fairs this year are focusing on the new curriculum.
“This year the main highlight is the new curriculum. There are new learning areas in that curriculum so there is a lot of confusion and ignorance about what is happening.
“We have invited officials from the ministry of Education to explain . . . with a target on new learning areas, like the mass display, physical education, heritage studies and sports,” Tafirei said.
He blamed the two-year break on over-dependence on donor funding.
“I have been inspired by the turnout on the first day since we are coming back after a two-year break. We failed to hold our fairs due to financial challenges.
“The main problem is that we have been donor-funded throughout so we got used to it to such an extent that it became a problem as we thought someone must come and fund us,” Tafirei said.
The ZIBF boss added that the setback had taught them to be resourceful and self-reliant.
“This year we are entirely funding ourselves and don’t mind the bleeps and blunders as it is a learning process. We should never ever stop holding these fairs because of non-funding,” he said.
Last month, ZIBF failed to hold what was going to be the first exhibition this year in Masvingo.
After the Bulawayo event, ZIBF will hold the main one in July and the Mutare edition in September.
HARARE - Gospel musician Munyaradzi Munodawafa will launch his latest studio album titled Mwari Vachitiitira Zvakanaka at Theatre in the Park in Harare tonight.
Munodawafa’s manager Farai Mhlanga told the Daily News yesterday that all was now in place for the launch of the album that features Zora star Leonard Zhakata.
“We are ready for the launch of Munodawafa’s sixth album on which he collaborated with Zhakata on one of the songs. I can assure music fans that they will be delighted by the new album,” Mhlanga said.
The new album includes Vabereki (featuring Zhakata), Mbiri, All Things, Million Blessings, Murangarire, Areka, Chombo, Chitima Chedenga, Hupenyu Hwakakosha and Border Tavhara.
According to Mhlanga, Munodawafa’s launch will feature performances by several artistes who include Agatha Murudzwa, Esther Kanengoni, Wisdom Kasheshe and Vadzidzi Vekutanga and the St Giles Band.
Munodawafa, who is visually-impaired, ventured into music industry at the tender age of 10 when he released his debut album Mwari Vanoona which included the hit Shandisa Chipo Chako.
His other albums are Farai Munashe, Zvinouraya, Zvava Zvezodzo and Chikwata Chinokunda.
On what promises to be an exciting weekend for gospel lovers, a promising new group called Mufudzi Wakanaka Gospel Choir will launch its debut eight-track-studio album titled Nhasi Ngatimutondere at Hatfield United Methodist Church in Harare tomorrow.
The debut offering includes tracks like Ndinoshamiswa Kwazvo, Nhasi Ngatimutondere, Wagadzira Nhasi Here? Ngatiende Vadikani, Padyo Nemchinjiko, Tiende Kudenga and Vafudzi Vakanaka.
Blessing Mandabva, the group’s publicist, is upbeat about the new project.
“Mufudzi Wakanaka Gospel Choir features top artistes from Hatfield United Methodist Church. The new album has already attracted overwhelming support from church members particularly the track Huvepo hwaMwari,” said Mandabva.
The Mufudzi Wakanaka Gospel Choir launch will be supported by several music groups including New Vision Choir, Ngoma Yeruponeso, Vessels of Christ, Denga Ratinhira, Ngariende St Luke, Varumbidzi Voices, Thandazani Chinyerere and Amazing Singers.
HARARE - Information Communication Technology Supa Mandiwanzira bought a copy of Zimdancehall star Seh Calaz’s DVD for $2 500 on Wednesday night at The Volt.
Mandiwanzira, who was the guest of honour at the launch of a compilation of 15 videos by the Mumota Murikubvira hit-maker, said the whopping amount he paid for the DVD was a sign of his own commitment and that of the government to the arts.
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“Seh Calaz is a talented young man and I’m proud to grace the event …Zimdancehall has helped put Zimbabwe on the map and as a government we are fully behind the arts,” the minister told a colourful launch party graced by artistes such as Suluman Chimbetu, Stunner, Freeman, Killer T, Mudiwa, BaShupi and Carlos Green.
Mandiwanzira added that he identified with artistes like Mbare-born Seh Calaz.
“I grew up in the ghetto and this is why I am fully behind ghetto youths… I want Zimdancehall artistes to unite so that they can show their capabilities in singing,” he said before throwing a few sentences in Jamaican patois much to the amusement of the gathering.
The minister, however, urged Zimdancehall artistes to make use of technology.
“My ministry is encouraging musicians to embrace information technology as this is in line with modern global trends,” said Mandiwanzira.
The DVD launch was also attended by Zimbabwe Tourism Authority chief executive officer Karikoga Kaseke who praised Seh Calaz for contributing to the efforts of promoting Zimbabwe as a tourism destination.
“We happen to have the same drive of promoting our nation, and as such I offer this young man an opportunity to play at a function we will hold on June 2. We also pledge an all-expenses paid trip for Seh Calaz to Victoria Falls with his partner,” Kaseke said.
HARARE - Grammy-nominated American gospel musician, William McDowell, will grace the Stadium Worship Zimbabwe event which will roar to life today at the Glamis Arena, Harare Showgrounds.
McDowell, a pastor with Deeper Fellowship Church in Orlando, Florida in the United States of America, will join more than 500 musicians and choirs from different churches across Zimbabwe at the event being spearheaded by Tommy Deuschle — son of Celebration Ministries International founders Tom and Bonnie.
Deuschle told the Daily News that the Stadium Worship Zimbabwe event-dubbed One God, One Nation, One Night-is meant to bring together different churches, leaders and people for one night of worship and unity.
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“God told me there is going to be a season of unity amongst the churches. Where there is unity God commands a blessing... Zimbabwe needs a commanded blessing from God right now... We aren’t focused on titles, or who is there, who isn’t, but it is all for Jesus,” Deuschle said, adding that they had gone out of their way to publicise the event.
“We said let us do it together, do it for our nation. We went to all places from Harare, Chitungwiza, and Guruve sharing this vision... because we want to give credit to one person who is God.
“And people have been saying this is the time, we need something like this to rise up and do something.”
Deuschle was quick to point out that it would be much more than a mere concert.
“I feel God is going to explode and pour out different gifts for this generation. I communicated with William McDowell’s manager and I even told him what we expect. We want the worshipper in you not the musician. We just want to give God the praise due to Him, nothing more.
