HARARE - The local public media’s silence on skirmishes involving First Lady Grace Mugabe in South Africa, where she allegedly severely assaulted a 20-year-old woman she had found with her sons at an upmarket hotel in Sandton is shocking to say the least.
Grace is the President’s wife and a public figure, hence the nation needed to be updated by the public media — both electronic and print — on such an occurrence.
While all television news channels from around the world were reporting on Grace’s case, we thought that our public media would notify and update us on the first lady’s brush with the law in South Africa.
This was not to be as the public media completely ignored the story as though nothing ever happened.
Such blackout should not be tolerated, especially when we are talking of the country’s first lady.
The public media’s censorship of such an important occurrence puts to doubt the public media’s sincerity to publishing the truth about high-profile figures.
Interestingly, and curiously too, Grace recently lashed out at Information permanent secretary George Charamba whom she accused of using State media to censor certain personalities — this time it was to her advantage.
There was no need for the public media to completely ignore Grace’s case because this actually brews gossip and alarming theories around the first family.
One wonders how many important national stories are swept under the carpet by State media houses.
The public media should remember that they are the government’s mouthpiece and we expect them to operate as such, updating us on issues of national importance.
Similarly, when Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa recently fell sick, we expected to hear more about his condition through State media.
It was not to be with government only responding later through the Health minister. State electronic media, especially television, failed in its role as a public broadcaster in updating us on Mnangagwa’s health. Remember he is the country’s vice president.
We hope the public media and government has learnt a lesson or two in that in today’s world of social media, news travels fast and trying to blackout such stories with public interest will not hold.
The recent blackout of Grace’s fracas in South Africa and even Mnangagwa’s illness, especially on State television, is the reason why Zimbabweans are calling for a swift liberalisation of the broadcasting sector so as to include private players.
And as we fast approach the 2018 elections, we expect the self-censorship at ZBC to heighten up and probably even suspect that even if political violence involving the ruling Zanu PF breaks out, such news items may not find favour with the public broadcaster.
MUTARE - An increasing number of people from the Rusitu community is being lured into illicit and dangerous gold mining in South Africa (SA), where many have died while some have disappeared.
Known as Zama Zamas, the daring illegal gold miners, who enter active mines through hidden holes that access underground shafts and would exit by handing themselves over to mine security, spend around six months in prison before they are released.
Rusitu Valley has hundreds of desperate unemployed young men who have been forced to troop down to SA in search of greener pastures.
Reports of mine accidents there always leave the community in distress. And often, many locals would arrive back in body bags.
According to locals, the gas explosion in May at Harmony Gold’s Eland Mine in Welkom, Free State left at least 10 Zimbabweans from Chipinge and Chimanimani districts dead.
And many more are murdered in the dangerous practice.
The locals said many never make it back home, even as corpses.
Stella Mwareya told the Daily News that a number of parents and relatives here live in constant distress whenever their children leave for the SA gold lure.
“ . . . they are also afraid that their children may be murdered,” she said.
“We have been burying murdered young men at least once every month from Muchadziya, down in Vumba to Mutsvangwa amid rumours that some of the locals were actually behind some of the murders,” Mwareya claimed.
The Daily News crew came across a Zama Zama who had just arrived back home from a three-month South African jail stint after mining underground for six months.
“It’s a dog-eat-dog scenario back in SA. If you make too much money in the mine and your colleagues or handlers know of it, you never make it out alive or you are robbed as soon as you get the money,” said the Zama Zama, who only referred to himself as Blessing for fear of victimisation.
“The problem is that the threat comes from those who are known to you, as they would know exactly how much you would be having,” he said.
He said the syndicates — who would arrange the smuggling of the gold and food supplies into and out of the mines — would only allow one to be underground for a minimum three months because they would be guaranteed that you would have earned enough to offset their costs in getting you from wherever into the country and mine.
“It’s mostly Zimbabweans and Mozambicans that I worked with together with a few South Africans and some from Swaziland and Lesotho,” Blessing said.
He said two of his brothers were also holed up in the mines — one for 18 months and the other for eight months.
“We stay in touch by writing text messages on a cellphone that is brought once every two weeks down a small shaft.
“Since there is no network underground, the message will only be sent when the cellphone is taken back to the surface in a basket. They would return with the reply after two weeks,” Blessing said with a chuckle at the slow rate of communication.
He said there are underground “cities” with everything, except sunlight.
“There are drugs, alcohol and even prostitutes,” he said with a chuckle, adding that but going down is not fun, as “we would often slide for hundreds of metres into the underground mines on steel poles”.
“At times, you would want to give up as you go down, but that will be the end. Some, however, do fall to their death and are never recovered,” Blessing said.
Another Zama Zama, Maxwell Muganga, who plans to return to the mine after a two-year break, said once in, they would work with recognised middle men.
“After you make a certain amount, you will have to leave the mine. You would be empty-handed as you would have been sending out the gold through the middle-men. So the safest route will be to hand yourself over to mine security at the official exit,” he said.
He said the security would then hand you over to the police, leading to arrest and at least six months in prison.
“South African jails are good and they would certainly be way more comfortable than the holes you would have been,” Muganga said.
Blessing concurred with Muganga, saying staying in SA prison was a small price to pay considering the comforts one would then enjoy when they leave jail to collect their pay cheques.
It is also the reason that keep young boys in Rusitu with a firm resolve to joining the trek down South as soon as they are old enough.
The Zama Zamas practice has been costly to the South African economy, with the country’s Chamber of Mines saying more than $150 million was lost to this practice between 1999 and 2004.
Underage girls fall victim to artisanal miners
ILLEGAL artisanal miners, who have invaded Chimanimani’s Tarka Forest in a gold rush that has been sustained over the past decade, are preying on and abusing underage girls in nearby communities, the Daily News has established.
Some desperate and gullible parents have even been complicit in the practice, giving away their daughters in return for bride price.
Local schools have reported high drop outs by girls due to pregnancies, particularly at the peak of the gold rush, at the turn of the millennium.