“We need to model the right things...Stadium Worship is that night... it is about the brand Jesus. There is God’s fingerprint on this event... We are going to have more than 100 churches represented on the night,” he said.
Word of Life’s Church Nicole Shana opened up on her excitement on taking part in the Stadium Worship.
“God will do something awesome when we are united so I’m looking forward to an awesome future. I’m excited for God first of all and His work on me then His Church and then the nation of Zimbabwe for His glory,” Shana said.
Drene Bismark from New Life Covenant is equally excited to be part of the Stadium Worship Zimbabwe event.
“It’s not about colour, race or denomination or style. If He is Jehovah for one He is Jehovah for all. Just come and see the power that is there between churches,” he said.
HARARE - There will be only three matches today in the Intercity Rugby League (IRL) due to the Sables’ friendly international away to Botswana.
Old Johannians (OJs), who are still searching for their first win in 2017, were scheduled to host Old Miltonians (OMs) at Old Hararians this afternoon.
OJs narrowly lost out to Mutare Sports Club (MSC) last weekend at Police Grounds when they went down 31-33.
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Old Hararians home fixture against Matabeleland Warriors has also been postponed due to the Sables trip to Gaborone.
In the matches that are going ahead, MSC, who are still to taste defeat this season, host Highlanders in Manicaland with the match kicking off at 3pm.
MSC are looking solid this season and will surely be heavily involved in the hunt for the sole ticket to represent Zimbabwe in the South African Rugby Union Gold Cup.
The Manicaland side are in third place on the log standings with 20 points after four straight victories.
At Hartsfield in Bulawayo, Bulldogs will take on Gweru Sports Club (GSC) at 3:30pm with the two teams desperate for a win after lopsided losses last weekend.
Bulldogs were at the wrong end of a 0-138 defeat to Old Georgians (OGs) while GSC lost 3-50 to OH.
After running in 22 unanswered tries against the Bulldogs last weekend, OGs will be looking forward to another big victory when they take on Defenders at Police Grounds this afternoon at 2:30pm.
The Dragons will hand eightman Garth Adams his debut in the first team after he was named in the starting XV yesterday.
Former GSC forward Bradley Mbanga is also in line for his Dragons debut after he was included on the replacements.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe Rugby Union (ZRU) referee Talent Gandiwa will be in charge of the Enterprise Cup Final between Kenyan sides Kabras Sugar and KCB Rugby Club at the RFUEA Grounds in Nairobi this afternoon.
Gandiwa was selected as part of a Rugby Afrique Referee Exchange Programme that will also see a Kenyan match official travelling to Zimbabwe later in November to take charge of the IRL final.
The programme targets referees under the age of 25 to help them get international exposure by officiating in big matches across the continent.
A Kenya Rugby Union statement said: “Zimbabwe’s...Gandiwa will be the man in charge of Saturday’s Enterprise Cup final between defending champions KCB and Kabras Sugar.”
Gandiwa will be assisted by Moses Ndungu and Victor Oduor in the final scheduled to kick off at 12pm.
HARARE - Newly-appointed Harare City coach Philani “Beefy” Ncube says his side can take a lot of positives from their 0-1 defeat to Dynamos in his first game in charge.
The Sunshine Boys went down in Thursday night’s match after Dynamos Cameroonian forward Christian Ntouba scored a scorcher in the first half to hand Ncube’s side their fifth defeat in 10 matches.
Ncube, who replaced Mike Madzivanyika barely 48 hours before the game, will have to earn his every penny in order to save City from relegation.
The Sunshine Boys are third from the bottom of the log with only seven points but Ncube is convinced they will soon climb up the ladder.
“The potential is there,” the former Bulawayo City coach said. “I think we were a better side and if we could have converted our chances it could have been a different story.”
Ncube said he did not have enough time to work with the rest of the squad prior to the DeMbare game and revealed that there would make some changes going forward.
“The issue is I only worked with 18 players just a day before the game, so I am still to meet the full squad which means there is still going to be changes and come Sunday three points,” Ncube said.
“The attitude so far is positive the fighting spirit is there and it’s unfortunate that we couldn’t make the ball cross the line.
“There is something that I saw in this team. If we can take the starting points we saw today, then there is a chance we can become a really good team. My target for now is to see the team climb up the ladder.”
The Sunshine Boys travel to Bulawayo tomorrow to face fellow struggling side Bantu Rovers at Luveve Stadium.
Rovers are just one place below City on the log with six points and come into tomorrow’s match after two straight defeats to Highlanders and Shabanie Mine.
HARARE - Black Rhinos coach Stanford “Stix” Mutizwa has praised the Warriors call-up of his two players for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier against Liberia next month.
Zimbabwe hosts Liberia on June 11 at the National Sports Stadium hoping to kick-start their Group G campaign on a positive note. The other teams in the group are Congo Brazzaville and DR Congo.
Chauya Chipembere defenders Sydney Linyama and Jameson Mukombwe were included in the 25-man squad released by interim Zimbabwe coach Norman Mapeza on Thursday.
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Mutizwa believes the duo’s inclusion is a clear sign that his side are heading in the right direction after a good start in the 2017 Castle Lager Premiership season
The army side are riding high in the top flight since their return from the First Division as they currently sit in second place on the log with 20 points from 10 matches.
“This is probably the first time in a long time to have players from Black Rhinos called into the national team,” Mutizwa told the Daily News.
“This is a sign of great things for us as a club. It means we are in the right direction because having players in the national team means there is something good you are doing. And I only want to urge the boys to continue working hard.”
While Black Rhinos have two players called into the national team, Harare giants Dynamos could not even provide a single player.
The Glamour Boys are currently experiencing one of their worst starts as they are going through a rebuilding exercise under coach Lloyd Mutasa.
DeMbare have struggled for consistency so far as they have only managed three wins, two draws and three defeats after eight rounds of action.
Mutasa’s side currently sit on 12th position on the log table with 11 points and trail log leaders Ngezi Platinum Stars by 11 points.
There were, however, a lot of talking points in Mapeza’s squad after he included the likes of Ovidy Karuru and Thabani Kamusoko after a long time away from the national team.
Kamusoko has been rewarded for his consistent displays for Tanzanian giants Young Africans.
The Zimbabwean has won back-to-back titles with Yanga after joining from FC Platinum in 2015.
Karuru’s career seemed to have been going downhill when he was released by Kaizer Chiefs in May last year.
The former Masvingo United and Gunners midfielder has, however, resurrected his career after joining South African First Division side AmaZulu.
HARARE - Lloyd Mutasa is eager for Dynamos’ win over struggling Harare City to act as a catalyst to turn around their indifferent start to the 2017 Castle Lager Premiership campaign.
A solitary strike by Christian Ntouba in the first half was all the Glamour Boys needed to pick up their third win of the season which left Mutasa a relieved man.
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The Harare giants have struggled for consistency as they have only managed three wins, two draws and three defeats after eight rounds of action to sit on 12th position on the log table with 11 points.
DeMbare currently trail log leaders Ngezi Platinum Stars by a massive 11 points.
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The club’s executive had to call for an emergency meeting earlier this week where they summoned Mutasa over poor results.
The team’s leadership was not happy with the team’s 1-1 draw against lowly Shabanie Mine which came hardly on the heels of a 1-0 defeat to Black Rhinos.
And following the hard-fought win over the Sunshine Boys, Mutasa wants his charges to build on the momentum of their victory as they prepare to face ZPC Kariba in their next league match.
“I would want to believe that this is the turning point and if we can get another set of maximum points I’m sure it will enhance our chances going forward,” Mutasa said.
The former DeMbare midfielder said his project is work in progress and is slowly coming together.
He noted with concern that it is in the final third where they still need to work hard to ensure they score more goals to kill off games.
In the eight matches they have played so far, Dynamos have scored a measly six goals while conceding the same number.
“We are creating chances but we are lacking composure in front of goal but I think it’s something that we can work on going forward,” Mutasa said.
Dynamos host a relatively solid ZPC Kariba tomorrow and Mutasa is fully aware their next match will not be an easy task.
Sunday Chidzambwa’s side are currently in fourth place on the log with 19 points from 10 matches.
“Obviously, like I said before, if you are to look at ZPC Kariba and their coach...Chidzambwa, we are talking of an experienced coach who has a strong side,” Mutasa said.
“As Dynamos each game we play is gonna be a tough one and we are expecting the same against Kariba. They have been doing well lately and they will obviously come here looking for maximum points.
“But we hope to do our best and hopefully this win will be enough to boost the confidence of the youngsters.”
Mutasa also took time to praise his Cameroonian import Ntouba after he netted the winner on Thursday night.
Ntouba has been criticised in some sections for lacking the cutting edge especially for someone who is coming from outside the country.
However, Ntouba silenced his critics with a superb strike, something Mutasa feels could be the signs that the striker has settled.
“If you look at the goal, it was a wonder goal from a great striker which was enough to win us three points,” Mutasa said.
“I have always said it that he is a good striker but only needed time to adjust. I am sure he will keep on getting those goals for us going forward. As the technical team we are happy with him.”
ZPC Kariba will be eager to bounce back to winning ways after failing to collect maximum points in their last two matches in which they lost 2-1 to Ngezi Platinum Stars before they were held to a goalless draw by Chapungu in a mid-week fixture.
Tomorrow
Ngezi Platinum v Bulawayo City (Baobab), Chapungu v Tsholotsho (Ascot), Dynamos v ZPC Kariba (NSS), Bantu Rovers v Harare City (Luveve, 1pm), Chicken Inn v Shabanie Mine (Luveve, 3pm), FC Platinum v Highlanders (Mandava), Triangle v CAPS United (Gibbo), Black Rhinos v Yadah (Morris Depot), Hwange v How Mine (Colliery).
HARARE - An alarming picture has emerged of an escalating cocaine problem in Zimbabwe and the government’s inadequate response to the situation.
There is a distinct lack of treatment services available across the board and there are not enough specialists specifically assigned to battle the emerging crisis.
Police have busted at least two cocaine smugglers at Harare International Airport over the past month, the latest sign that drug cartels are increasingly plying their trade in Zimbabwe.
It is not clear whether Zimbabwe was the final destination for the cocaine, worth more than $300 000, or whether it was a transit point for other markets in the sub region.
But one thing is clear — big drug busts are becoming more common.
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Over the past weeks, two female drug mules were arrested at the airport just after disembarking from Emirates - a Dubai airline.
Both seizures point to Brazil’s role as a possible transhipment hub, as highly organised gangs look to hide their tracks to US and European markets by taking advantage of soft security at African ports.
Though the number of people seeking help for cocaine addiction continues to rise, there is a small group of experts helping recovering addicts stay on a treatment programme.
First Step addictions counsellor, Ndabezinhle Hove, told the Daily News on Sunday that most Zimbabweans are hooked on the cheaper version of cocaine, crack cocaine.
First Step rehabilitation centre opened its doors in Greystone Park in Harare this January to cater for the growing need for rehabilitation of addicts in the country.
The rehab reports a sharp increase in cocaine abuse.
“On the rise in Zimbabwe of late has been cocaine, not your pure cocaine, but crack cocaine, it’s quite prevalent. So, pure cocaine is more expensive because it’s in powder form and crack cocaine (crack) is a mixture with bicarb (bicarbonate) to make a bigger supply.
“And also there’s a difference with the way it’s used. With pure cocaine, they sniff it and with crack they use a crack pipe to smoke it,” Hove told the Daily News on Sunday.
Cocaine use, while still low, is on the rise among newly wealthy party-goers in Harare and other major cities in the country.
“Because it’s expensive, it’s linked to the affluent and those who can afford. So, people would want to be associated with that kind of status, not knowing that behind that, is the addiction,” Hove warned.
“Many a times, people who take it, do it with alcohol, which is a depressant. People call it a downer and cocaine is an upper. So people get their drinks and when they feel like they are getting drunk, they sniff cocaine to take them up again, then they are awake and are out to party.
“When people take drugs, it’s recreational, but then behind the scenes is the addiction. Nobody starts it so that they get addicted, but because they want to have fun and get addicted in the process.
“And it’s dangerous because there is a high risk of overdose.”
On the Zimbabwe market, crack cocaine is going for $30 a packet while the pure one is going for $80 to $100.
The most affected ages, according to Hove, are between 18 to 54 years.
Since January, when the rehabilitation centre opened in Harare’s Greystone Park suburb, it has dealt with over 15 cases of drug abuse. It has also held several workshops on drug abuse.
“We have had quite a lot of inquiries and in January, when we opened to now, we have dealt with more than 15 clients coming in for treatment. We have also been running workshops that on average will have 15 people coming for a workshop, there has been quite an outreach.