Residents in the community bemoaned to the Daily News that the gold rush had destroyed many young girls’ lives, and the community had been struggling to keep the girl child in school.
“The gold discovery has been a curse to the girl-child. At one point, we lost over 30 girls from Makumbura Secondary School in the 2000s. The number never really fell, even today,” Joshua Hlabiso, a local, said.
He said while the gold rush saw even locals who were in the army deserting and boys dropping out of school to focus on panning, “girls were clearly the biggest losers”.
“Some girls have joined the gold rush. But most of the girls are failing to resist the lure of cash from the thousands of young men who flood our communities and we are taking care of as our tenants,” he said.
Senzia Mhondera, another local, said even young boys and girls from the same class would get married as soon as they felt they had a source of income in the illegal gold panning activities.
“Some of our girls are not only being abused by outsiders . . . even their own schoolmates and classmates would elope as soon as they thought they had made some money,” Mhondera said.
In most cases, many girls are just impregnated and dumped, as the artisanal miners return back to their areas of origin and families.
“It is really sad that some poor girls were just abused and deserted. There are many children who do not even know the true identity of their fathers and the social consequences will stay with us for generations to come,” one Lovemore Njobo added.
Before the gold rush, the community depended on agriculture for its livelihood.
Nothing could have prepared them for such an impact either, noted Sustainable Environmental Conservation Trust director Moses Chimedza.
“Everyone was dazzled by the glitter of gold. From struggling in the fields and orchards, they had a chance for quick money and there was no time to organise themselves against the negative social impact of the thousands of illegal artisanal gold panners,” he said.
Giant chicken abattoir for Mutare
LOCAL poultry farmers here are set to unveil a $120 000 chicken abattoir within the next three months, the Manicaland Poultry Association (MPA) has announced.
This comes as the Zimbabwe’s poultry industry has been rocked by an Avian Influenza outbreak, resulting in an acute chicken and table eggs shortage.
MPA chairperson Enock Mbendani said they have been working on the project — targeted at promoting economic growth in the city — for more than a year.
“We are mechanising and the abattoir should be open in two to three months for local informal breeders so that they gain access to the formal market,” he said.
He said while the abattoir had capacity to process 8 000 chickens a day, they were expecting to start at 3 000.
“It can also be upgraded from that 8 000 to a much bigger figure, if chicken supplies improve across the province,” Mbendani said.
He said although the Avian Influenza virus had dampened the sector, with a shortage of day-old chicks expected to stretch for the next six months, he remained optimistic that the business would take off successfully.
The abattoir project comes as most farmers in the province, especially informal, are unable to penetrate the formal markets.
Many poultry producers are on the verge of collapse, with most opting out due to viability problems.
“Poultry farmers have decided to unite and work on the abattoir in light of the challenges we have been facing in accessing the formal market which was now threatening the viability of most of our farmers,” said Mbendani.
He said MPA was also helping farmers in sourcing drugs and feeds, as it is often proving difficult for most individual farmers.
We never met Moyo: MDC women
THE MDC women’s assembly has scoffed at media claims that Thokozani Khupe and other senior officials met independent presidential hopeful Nkosana Moyo in South Africa last Thursday.
Speaking in Mutare, the women’s wing honcho — Lynette Karenyi — dismissed the report as a feeble attempt to besmirch her name and destabilise the party, saying this was not going to distract her from pushing to make sure that Zanu PF is defeated in the next elections.
“The enemy will not win because I love my party and will remain loyal and work hard to remove the regime from power. With the Mhou nemhuru yayo programme, the regime will definitely go,” Karenyi said.
She said she actually went to collect her children from school before going to church on the purported day.
Karenyi said she was not authorised to speak on behalf of the party or her party vice president on the reports.
“I’m otherwise focused on recruiting more women and youths to register to vote and vote resoundingly for the MDC come 2018,” she said.
According to reports, Khupe was alleged to be engaged in talks with Moyo, who recently launched his Alliance for People’s Agenda and announced plans to stand for presidency in 2018’s elections.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s deputy is reportedly at qualms over the handling of the party’s coalition with other parties, particularly those that only have strength in the Matabeleland region, where MDC is also strong.
Recently, Khupe was assaulted by suspected MDC youths during a meeting to discuss the MDC alliance in Bulawayo after skipping a signing ceremony in Harare.
Tsvangirai, who instituted an enquiry into the assault and suspended some of his party’s senior members including Tabitha Khumalo, however, said their findings were going to be discussed by the standing committee.
HARARE - Prosecutor Fransisca Mukumbiri yesterday advised the court that an anonymous caller exposed details that led to the arrest of ex-British soldier busted with cocaine making machinery at his Glen Lorne home.
James Francis Joscelyne, 39, appeared before Harare magistrate Nomsa Sabarauta yesterday for trial continuation on charges of dealing in dangerous drugs.
Joscelyne — represented by advocate Sylvester Hashiti — had made an application for the State to disclose the informant before he moves to trial.
“If a case is to proceed to trial where there is a whistle blower, the accused person has the right to know. We need to know so that the accused person knows how to plead and also prepare his defence,” Hashiti said.
Prosecutor Oscar Madhume promised to respond to the plea by August 16 when the matter was expected back in court.
Joscelyn had asked the investigating officer Brighton Samaneka to be ordered to trace the particular call before furnishing the court with details of the informant.
This was after Samaneka indicated that the whistle blower was a man who refused to proffer further particulars when he tipped police.
“The person refused to name himself and the safety of informers is our responsibility hence naming them would jeopardise that confidentiality,” Samaneka said yesterday.
Hashiti responded: “I formally move that an order directing police to carry out investigations on calls received between 8 and 9am on July 19. They must furnish the court with the call log and details of each call. How can you want to safeguard the safety of informers that you have said you do not know?”
The application will be determined by Sabarauta today.