“At times we get parents phoning in and saying my child needs help after noticing negative behaviour change, and then sometimes someone just picks a phone and says ‘I’m abusing alcohol or I’m abusing a substance.’
“So they come in, we do an assessment and after the assessment, we come up with a treatment plan that is based on their addiction, we don’t use umbrella treatment.
“We look at the issues peculiar to that person; we look at mental state, emotional state, physical state as well as spiritual state. And then from there, the care plan is formulated.
“In June, we will be having a family programme to educate families on substance abuse especially the affected ones, to say how you deal with a family member who abuses substances. What are the dos and don’ts? In substance abuse cases, manipulation is one of the issues,” Hove said.
The “addicts” go through sessions including exercise, meditation, as well as individual and group counselling
Apart from cocaine, a lot of people in Zimbabwe are also addicted to alcohol, marijuana (mbanje) and what is commonly known as broncleer or bronco as well as prescription medicine.
HARARE - Eight miners were confirmed dead yesterday after being trapped in a shaft while panning for gold at Big Mine in Mazowe on Monday.
The likely cause of the collapse was not revealed, but rescue efforts seemed to have been held up by lack of excavators over the past five days.
Police yesterday confirmed the death of all the eight gold panners.
“Circumstances are that nine gold panners were illegally mining at Big Mine, Masasa area, Mazowe. At around 2200 hours, one of them left the eight deceased at the site while proceeding to a nearby tuck-shop.
“On his return, he discovered that the mine shaft had collapsed, trapping the eight miners,” police spokesperson senior assistant commissioner Charity Charamba said in a statement yesterday.
Meanwhile, the eight bodies have since been retrieved and conveyed to Concession Hospital mortuary for post mortem.
Of the eight, only James William of village Zindoga under Chief Zindoga Madziwa has been identified.
“The ZRP is conducting investigations into this incident and would like to warn members of the public to consider their safety and the law while embarking in mining activities.
“This is not only dangerous to people as they risk losing their precious lives but it also exposes them to hazardous substances. Police will continue to monitor all mining activities in order to account for illegal dealers,” said Charamba.
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe must match his Pan African rhetoric by providing food, jobs, schools, housing and healthcare that are still so sorely lacking in his country, academics and the opposition have said.
Pan-Africanism, including even a “United States of Africa”, has been a rallying cry since the continent started to shake off its colonial shackles in the 1950s and 1960s.
But in messages to commemorate Africa Day on Thursday, a cross section of Zimbabweans said African governments in general and Mugabe’s administration in particular have failed miserably to improve the lot for their people, hence the need for citizens to “fight against black liberation struggle elites to stop their pervasive plunder of our resources under the pretext of the emancipating the masses.”
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University of Zimbabwe Sociology lecturer Rudo Gaidzanwa said bodies such as the Sadc and the African Union (AU) have become platforms for solidarity with dictators.
Gaidzanwa dismissed calls by African leaders to quit the International Criminal Court (ICC) and establish an independent African Court saying African states unhappy with the ICC should work to reform it from within rather than pulling out.
Almost a third of the ICC’s 124 members are African, and a withdrawal by a large number of them would cripple a court that has yet to fulfil hopes that it would ensure perpetrators of war crimes and genocide never go unpunished.
Fifteen years old this year, the ICC has only ever charged Africans, including the presidents of Kenya and Sudan, although it has procedures open at earlier stages dealing with crimes in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and South America.
Gaidzanwa said African leaders only pronounce Pan-Africanism in the belief that it can help them withstand foreign criticism against their dictatorships, life presidencies, corruption, negative ethnicity, violations of human rights and perpetration of civil wars and genocides.
“However, when I went through the Zimbabwean experience I said to myself ‘what is there to celebrate about not having water, electricity, food and access to health?’,” Gaidzanwa said.
“When I talk to my students, they don’t believe when I tell them the life we lived under colonialism, that I lived in an African township like they called it but it had drainage, there was electricity and the postman brought letters to our home.
“I actually walked to school and at my school, I learnt French, did Technical Drawing, played tennis and my teacher was gay, although we didn’t know what it means. I tell them that at the University of Rhodesia, we used to have bacon and egg, fruits and everything.
“They (students) ask me how this could have been in an African township because they come from places where there are no roads, no water and sometimes they have to take a bath at the campus, so it’s been an invasion of reality.
“They grow up in conditions of terrible deprivation without water and potholes everywhere, so when you bring about the discourse of liberation and freedom and our heroes, there is a disconnect and I can see the contempt they (students) have for it because sometimes they take turns to come for lectures and take notes on behalf of each other.”
Opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai said in his Africa Day message that given the continent’s vast mineral wealth and its wide base of natural resources, it is without any rationality and justification that Africans must continue to have such poverty.
Tsvangirai said while Mugabe is a national and continental hero who played a huge part in the development of the country and the continent, he has since turned into a villain on account of his policies as well as ambitions to die in office despite his advanced age.
Willias Madzimure, PDP secretary for international relations, said liberation movements who did the excellent work to liberate the continent from colonial rule failed to transform themselves from military wings to proper modern civilian governments capable of driving the economic transformation agenda on the African continent.
HARARE - Suspected Zanu PF youths stabbed and critically injured an MDC supporter in Chiwundura last week, a faith-based rights group said, continuing a wave of attacks in the run-up to the July 15 by-election.
The National Assembly seat fell vacant following the death of Kizito Chivamba last month.
The by-election has seen the worst spell of political violence for years, stirred in part by intra-party Zanu PF violence in a primary election that saw 21 candidates contesting.
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The Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) said Zanu PF primary elections were held amid serious factional skirmishes as well as political intolerance spearheaded by ruling party youths.
“It is alleged that a day prior to the primary elections a number of youths, who had been paid to carry out campaigns on behalf of candidates clashed near the Sino-Zimbabwe cement company in Chiwundura constituency.
“It is reported an MDC youth, Ashley Mdutshwa, was met in the crossfire and left seriously injured after he was attacked by the same Zanu PF youths.
“Mdutshwa is reported to have been stabbed by the Zanu PF youths at Gambiza Business Centre on May 21, for reasons that are still unclear but believed to have been political,” ZPP said in an alert, adding the incident that saw Mdutshwa being stabbed was reported to the police but no arrests have been made to date.
Twenty one candidates contested the primary elections ahead of Friday’s Nomination Court sitting.