Joscelyn was a British Army soldier attached to the Queen’s regiment before he retired and moved to Zimbabwe in 2002. According to court papers, Joscelyne has since renounced his Zimbabwean citizenship and allegedly admitted during an interview that he was processing tablets containing ecstasy powder and cocaine, selling a capsule for $3 through an organised syndicate in Harare.
It was alleged that on July 20, detectives from CID Drugs and Narcotics division were tipped that Joscelyne was producing dangerous drugs at his home.
It was alleged that detectives searched the house after presenting a warrant to Joscelyne.
Detectives discovered in Joscelyne’s bedroom two sachets of a substance suspected to be cocaine with a street value of $640 and 43 ecstasy tablets valued at $129.
A bowl containing ecstasy powder and empty plastic packaging were recovered in the kitchen.
It was further alleged that two drug processing machines; a single-punch pill maker and dagga compressing machine, 25kg of micro crystalline cellulose used in pharmaceutical tablet making, 300 empty capsules and food colourants were also found in the house.
The recovered drugs were taken for forensic examinations and the results are yet to be obtained.
HARARE - A 75-year-old Mazowe man appeared in court yesterday on allegations of raping his 21-month-old granddaughter.
The man (name withheld to protect identity of child) appeared before Harare magistrate Esthere Chivasa charged with rape.
He denied the charges saying he only called the toddler after offering to give her some fish he had cooked at his residence in Lowdale compound a few metres away from his daughter’s house.
“They are lying against me; I would never do such a thing to my daughter’s child. She (referring to his daughter) even knows that I did not commit this crime,” he said.
However, a medical report that has been tendered in court indicates that the victim’s genitals were attenuated from the alleged attack.
The victim’s mother said she did not suspect that her father sexually molested her baby until a doctor recommended that she files a sexual assault charge following a medical examination.
“Father was the last person to be with my daughter before she came back home and noticed that her privates were bruised. He had offered to give her some fish but took longer than I expected at his residence,” the woman testified.
“She had the fish in a plate when she returned and I noticed that she wanted to relieve herself. When I was wiping her, I realised that genitals were swollen and asked my neighbour what it could be. She advised me to go to the clinic where I was referred to a doctor.
“The doctor who examined my baby also referred me to the police and that is how this case ended up here. I have no bad blood with my father and would not have fabricated the case against him.”
Prosecutor Chipo Matambo alleged that on July 10, the grandfather passed by his daughter’s residence and offered to give his one-year-nine-month old granddaughter some fish.
The court heard that he went away with the baby for about 30 minutes before the minor returned later with fish in a plate.
It was alleged that the mother then noticed abnormality on her child’s genitals before the matter was reported to the police.
HARARE - One in 14 Zimbabweans would consider taking a break from the country and moving abroad, according to a new survey from Afrobarometer.
In interviews of adult Zimbabweans between January 28 and February 10, 2017, the research network gathered that the majority of locals who were planning on leaving were angry at government’s failure to do enough to confront poverty, unemployment and medical services.
“Almost half, 47 percent, of adult Zimbabweans say they have considered emigrating. One in 14 citizens say they are currently making preparations to leave. South Africa is the preferred destination of a majority, 55 percent, of potential emigrants,” Afrobarometer said in its latest report. “Almost half of them say they ‘often’ or ‘always’ feel angry, compared to 26 percent of unlikely emigrants.
“Remarkably, almost half of adult citizens in Zimbabwe say they have considered emigrating, although far fewer are actually making preparations to leave.”
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe has ruled out pay increase for civil servants in a development which marks a huge shift from his populist decisions which analysts have previously blamed for hurting the country’s economy.
Mugabe has consistently used State occasions such as the Independence Day and Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) Day, to make pronouncements in favour of the civil servants, even if his government did not have enough in Treasury to support such decisions.
But addressing the nation during the ZDF Day commemorations in Harare on Tuesday, Mugabe acknowledged civil servants’ the low salaries but said they were still expected to perform at optimum level.
“Their salaries are very low. I think as our country develops, our workers will get better salaries but we cannot say because you are getting little salaries, we should stop working for the country. No,” Mugabe said.
“Government work should go on smoothly because we know that if our country remains peaceful, without fighting, it will eventually develop to a level where money will be readily available and we will be able to pay better salaries. So that is what we are aiming for.”
Last year, Mugabe reversed the suspension of civil servants bonuses’ and a cut in official travel allowances by Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa, as he bid to save finances by introducing belt-tightening measures.
Zimbabwe’s economy is currently experiencing serious problems which have resulted company closures and job losses on the back of falling production levels.
As a result, Mugabe’s government has had to contend with reduced revenues from sources such as company and employee taxes — some of the traditional sources of its funding for the huge civil service.
The average Zimbabwean civil servant currently earns around $400 per month, which ranks them among the lowest paid civil servants in Africa.
This is well below the poverty datum line estimate of about $540, according to the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe.
The $540 breadline applies to an average family of five.
HARARE - Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC is proposing a constitutional amendment to bar uniformed forces from voting in a bid to uphold their impartiality.
The new Constitution okayed in a 2013 referendum ushered in Special Vote to facilitate early voting by uniformed forces and electoral officers assigned to duty on election day.
Senior MDC official Tapiwa Mashakada said voting will make the disciplined forces prefer another candidate over another.
“Did you know that in Tunisia the land from which the Arab Spring began, uniformed forces are not allowed to vote or participate in politics? They are apolitical.
“I think we need constitutional amendment number 2 (non-partisan uniformed service).
“To me, the Tunisian case makes sense. Defence forces should be a professional force designed to uphold the Constitution and defend the country chete chete (only). Voting will make them prefer others more than others. Already there is a problem.”
Members of the Tunisian military, police and the national guard continue to be denied suffrage.
Despite the more democratic political atmosphere of post-revolution Tunisia, lawmakers have maintained the ban based on the new Constitution, which calls for impartiality of the country’s security forces.
Since gaining independence in 1956, Tunisian law has held that citizens holding posts in the security forces could not become involved in politics or vote.
In Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe has maintained an iron grip on the State’s coercive capacity, with the military openly paying homage to the president’s political party, Zanu PF.
Efforts by the opposition during the GNU era to depoliticise, professionalise, and establish democratic civilian oversight of the State security apparatus were rebuffed by Mugabe.
HARARE - Energy Mutodi’s bail hearing has been set for tomorrow after his lawyer made frantic efforts yesterday to facilitate his release through a High Court appeal.
Mutodi’s lawyer Doug Coltart confirmed to the Daily News yesterday that they had filed an appeal before the High Court, challenging Harare Provincial Magistrate Elisha Singano’s ruling.
“We prepared an appeal at the High Court which we filed today (yesterday). The hearing is on tomorrow,” Coltart said.
Mutodi, who is facing charges of undermining the authority of the president and causing disaffection among members of the defence forces, was remanded in custody to August 25 before he was advised to apply for bail at the High Court.
Singano said it was justified for the State to continue detaining the Zanu PF activist, who is an avowed supporter of Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
In his ruling, Singano said while the law was clear that there must be compelling reasons for an accused to be denied bail, its provisions did not apply to Mutodi because he was allegedly inciting violence through his hate speech in his social media posts.
“It is the court’s considered view that the offence may have been committed within the jurisdiction of this court, here in Zimbabwe.
“There is a nexus between the accused person and the alleged postings and police are still analysing the Facebook page and other material which may have been used committing the offence.
“The court will allow police to bring cogent facts for remand purposes as there is a genuine reason why they need more time. It is a good reason since it can show if the accused person was acting alone or in cahoots with other people or if someone else was abusing his Facebook account. A further detention is therefore warranted,” ruled Singano
Mutodi was arrested after he wrote on his social networking wall, Facebook, that Zimbabwe risked a coup if the thorny succession issue was not resolved amicably, adding that President Robert Mugabe should consult the army to avert chaos.
“While a military takeover may be far-fetched in Zimbabwe, it is important for . . . Mugabe to be careful in naming his successor. Any suspicion of unfairness or discrimination on account of tribalism or factionalism may backfire,” he wrote.
“There are key stakeholders that need to be consulted, among them the military and the whole security establishment called the Joint Operations Command that is chaired by vice president Mnangagwa,” he wrote.
HARARE - War veterans’ leader Victor Matemadanda handed himself voluntarily to police yesterday, his lawyer said.
His lawyer Doug Coltart, said he had turned himself in at Harare Central Police Station in the morning.
He was still in police custody at the time of going to print, according to Coltart.
He is being charged for contravening Section 30 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) and also undermining the authority of or insulting the president as defined in section 33(2)(a)(i) of the same law.
The war veterans’ association’s secretary-general wore a T-shirt whose words chided First Lady Grace Mugabe for failing in her parenting duties towards her children, Chatunga and Robert Junior.
“You can’t claim to be a mother to 14 million Zimbabweans when you are failing to mother your two boys,” was the core of the hard-punching message.
This comes as the first lady travelled to South Africa where she allegedly assaulted a young girl whom she found in the company of her sons.
The girl has posted pictures on social media showing wounds she sustained after she was allegedly beaten using an extension cable. She has horrendous injuries on her head, indications of what must have been a frenzied attack.
Two other girls were also allegedly attacked in the same incident. SA police want her to appear in court over the charges.
Matemadanda also launched a scathing attack on Grace during a press conference in Harare last week.
In the video that the police are now using to nail Matemadanda, he allegedly said that Grace cannot dream of leading Zimbabwe when she cannot control her two sons.
“We heard the first lady is doing this, no this is the second first lady our first lady is Sally. Our first lady helped us during the war. What worries us is that when Sally felt sick she didn’t go outside the country but some are getting treatment outside the country.
“Sally was a unifier ava vekuuruka uruka ava dancing at rally with (Zanu PF political commissar Saviour) Kasukuwere; taking everything to enrich herself, this is not good.
“Every time you will see her in Singapore, her children are misbehaving in South Africa, so do you think (George) Charamba is more stubborn than her children? So why did she do that to Charamba, we don’t like that,” said Matemadanda referring to the public dressing down of presidential spokesman George Charamba by Grace at a Chinhoyi rally recently.
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF yesterday did not allow the party’s factional wars to sway them in honouring the late Masvingo Provincial Affairs minister Shuvai Ben Mahofa when they ignored internal divisions and unanimously conferred her with national heroine status.
Mahofa, who died aged 76 in the early hours of Monday, was a strong pillar of a faction backing Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa to succeed Mugabe which is being fought in its bid by the Generation 40, a group of young Turks that reportedly has First Lady Grace Mugabe’s backing.
“ . . . president Mugabe has conferred national heroine status on the late . . . Mahofa who died on August 14, at Makurira Memorial Hospital in Masvingo.
“This decision came after the politburo met . . . to deliberate on the request by the Masvingo provincial leadership.
“The politburo was unanimous that the work done by . . . Mahofa before and after independence merited that she should be interred at the national shrine.
“The date for the burial will be announced in due course after consultations with the family,” Zanu PF secretary for administration Ignatius Chombo told a news conference last night.
A hugely divisive figure in her home, Mahofa was hated and liked in equal measure.
The veteran Masvingo politician, who played an instrumental role in the expulsion of former vice president Joice Mujuru, was widely revered as the Zanu PF political godmother in the volatile province.
In his Heroes Day message on Monday following the news of Mahofa’s death, Mugabe, revealed how a fortnight ago he had inquired into her health at a Zanu PF politburo meeting held at the party’s headquarters in Harare and was told she was fine.
HARARE - Embattled First Lady Grace Mugabe yesterday asked for diplomatic immunity cover to avoid being arrested for an alleged severe assault of a 20-year-old model she found in the hotel with her sons in Sandton, South Africa, on Sunday night.
This comes as President Robert Mugabe left for South Africa yesterday, ahead of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Heads of State summit which gets underway in Pretoria tomorrow.