Mbalekwa was declared winner after amassing 1 511 votes, with Brown Ndlovu coming in second with 1 196 while Celton Charamba got 1 161 and Bigboy Mzila got 660.
Zanu PF political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere declared that Zanu PF will not recognise Mbalekwa and the party has since settled for the second runner-up to represent it.
Mbalekwa was reported to have “voluntarily withdrawn,” saying his child who is abroad was not feeling well and felt his attention will be divided and won’t cope with the immense pressure of elections.
The Nomination Court sat at the Gweru Magistrates’ Courts on Friday in line with Sub-section 17 (c) of Section 46 of the Electoral Act (Chapter 2:13) to receive nominations of candidates to contest in the by-election.
Four candidates successfully filed their papers: Ndlovu of Zanu PF, Takudzwa Guzete of NCA, Brighton Mudzviti of FreeZim Congress and Webster Zulu of PDZ.
Zimbabwe Election Support Network (Zesn) — the largest independent observer group in the country — condemned the violence.
“Zesn calls upon the nominated candidates and political parties in the by-election to observe peace and tolerate divergent views.
“Zesn also calls upon Zec to liberalise voter education in order to reach out to as many eligible voters as possible within the constituency,” it said in a statement.
HARARE - Ahead of next year elections, Zimbabwe’s opposition finds itself worried sick that the country’s feared secret police have infiltrated their ranks.
This follows stunning developments earlier last week when former security advisor to then Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s office during the stability-inducing GNU, Pearson Mbalekwa, won Zanu PF primary elections for the Chiwundura constituency.
The 64-year-old former Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) officer joined the MDC in 2007 as a special advisor to Tsvangirai and then zoomed up to the post of national security advisor after Martin Rupiya unceremoniously quit.
Mbalekwa served in the CIO for 12 years.
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Mbalekwa, a former Zanu PF MP and central committee member, resigned from Tsvangirai’s office after the MDC leader’s defeat in the disputed 2013 presidential vote.
In quitting, Mbalekwa said he was protesting warped policies by Tsvangirai, indiscipline and lack of trust by the party’s top brass who doubted his loyalty because of his intelligence background.
He was to return to Zanu PF, where he was duly rehabilitated and readmitted, resulting in last week’s primary elections in which he emerged victor after beating 20 contenders.
The expose of Mbalekwa’s true colours has raised alarm among MDC supporters, civil society and ordinary Zimbabweans who questioned the extent to which the CIO has infiltrated popular mass movements.
With questions now being asked over the bonafides of the opposition’s key officials and their connections to Zanu PF, MDC spokesperson Obert Gutu said there is need for the opposition to be extra careful.
“The MDC is a mammoth organisation and thousands, if not millions of Zimbabweans, would like to be associated with us since we are arguably the largest and most popular political party in the country.
“We are acutely aware that Zanu PF spies and other political spooks are always trying to infiltrate our party and to cause havoc, mayhem and confusion...as they say in the Shona language, ‘hapana musha unodyiwa chikafu pakashaya bete, nhunzi kana, gozho’...we know that the CIO will always try to infiltrate our organisation.
“In fact, there is a whole CIO desk at Chaminuka Building in Harare that works 24 hours everyday on the MDC. The Zanu PF regime knows that the MDC is the biggest and most potent threat to their hold on power and as such, they will do whatever it takes to try to infiltrate us and cause splits and divisions,” Gutu said.
With the country hurtling towards next year crunch elections, opposition parties are still pushing for security sector reforms, raising concerns over the so-called conflation of the State and key institutions such as the intelligence.
On her part, National People’s Party (NPP) president Joice Mujuru said the intelligence and military are working flat out to derail the formation of a grand coalition, even going to the extent of considering killing opposition activists.
Mujuru, who reportedly has links with security apparatus, told a rally in Chitungwiza on Saturday last week that money is being used to try and wreck the coalition, which analysts and observers say could end President Robert Mugabe’s 37-year rule.
“That we have agreed as the MDC and NPP has caused panic in Zanu PF, there is no peace in Zanu PF as we speak. They tried everything possible to scuttle the coalition…you know the only industry left is the police, army and CIO, varikuedza kuti piringisha,(they are trying to derail us) but we are saying to them let us free you, we want to liberate you.
“This is not the time to abduct people, why are you doing that to people who want to liberate you?You are being sent to kill. Just remember it is you who will be haunted by the spirit of the dead,” Mujuru, who still has intimate knowledge of the goings on in government structures, said.
Although Mugabe has publicly pooh-poohed opposition party efforts to forge an alliance ahead of next year’s crunch elections - behind the scenes, the ruling party is working flat out to ensure that the coalition suffers a still birth.
Mugabe has described the opposition parties as “a confused lot.”
“We look with glee, we look with joy as they daily turn on each other, while pretending to chase a mirage they have termed grand coalition, apparently unaware of the grand defeat that stares them in the face,” Mugabe told his Central Committee last month.
Recently, Mujuru parted ways with her long-time allies Didymus Mutasa and Rugare Gumbo alleging that the duo was working with the dreaded secret police to torpedo the formation of a grand coalition.
And there is also acknowledgement within both Mujuru’s NPP and Tsvangirai’s MDC that the two parties have been infiltrated.
However, Mujuru has said Zanu PF — that is split along two antagonistic factions — is not as strong as it once was as it has been deserted by war veterans, for long the dynamos and foot soldiers of the ruling party.
HARARE - Southern African leaders must keep an eye on Zimbabwe as it draws up a road-map for general elections in 2018, amid high tension and possible chaos over President Robert Mugabe’s likely successor amid stalled electoral reforms, analysts have warned.
The 15-nation Southern African Development Community (Sadc) must put Zimbabwe on the front burner as it convenes its 37th ordinary summit in August 2017 in the South African capital to avert democratic regression and prevent the forthcoming presidential, parliamentary and municipal election from becoming a farce whose outcome will again be disputed.
Regional leaders must force Mugabe’s hand to enact electoral reforms as agreed in a deal brokered by Sadc after violent and disputed elections in 2008.
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) spokesperson Dumisani Nkomo said the greatest fear was that unless key reforms are delivered, the 2018 elections will be a replica of the 2013 disputed election.
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“We fear that unless these reforms are implemented, the elections will be a mere farce with the script and actor being the same as the 2013 one whose plot will be distinctly familiar and the outcomes being a dejavous moment,” he said.