It was not clear whether Mugabe had gone ahead of schedule to try and resolve Grace’s issue which has threatened to spark a diplomatic row between Zimbabwe and its biggest trading partner, South Africa, ever since police indicated that they want her arrested over the assault of Gabriella Engels.
It was another day of drama yesterday as it emerged that contrary to conflicting and inaccurate media reports that Grace had escaped from facing justice, she was still in South Africa as her lawyers and government representatives from the Zimbabwe Embassy in Pretoria, were frantically trying to save her from being arrested and dragged to court.
South Africa Police Services acting boss Lesetja Mothiba told Parliament’s portfolio committee of police that Grace’s lawyers had pleaded diplomatic immunity before she was to handover herself to police on Tuesday.
“The whole thing (assault of Engels) happened, I think it was around Sunday, but the matter was only brought to the attention of the police on Monday in the afternoon and our provincial commissioner put a team together to look for her.
“She (Grace) booked out of the hotel where she was staying together with her sons. Our position was that she must go to court. The whole day yesterday (Tuesday) we were waiting for her . . . we were expecting a statement from her,” Mothiba told the parliamentary committee.
Mothiba said after consulting the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) they decided that police was not going to let the first lady off the hook.
Later, The South African police ministry issued a statement in which it said Grace had changed her mind about going to the police as the lawyers together with Zimbabwe Embassy officials had officially invoked diplomatic immunity cover.
“The suspect’s lawyers and her government representatives made verbal representations to SAPS investigators that the suspect wished to invoke diplomatic immunity cover and thus she elected to change her mind about the warning statement,” the ministry said in a statement.
“Discussions with the suspect’s lawyers and the Zimbabwean High Commission representatives are taking place to make sure that the suspect is processed through the legal system,” the ministry said.
It was not yet clear by the time of going to print whether Grace was going to be granted the diplomatic immunity relief by the NPA.
A top official in South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) earlier said since Grace was not on official business, diplomatic immunity would not apply in her case.
“Firstly, for it to apply, she needs to be here on official business. It won’t apply if she’s here on holiday or for something else.
“Secondly, as a first lady, she’s not part of government or a government official. It doesn’t apply just because she’s the wife of a president,” said Dirco spokesperson Clayson Monyela.
Respected Zimbabwean lawyer Petinah Gappah said Grace did not fully enjoy diplomatic community.
“There are two kinds of immunity, full immunity for head of mission or ambassador level ranks and similar, and functional immunity, where immunity applies only in the exercise of official functions. So a person with functional immunity may evade prosecution for traffic fines incurred while driving to work, but is not covered for an assault committed in a night club,” explained Gappah.
“Heads of State also enjoy full immunity in international law, subject of course to the norms of international criminal law, which allow heads of States to be brought to account for specific crimes. In such cases, their immunity would be pierced, see for instance, Al-Bashir of Sudan.
“I would argue that Grace enjoys neither full nor functional immunity for any crimes she may have committed in South Africa. She is the wife of a Head of State, who enjoys full immunity, and not a head of State herself. She is not even a government minister.
“She was not in South Africa as part of any government delegation, so she was not there on official business. Had she been there to attend a summit or similar, as an official government delegate, things might be different, but she was not,” added Gappah.
“She may travel on a diplomatic passport, but so do many persons who do not enjoy diplomatic immunity. So basically, she was just another tourist who committed a crime. Such persons can be tried in the countries of their crimes, and if they do not avail themselves for trial, a request for extradition may be made,” she explained further.
Curiously, the South African police ministry said the Zimbabwe government had said Grace was expected to attend the Sadc summit and bi-lateral diplomatic meetings in Pretoria — as it tried to bolster its diplomatic immunity cover invocation.
According to Mugabe, Grace missed last week’s youth interface rally in Gwanda as she had travelled to South Africa for treatment on her injured ankle, in a statement which appeared to suggest that his wife’s trip was private and personal.
Problems for Grace started on Sunday when she was accused by Engels of allegedly striking her several times with an extension cord which left her with multiple injures, including gushes in the head and forehead which required sutures.
The First Family’s sons, Robert Junior and Chatunga Bellarmine, are resident in Johannesburg where they are studying following the decision to relocate Junior, who had been based in the United Arab Emirates.
Engels said when she arrived at the hotel visiting her sons, one of Grace’s bodyguards asked her and a friend to wait in a separate room before the first lady allegedly started beating her.
“When Grace entered I had no idea who she was. She walked in with an extension cord and just started beating me with it,” Engels said on Monday as she filed an assault charge against Grace.
Engels said Grace accused her of living with her sons.
“She flipped and just kept beating me with the plug. Over and over. I had no idea what was going on. I was surprised . . . I needed to crawl out of the room before I could run away.
“Her 10 bodyguards just stood there watching, no one did anything, no one tried to help me.
“I am a model, with this scar over my face my whole career is ruined.
“I don’t know how to deal with this, but I am trying hard. I am trying so hard to be strong, “said Engels.
Engels later posted several pictures of her injuries which she said were caused by an extension cable allegedly used by Grace during the assault.
The pictures sent social media into meltdown as the world was abuzz with Grace’s alleged assault of the model.
Grace has in the past been caught in incidents of violence.
In 2009, Grace was investigated by Hong Kong police for an alleged assault on a British photographer during a shopping trip to the city.
She was accused of repeatedly punching Richard Jones — chief photographer of the Hong Kong photo agency Sinopix — who was on an assignment for the British Sunday Times.
In 2014, Grace confronted journalists at a Singaporean hospital as she bid to block them from photographing Mugabe as he entered Gleneagles facility for his medical check-up.
Of late, both Mugabe and Grace have been showing signs of exasperation with their sons with the Zanu PF leader publicly warning Chatunga to lay off fun and concentrate on his studies.
Grace, just like her husband, last month shared her agony with relatives over the continuing wayward behaviour of sons.
The errant and fun-loving Mugabe’s sons, despite their status in society, have found it difficult to lead restricted lifestyles and have often been pictured mingling with ordinary Zimbabweans at football matches and upmarket entertainment venues.
JOHANNESBURG - At the mention of Zodwa Wabantu‚ most people instantly think‚ skimpy clothing and impressive dance moves‚ but away from the spotlight the position she holds in high regard is being a mother.
Zodwa is a doting mother to her 11-year-old son Vuyo‚ whom she says is her biggest supporter. She told TshisaLIVE that her son doesn’t judge her on what people say‚ instead he loves her unconditionally and often stands up for her.
“My child is a happy child‚ to him I am a normal mother with an extraordinary job. He loves the perks of my job because he gets to meet all these ‘cool’ people. At home‚ I am as normal as they come‚ loving and raising a happy child away from all the media and opinions of social media. He is the reason I hustle as hard as I do‚ I love him and he loves me‚” she said.
The entertainer‚ who has also admitted that she is a proud “nudist“‚ said that she had received backlash from other women who accuse her of being a bad mother just because of her persona.
She said that she did not get care about negative comments like‚ “I feel sorry for your son” or “Your son won’t respect women‚” over her semi-nude picture.
“People think I am not normal. They think I’m always at parties for fun‚ that I wake up and start drinking. They have made assumptions based on what I wear and use it to gauge the kind of mother that I am. Just because I don’t like panties or I post half naked pictures on my Instagram‚ does not mean that is who I am to my son. But whether people know that or not is not an issue because my son knows and understands who I am‚” she explained.
Zodwa now has international gigs in places like Zimbabwe and Mozambique‚ having burst into the scene for her risqué dance moves like vosho. Zodwa also plans to expand her services to more than “just a dancer” by venturing into other things in the creative industry.
HARARE - Mbira star Hope Masike has singled out her on-stage collaboration with internationally-acclaimed Malian superstar Salif Keita at the 2015 edition of the Harare International Festival of Arts (Hifa) as the standout moment of her 10-year music career.
Masike, who has just clocked a decade in music, told the Daily News on Sunday that she will always look back in awe at the electric chemistry she generated on stage with the Malian music legend.
“Being on stage with Salif Keita was an absolute dream come true for me.It was a great and inspirational moment for me and my career,” said Masike, who has two albums under her belt.
Though the mbira songstress rates the Keita on-stage duet as the “cherry on top,” she feels privileged to have been part of several other noteworthy collaborations over the last decade.
“I also did numerous collaborative projects including the ongoing Norwegian transcultural collaborative called Monoswezi and more recently the Southern African collaborative called Mahube which featured music superstar Oliver “Tuku” Mtukudzi, Steve Dyer (South Africa), Botswana-based Bokani (piano and keyboards), Mozambican songstress Xixel Langa as well as South Africans Siya Makuzeni (vocals and trombone), Mbuso Khoza (vocals) and Cameron Ward on lead guitar,” she said.
Masike, who has performed across Southern Africa, Europe, Asia and America, has lined up a DVD that captures the key moments of her decade-long career.
“The DVD will cast a rare spotlight on the story of my career. It comprises old videos, award-winning videos and brand new videos; clips from my live collaborations with luminaries such as Salif Keita, Oliver Mtukudzi and the Southern African outfit Mahube, live performances and interviews as well as a rare insight into my personal life,” said the mbira songstress.
The mbira star recently featured on Muzita Rababa, a ZBC-TV drama which puts the spotlight on church scandals and appears determined to take her fledgling acting career to new heights.
“I am certainly looking for the correct characters and films that suit me. So far, Ndai in Muzita Rababa is a very controversial character and it has been fun acting that role.
“I also featured in short film “Ruvimbo's Wedding” as a disgruntled wife whose husband brings home an under aged girl for a second wife. It is available on YouTube,” said Masike.
HARARE - Chief Moses Njelele, a custodian of cultural norms and traditions, is the last person you would expect to have a soft spot for pageants.
In 2007 for example, several chiefs including the chiefs’ council president Fortune Charumbira, objected to the use of bikinis in the now defunct Miss Rural Zimbabwe beauty contest of that year.
But Chief Njelele of Gokwe, whose daughter Evelyn was crowned first princess at the Miss World Zimbabwe 2017 held in Borrowdale Brooke on July 22, is clearly of a different persuasion.
Unlike fellow chiefs, who are mostly conservative, Chief Njelele views pageants in positive light.
“I regard beauty pageants as initiatives meant to empower the disadvantaged girl child in society. That is why I allowed my daughter to take part in the Miss World Zimbabwe beauty contest,” the chief told the Daily News on Sunday.
He added that he began supporting his daughter’s quest to be a model and beauty queen when she was in her early teens.
“Evelyn took part in different beauty pageants and these include Miss Teen that was organised by Avondale School in Harare and Miss Rio Tinto pageant when she was a student at Rio Tinto High School in Zhombe among others. She took part in all these pageants with my blessings.
“To me, modelling is a career like any other. It is just like nursing or teaching or any other profession. If the concerned girl child is disciplined, she can earn a decent living out of it,” the Gokwe-based chief told the Daily News on Sunday.
Though totally supportive of his daughter modelling pursuits, the chief, who has two daughters and a son, was quick to point out that he has always emphasised the importance of education to Evelyn and his other children.
“Evelyn is doing well education-wise. She is currently pursuing an accounting degree with the University of Zimbabwe,” said Chief Njelele.
The chief’s support of his daughter’s modelling dream appears to be beginning to pay off. Evelyn, who was beaten to the national beauty queen crown by Chiedza Lorraine Mhosva, walked away with $10 000 at the Miss Zimbabwe World Zimbabwe prize presentation held in Harare early this week. She also won a year-long work-related attachment place at the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority as part of her prize package.
Chief Njelele’s wife- Virginia- is equally supportive of her daughter’s fledgling modelling career.