CiZC — a conglomeration of Zimbabwean civic groups — urged government to speed up Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) to ensure a credible election.
“BVR should be speeded up and the process should be spread out over a year to give people a chance to understand the process and to check whether the system works,” said the spokesperson of the coalition, which groups various rights organisations.
This comes as MDC spokesperson Obert Gutu has said they were preparing for the worst-case scenario in which the BVR process will be abandoned by Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) mid-stream and we have the elections in 2018 being conducted using the old, manipulated and crooked national voters’ roll.
“It is not too late for us to start strategising and computing a viable and effective Plan B. The Zanu PF regime is essentially renegade, insipidly corrupt and incorrigibly dishonest.
“Zec is emasculated and virtually powerless in the scheme of things, particularly regarding the running of a free, fair and credible election that can easily pass the test of legitimacy,” Gutu said.
Nkomo said space must be opened for civil society organisations and Zec to carry out civic education to ensure that people have all the necessary information to participate in elections.
Local, regional and international observers must be accredited on time to monitor both the BVR process and the actual election process as enunciated in the tenets of the Sadc Principles and Guidelines on the Conduct of Democratic Elections.
“The public media space should also be opened up to allow for a diversity of voices,” Nkomo said.
Human rights activist Mmeli Dube, said civil society needs to reposition itself in giving direction to the current transition by providing thought leadership and lending its weight in support of key democratic processes that are currently underway in Zimbabwe.
“The regional and international supporters of democracy and human rights should render timely support — financial, technical, solidarity and otherwise — to the Zimbabwean civil society, help the country deliver a democratic dispensation and counter further democratic regression and possible chaos,” he said.
Analysts also said the issue of succession to Mugabe, the only ruler Zimbabwe has known since independence in 1980, has divided the ruling Zanu PF party into two camps, with one supporting Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa (Team Lacoste) and the other Mugabe’s wife, Grace, (Generation 40) and this must concern Sadc.
Legal expert and analyst Alex Magaisa urged Sadc to keep an eye on the military as it poses a constant threat to the constitutional order. He called for security sector reforms.
The military has repeatedly stated that they would not support MDC’s Morgan Tsvangirai or any other person without liberation war credentials.
Were Mugabe to be incapacitated, resign, removed from office or die, the new Constitution states that until 2023, the vice president who last acted as president assumes office as president for the next 90 days until the party nominates a replacement for consideration by Parliament.
“Whatever faction the military supports in Zanu PF is likely to have an advantage over others,” Magaisa said.
“In this regard, the Lacoste faction backing Mnangagwa seems to be well-placed, given its proximity to key sections of the military and the broad support from the war veterans.
“It cannot be overemphasised here though that the military needs to stay away from civilian affairs,” the former advisor to former Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Tsvangirai and leader of the MDC, said.
“It is thus, important for Sadc to keep a watchful eye over Zimbabwe, just in case there are attempts to subvert the constitutional process, in the event of a succession battle.
“Ecowas showed the way in the case of the Gambia a few months ago when its former leader threatened to subvert the constitution,” he said, referring to Gambia’s former authoritarian leader Yahya Jammeh, who was forced into exile in Equatorial Guinea after he stepped down in the face of pressure from regional bloc Ecowas to recognize his election defeat.
“Sadc can draw lessons from that experience. The Zimbabwe political process remains fragile and precarious and consequences of chaos could threaten regional peace and stability, hence the need for Sadc to remain vigilant.”
HARARE - Zimbabwe has increased mandatory petrol blending from five percent to 10 percent due to increasing supplies of ethanol.
This comes after government in March reduced to five percent from 15 percent the mandatory amount of local ethanol to be blended with petrol as President Robert Mugabe’s cash-squeezed government sought to reduce its fuel import bill.
Energy minister Samuel Undenge had slashed the blending levels pending improvement of the situation.
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Undenge on Friday increased the threshold as national ethanol supplies improve.
“It is hereby notified that, the minister of Energy….in terms of section 4 of the petroleum regulations published in Statutory Instrument 81 of 2014, approved the increase of mandatory blending to 10 per cent,” he said in a Government Gazette published on Friday.
“The consequence of this approval is that all licensed operators shall, from the date of publication, be mandated to sell unleaded petrol blended at E10.”
Zimbabwe obtains ethanol from a $600 million sugar plant in the southeast of the country which is jointly owned by a State company and private investors which has capacity to produce 250 000 litres of ethanol a day; and from Triangle, wholly-owned by South Africa’s Tongaat Hullett, which also has a 50,3 percent stake in Hippo Valley. The Triangle plant has the capacity to produce 3,6 million litres of ethanol, made out of sugarcane by-product.
Between December and April, sugar cane harvesting is halted to enable plant maintenance, leading to a moratorium in the production of ethanol.
The off-crop season is now over, and sugar milling has resumed, resulting in a boost in ethanol supplies.
Official figures show the southern African country spends some $45 million each month to import fuel.
This comes as Zimbabwe’s fuel prices have remained very high compared to other countries in the sub-region despite government’s unilateral decision to enforce mandatory blending of petroleum products almost four years ago, claiming it would bring down prices and reduce the country’s import bill.
The E10 blend, which should be cheaper than unleaded fuel, is going for between $1,35 and $1,39 per litre at service stations in Zimbabwe, which is far more expensive than several countries in the region using unleaded fuel.
The country’s neighbours Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania and Swaziland all have cheaper petrol costing $1,06, $1,19, $1,08, $1,29 and $1,14 per litre respectively.
In Zambia, a landlocked country like Zimbabwe, unleaded fuel is currently selling for $1,10 per litre, while in Tanzania the commodity is selling for $1,05 per litre.
The average pump price for unleaded fuel in South Africa is $1,09 per litre while in Namibia petrol costs about $1 per litre.
HARARE - The battle for the much anticipated next year’s election is gathering steam with a local social movement, #IAMZIMBABWE, becoming the latest group to crank the heat on President Robert Mugabe and his government to pave way for the holding of free and fair elections.
The social movement has begun collecting signatures for a class action lawsuit on behalf of Zimbabweans seeking the alignment of the Electoral Act to the new Constitution.
This comes as the country’s opposition parties are ratcheting up pressure on government to ensure an even electoral playing field in next year’s watershed poll by making sweeping electoral reforms which include the disbandment of the current Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) secretariat.
#IAMZIMBABWE social movement is seeking at least 100 applicants by June 2 to be able to file a High Court application for the certification of the class-action lawsuit.
Harare lawyer Fadzayi Mahere, who is spearheading the class action, said after garnering the required number of litigants, a meeting to discuss necessary steps — including details of the litigation strategy and the relief sought — will be convened.
“The idea is to demand that the right to vote be given its fullest expression including through a simplified voter registration and voting process.
“The law, for example, requires that voter registration be a continuous process. It is also key to ensure that the Electoral Act is aligned to the Constitution,” said the feisty Mahere.
According to the Class Actions Act, the authority of the High Court is required to grant leave for the institution of a class action on behalf of any class of persons after considering whether the action is appropriate, and a prima facie cause of action exists.
The social movement accuses government of flagrantly violating provisions of a new Constitution by delaying the alignment of the laws.
Section 155(2) of the Constitution provides that the State “must take all appropriate measures, including legislative measures, to ensure that every citizen who is eligible to vote has an opportunity to cast a vote and must facilitate voting by persons with disabilities or special needs.”
The General Laws Amendment Bill (GLA Bill), passed by Parliament last year, was supposed to align the Electoral Act to the Constitution but alignment issues were ignored by the GLA Bill.
Under section 67(3) of the Constitution, every adult citizen has the right to vote in all elections. But the GLA Bill did nothing to change the provisions of the present Electoral Act which deny the vote to citizens in the Diaspora, prisoners and hospital patients.
Legal experts say Zec cannot be left to handle these problems administratively, without amendments to the Electoral Act. The Act also gives Zec a virtual monopoly over the provision of voter education and imposes several additional restrictions on its provision by other people.
Also, Zec’s constitutional independence, guaranteed by section 235 of the Constitution, is infringed by the present wording of section 12 of the Electoral Act, which requires Zec to get approval from the Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs minister before accepting any donation.
HARARE - Analysts say with the make-or-break 2018 national elections around the corner — coupled with the warring ruling Zanu PF continuing with its destructive policies of the past 37 years — there is little prospect that the dying local economy will turn around anytime soon.
At the same time, concerned Zanu PF insiders told the Daily News on Sunday yesterday that the ruling party’s deepening tribal, factional and succession wars were set to intensify further as next year’s watershed polls loomed, and as President Robert Mugabe got frailer due to his advanced age and attendant poor health.
This comes as Zimbabwe is battling worsening shortages of both bond notes and the much-coveted United States dollars — amid real fears that the dying local economy is fast hurtling towards the debilitating lows of 2008 when all Zimbabweans became overnight, but pitifully poor “multi-billionaires”.
It also comes as economists have recently told the Daily News on Sunday — on the back of the country’s deepening economic crisis — that Zimbabwe’s average income levels are now at their lowest in more than 60 years, with more than 76 percent of the country’s populace having to make do with wretched incomes that are well below the poverty datum line.
As a result, the country’s international standing and sovereign ratings have also plummeted to shocking levels, which has seen Zimbabwe being classified recently as the poorest country in Africa — amid horrendous company closures and equally numbing levels of unemployment where many university graduates end up as street vendors.
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“The economy needs lots of attention right now, but it is not getting any. Urgent issues are not being given enough effort because the party (Zanu PF) is concerned with mending itself, purely for self-preservation.
“Of course, there are a few individuals who are trying (to effect positive change). However, the state of the economy at the moment needs a collective effort and many politicians are putting themselves at the top, with the needs of the entire country neglected due to the culture of survival for a few people,” veteran economist John Robertson said yesterday.
Another economic expert, Ashok Chakravarti, also warned that as long as Mugabe did not call his warring lieutenants to order as a matter of urgency, the country's stressed economy would continue on its downward spiral.
“There is need for a collective effort to address and resuscitate the economy. However, this will not happen if effort is being spent on infighting,” he said.
On its part, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC said it had now become abundantly clear to all Zimbabweans that Zanu PF was not interested in improving the dying economy as its focus was on its leaders' worsening succession fights.
“As a result, the Zanu PF regime is running a totally discordant and unco-ordinated administration in which the left hand never knows or cares about what the right hand is doing.
“Factionalism has become so deeply entrenched within Zanu PF that the centre can no longer hold.
“Instead of focusing on turning around the comatose economy, the feuding factions within the collapsing regime are tearing each other apart amidst a violent and nonsensical cataclysm of intolerance, physical violence and thuggery, as we recently witnessed in Bulawayo,” MDC spokesperson Obert Gutu said.
“The cold, hard fact is that Mugabe and Zanu PF are no longer fit for purpose. They cannot and will not successfully turn around the economic fortunes of Zimbabwe. That's the bottom line,” he added.
Mugabe and his warring ruling Zanu PF, in power since Zimbabwe’s independence from Britain in 1980, stand accused of turning the once thriving local economy, which at one time was regarded as the bread basket of Africa, into a basket case.
His government has lurched from one crisis to another over the past four decades, culminating in a girnomous economic crisis in 2008, as well as the current debilitating cash shortages.
So bad is the current economic crisis that the government is also scrambling to avert the country plunging into darkness after South African power utility, Eskom, threatened to switch its electricity supplies to Zim over arrears running into tens of millions of dollars.
Analysts said yesterday that with little investment coming in, the country was continuing to bleed as evidenced by the problems afflicting the health, education and public infrastructure sectors.
The rot in education became even more manifest last week when the Primary and Secondary Education ministry ill-advisedly announced that it planned to close 40 schools in Matabeleland South, over poor enrolments.
“Zanu PF appears to have consistently and persistently pursued policies that are parorchial and self-serving to meet the narrow interests of its leadership, with little or no regard to the interests of ordinary Zimbabweans,” political analyst Dewa Mavhinga told the Daily News on Sunday.
“I am not persuaded that when Zanu PF promised to create more than 2 million jobs they had any intention whatsoever of doing that. It was just a crass promise necessary to their goals, ahead of the 2013 elections.
“Everyone knows that to turn around Zimbabwe's economy, the government should decisively deal with corruption, respect the rule of law, practise good governance and bring about political stability.
"The current Zanu PF top crop does not seem to have any appetite for any of that and therefore our economy, unsurprisingly, remains comatose,” he added.
Zanu PF is currently divided in the middle, with the camp which is rabidly opposed to Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa succeeding Mugabe, the Generation 40 (G40) faction, involved in a life-and-death tussle with the VP's backers, Team Lacoste.