“Evelyn was bred in rural Gokwe and she attended rural schools which included Cheziya High School. If indeed rural areas are the strongholds of African culture as people say, then how can modelling pageants such as Miss World Zimbabwe corrupt a well-behaved young girl such as Evelyn?
“In fact, she was raised in a typical rural set up. She can do all the household chores you can think of including carrying a bucket of water on the head from the borehole. She can cook and wash clothes. She is a typical rural Zimbabwean girl,” said Virginia Njelele, who added:
“We are very proud of our daughter Evelyn for proving to all that a rural girl can also be a model. She has been a very good example. She has raised the bar for all rural girls.
“It is not surprising that she is now being invited on a regular basis to grace events at many rural schools. She has inspired school-going girls in Gokwe and because of her modelling has become a possible career path for these girls,” said the chief’s wife.
HARARE - Los Angeles-based Zimbabwean music producer Tinashe “T-Collar” Sibanda (23), who collaborates with different singers under the artiste name Bantu, has bounced back with a six-track EP titled “Complicated.”
The new offering by the Harare-born artiste, who was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media category early this year, is a follow-up to his red-hot debut single ‘Holiday’ released late last year.
Bantu has described the just-released EP as “upbeat, fun, African-inspired and rhythmic.”
“The sound is very much a fusion of the drums and sounds I grew up listening to in Zimbabwe and the pop music I love. I produced all the songs which was fun… getting to carve out the sound and push everything sonically is something I love doing,” the 23-year old artiste told the Daily News from his base in Los Angeles.
On the new project, Bantu collaborated with several song writers, vocalists and producers.
“I wrote all the songs on the EP with some amazing talented songwriters-Shungudzo, Soaky Siren and Johnny Yukon.
“I produced a couple of the songs with my friends, Faux Delorean (two producers from Sweden) and my best friend, (Zimbabwe-born) Pip Kembo. The guys are more like family to me,” he said.
In addition to the lead single “Complicated,” the EP also includes “Visa,” “Attention,” “Juice,” “Talk” and my favourite track “Roll With Me” which is accompanied by a classy video awash with enthralling scenes captured in Zimbabwe and South Africa.
The Zimbabwe-born musician-cum-producer has identified the title track as his favourite.
“Complicated is probably my favorite song on the EP. It is about trying to keep a relationship simple, but somehow things always ending up getting complicated.
“In this song, I am the one being emotional, which is not usually what is portrayed. It is usually the girl who is made out to be the one who has issues. I love doing that, telling the story from a different gender perspective than is usually shown.
“The song is cheeky, playful, and flirty. We somehow tackle a really serious topic and still keep things light and fun,” Bantu said.
HARARE - Jah Prayzah’s forthcoming album titled “Kutonga Kwaro” has been dragged into Zanu PF succession politics by some people pushing for Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa to take over from President Robert Mugabe.
Though the album, Jah Prayzah’s seventh, will only be released on October 13, some opportunistic Mnangagwa followers have renamed the award-winning artiste’s yet-to-be-released project “Kutonga Kwaro Garwe” in line with the Vice President’s nickname.
An amended cover of Jah Prayzah’s forthcoming album inscribed “Kutonga Kwaro Garwe” has flooded social media with Higher education minister Jonathan Moyo- who is said to be aligned to the rival G40 faction- posting it on his Twitter page and ominously asking: Is this for real?
This is not the first time Jah Prayzah has been sucked into the Zanu PF succession puzzle. Last year some members of the Lacoste faction claimed that the Uzumba-born artiste’s song “Mudhara Achauya” was a prophectic track about Mnangagwa’s ascension to power.
The song praises a powerful father figure —Shumba inoruma (a vicious lion). Curiously, Mnangagwa is of the Shumba totem.
The G40 faction has also latched onto “Mudhara Achauya.” It is now the “theme song” at Mugabe’s ongoing Presidential Youth Interface Rallies currently taking place across the country.
Before the president addresses these rallies, Mudhara Achauya is played as Mugabe makes his way to the podium. But some people have questioned the appropriateness of the song since Mugabe is 93 years old.
But Jah Prayzah’s manager, Keen Mushapaidze, told the Daily News that the award-winning artiste’s camp was not losing sleep over the fact that two successive Jah Prayzah albums have been linked to the contentious Zanu PF succession issue.
“Art is out there to inspire people to talk. What we do as artists is interpreted in different ways by different people. It only means you are still creative if people come up with various meanings to what you give them. It should never be too obvious,” Mushapaidze told the Daily News.
He added that the music star was not worried that politicians were continually seeking to use his music to further their own ends.
“We wouldn’t know the various reasons as to why people interpret music in their different ways but at the end of the day as long as it gets people dancing and enjoying, that’s what matters the most to us,” he said.
Mushapaidze was unwilling to explain what the song “Kutonga Kwaro” is all about.
“Let us wait for the 13th of October for the answer to that,” was all he was prepared to say on the matter.
HARARE - EconetLife, a subsidiary of Econet Wireless Zimbabwe which offers the popular EcoSure micro insurance product, has launched the "Mabhodho Zvakare Promotion" which encourages communities to band together and consolidate their local bereavement support groups into formal Burial Societies for purposes of better supporting each other in difficult times of loss of life for their members.
Mabhodho Zvakare Promotion follows the highly successful Mabhodho Promotion, which the company ran last year and which was embraced by thousands of customers who saw real value and benefits from the promotion, from which they benefited in the form of handy utensils.
The promotion, which will continue to target Burial societies and Clubs, has now been expanded to include new and existing individual members.
It is running from August 17 up to November 11, 2017.
Announcing the launch of the promotion, Econet Wireless Chief Executive Offier, Douglas Mboweni, said: “Our vision as an organization is to transform the lives of our customers through the use of technology. And so it is in the context of this vision that we developed EcoSure to give our customers unbelievably affordable life premiums from as little as $0.50 per month, and to enable them to enjoy the convenience of mobile technology.
“Having have simplified signing up for funeral cover and made it convenient as customers are now able to complete all the signup processes – from registration, premium payments to claims – on their mobile phone” he said.