Observers have consistently said Mugabe’s failure to resolve Zanu PF's thorny succession riddle is fuelling the ruling party's deadly infighting, which is worsening by the day.
The 93-year-old has studiously refused to name a successor, insisting that the party’s congress has that mandate: to choose a person of their own choice.
HARARE - An actress is getting ready to perform in a local production of the play Narratives of the Dark, and there’s one thing that distinguishes this talented woman from other actresses — she is visually-impaired.
Edith Masango, 25, is an actress in a one-woman theatrical production that opened in Theatre in the Park on Thursday written by Major Special Matarirano and directed by actress-cum-director Eunice Tava.
She recalled her journey into theatre to the Daily News on Sunday.
“I remember that I was at a local radio station trying to do a voice-over and met two ladies who were into acting. I told them that I really wanted to try out acting and they promised to contact me if they found a role I could fit in,” she said.
“They later referred me to a man who had a role that wanted a blind lady. When I contacted him, he advised me that he wanted the person who was going to play that role to be trained by me.
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“We went to my bus stop because he wanted to see how I manage on my own and after that, he gave me the role instead.
“It turned out that was Nigel Munyati, the founder of Zimbabwe International Film Festival (Ziff).”
She featured in a short film titled The Collector — which was a story about a visually impaired female painter whose mother and grandmother clashed over religious beliefs.
“After the short film, everyone was interested in me and that was how I got a job as a receptionist there (at Ziff),” she recalled.
This Thursday, Masango opened her solo show at the Theatre in the Park to rave reviews.
She said it was a great opportunity to show that there is nothing visually impaired people cannot do, adding the play was “a mirror of my own life.”
Paywright Matarirano, who co-produced the play with Rooftop Promotions, is happy with the way Masango justified his decision to make her the fulcrum of Narratives from the Dark.
“Edith has a strong conviction to do good for her life and that of her family. I see a fighter; her mentality is different from others. So that is why I had to cast her and propel her as a protagonist within the country as a person living positively with disability,” Matarirano said.
Masango never sits in a corner and complains about her condition. She couldn’t ask for anything more.
At the Ziff, Masango manages her work at the reception like any normal person and has installed software that assists her to convert word into speech.
“I have software called Job Access; it is a voice that will be talking to me, guiding me. I can make appointments for fellow workers and also use Internet. I was also trained to use the switchboard and a number of other skills during rehab at Dorothy Duncan Brail Library,” Masango said.
“Growing up, I had always wanted to become a gynecologist or any other profession that involved taking care of women but all that crumbled when I lost my sight. I sat in denial for a very long time and even became suicidal but later got encouraged after hearing successful stories of other people living with a similar condition.”
Masango, a proud mother of one, said she is confident the world hasn’t seen anything yet. She expects to continue wowing audiences into the future.
She recalls in 2012 when she went through labour. She did not realise that those were her last moments of having full eye sight.
She delivered a bouncing baby but sadly lost her eye sight. She succumbed to retinis pigmentosa — a rare, genetic disorder that involve a breakdown and loss of cells in the retina — which is the light sensitive tissue that lines the back of the eye.
She regrets she never got to see her son.
She struggled to accept her new condition and gave up on life after her husband divorced her because she had gone blind.
“I was born with poor eyesight and night blindness and started using spectacles when I was eight-years old to help me see things that were far from me,” Masango told the Daily News on Sunday.
“I separated with my husband because he said he could not handle living with a blind person. It has been five years but he has never come back to check on his child. I never got to see my son and that is one thing that hurts me.
“…some of my family members tell me that he (my son) is dark and try to describe his features and who he took after, but still I want to see him. It was difficult for me after going through all those pregnancy hormones and labour pain that I never got a chance to lay my eyes on him.”
HARARE - The death of sungura great Daiton Somanje two years ago, thrust his son Faheem into the hot seat as the leader of the legendary Pengaudzoke that the Tsaona singer co-founded with his brother Josphat.
With his talented uncle, Josphat, being weighed down by ill-health, the onerous task of reviving the unique Pengaudzoke beat that spawned hits like Zvibate Pamhaka, Sei Kuonda, Mai Linda and Arindine, now lies squarely on Faheem’s fledgling shoulders.
Faheem told the Daily News on Sunday about his readiness to work with his uncle even though he had gone solo when his father passed on.
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“What I want is the revival of Pengaudzoke. I know it is a challenging task but I am ready to take it head on.
“I am not worried about the reasons which led to my father and uncle going separate ways. I treat Josphat as my father and I will continually turn to him for advice and help.
“I have shared the stage with him (Josphat) on several occasions and I am glad because he is always ready to help me. However, at the moment we have no plans to merge our bands,” he said.
Apart from Josphat, Faheem has also been assisted by Alick Macheso.
“I first met Macheso when I was a child. He used to visit my father in Marondera that is why I gathered the confidence to implore him to assist me in reviving the Pengaudzoke legacy and he agreed.
“He took me on board and I toured the country with him as a supporting act.
“I will remain indebted to him for giving me the platform to connect with Pengaudzoke fans,” Faheem told the Daily News on Sunday.
Macheso featured on Faheem’s debut album titled Ndezvedzinza on the song Nhaka. The supportive sungura legend also performed at the album launch which was held in Marondera where Macheso bought several CDs of the album recorded at his Alema Studios in Chitungwiza.
Songs on the album released in March include Zai Regondo, Daka, Ndoda Kuroora, Allah Kumaunde and Linda.
“I have leant a lot from Macheso. He is a hard worker who devotes a lot of his time on rehearsals. He told me that no matter how talented one is, he needs to continually perfect the gift through practice.
“More importantly, Macheso always tells me that he regards his fans as his kings and paymasters.
“Regardless of the size of the crowd that pays to watch him play, Macheso will always give his all.
“I know if I manage to apply what I continue to learn from Macheso I will never go wrong in reviving the Pengaudzoke brand,” he said.
Faheem has lined up several collaborations as part of his strategy of putting the spotlight on the Pengaudzoke brand.
“I want to collaborate with babamunini Josphat and several other top artistes on my next album,” he said.
Though his father composed several hits, Faheem fears that remixing them will take away their enduring quality.
“I want to keep the hits in their original state. I believe the purpose of remixing a song is to give it a fresh life and the remixed version must surpass the original version in terms of everything.
“As a result I am only going to remix those songs that were not hits, hence I will strive to make them hits,” said Faheem.