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Mboweni added that the company was committed to driving and supporting the financial inclusion and financial literacy agenda, and to push insurance penetration in the country to the highest levels possible.
The company said to qualify and receive a guaranteed prize of utensils, a new club was required to register 100 or more members on the $1 or higher package, and to pay 6-month premiums in advance. It said in the case of existing clubs, they would be required to upgrade their 100 or more members to the $1 or higher package, and pay 6-month premiums in order to be eligiable.
An existing club with 100 or more members on the $1, 00 or higher package could receive a prize by simply paying 6-month premiums in advance, and the exciting part for the Burial Societies would be that the prizes would be guaranteed upon meeting these set conditions.
Commenting on the promotion, the EconetLife Managing Director George Nyashanu said:“The Mabhodho Zvakare promotion is built on the age old tradition where communities gather together to discuss and celebrate life issues. Ecosure has tapped into this insight and the realization that when they have their meetings there is a need to feed the soul.
“As the old saying goes ‘Hukama igaswa, hunozadzikiswa nekudya'.
“We are therefore saying to these groups, form your groups as you have always done and if you meet a minimum criteria, we guarantee to provide your group with the utensils and tools you need.
“What makes this special is that Ecosure is not only getting involved in the lives of our local communities but is also assisting in providing value to these communities by lightening the burden that these groups would ordinarily have to bear on their own” said Nyashanu.
He said that this year they had added more prizes which were not part of the first promotion, such as pick muttocks, (mabhidha), shovels as well as aprons.
“We believe that doing this contributes towards the empowerment and transformation of Burial Societies through the ‘assets’ we are giving them. We believe that Ecosure as a business will do well by doing good.”
Nyashanu said this year’s Mabhodho Zvakare Promotion would give out prizes to individual customers ranging from a residential stand, household appliances, grocery vouchers, cash vouchers, free EcoSure cover and airtime for simply introducing more dependants to EcoSure.
He added that to qualify, new members would be required to register on the $1, 00, $2, 00 or $5, 00 packages, add 2 or more of their dependants and pay in advance premiums for 3 months.
Existing members on the $1, 00 or higher package would simply need to add 2 or more dependants and pay premiums for 3 months in advance to qualify.
If an existing member was already on the $1, 00 or higher package, and already has 2 or more dependants, they only needed to pay in advance their 3 month premium to qualify to enter into a monthly draw.
HARARE - Mobile telecommunications market leader Econet Wireless Zimbabwe has announced a huge credit scheme that will empower civil servants and all eligible government employees to get new smart phones for free, and then pay as little as $12 per month.
According to the company, the scheme will benefit teachers, nurses, doctors and members of the uniformed forces - the police, the army, the air force and members of the prison services – as well as all employees of the government.
“We are excited to launch this scheme and to make smart phones available to our civil servants upfront, so that they can then pay very, very affordable monthly instalments when they already own the device,” said Fayaz King, Econet’s Chief Operating Officer (COO).
“We are delighted to extend this offer to all civil servants and believe it will be great value for money for them as the festive season beckons,” said King, whose company is in the process of upgrading its entire network to 100 percent 3G coverage by the end of the year.
Econet’s Chief Executive Officer, Douglas Mboweni, recently announced that Econet, the largest telecoms company in the country with over 10.5 million connected customers, was in the process of upgrading all its network sites to 3G.
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The company, which refers to itself as the Smart Data Network because of its commanding share of the data market, also offers the widest coverage of LTE (Long-term Evolution), or 4G, with over 260,000 LTE customers using the service, according to figures from the sector’s regulator, POTRAZ (Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe).
Announcing the launch of the civil service device scheme, King said Econet had partnered with local smart device companies GTel & Astro to sell the data-capable devices to Civil servants, and – for their convenience – make pay their monthly installations directly through the Salaries Services Bureau (SSB).
“We have partnered with local device companies to offer this service, and we are also working with the Salaries Services Bureau to ensure participating Civil Servants have a hassle-free method of settling their monthly instalments” said the Econet COO.
Confirming the development, Econet’s Chief Marketing Officer Navdeep Kapur said Civil Servants wishing to participate in the scheme would simply need to submit a copy of their national identity document, their army identity card (if they are in the army), their current pay slip and their proof of residence at any Econet Shop to acquire their new smart phone.
“All they need to do is produce a copy of their national ID, their army ID, their current pay slip and proof of residence at any Econet Shop country wide, and walk away with their new smart phone,” said Kapur, adding that there would be no waiting period once all the documentation was submitted.
Econet Wireless, which recently opened a service centre (Econet Shop) at Mabelreign Shopping Centre in Harare, has the largest and widest retail footprint among the three main mobile network operators in Zimbabwe, boasting 112 shops country wide.
Kapur said the Civil Service device credit scheme will make data-capable devices available to all civil servants at affordable prices, and will enable government employees to enjoy high data speeds to be able to access popular data applications such as Whatsapp and Facebook.
“They will also enjoy the convenience of accessing a variety of Econet Apps such as the ‘My Econet App’ which puts several Econet services like checking one’s balance, airtime top up or buying data bundles, accessing self-care services and finding where Econet outlets are located” Mr Kapur explained.
He added that the customers would also be able to access the recently optimized Ecocash App, the Steward Bank App, and the EconetPlus roaming up, among other convenient services, via their smart phones.
Kapur said monthly payments for voice, data and SMS services would start from as low $12 up to $32 per month, depending on a customer’s chosen package.
The latest offer comes on the heels of several data services and packages that Econet has launched in recent years, including Wifi-in-Kombis, that traveling and commuting Civil Servants will be able to access with their new smart phones.
The company said those wishing to be first to take advantage of the offer needed to visit any Econet Shop with a copy of their national ID, their payslip and staff ID so as to get their applications vetted and processed.
HARARE – Former Zanu PF youth leader William Mutumanje, popularly known as Acie Lumumba, has said his presidential insult case is going in circles because it has been politicised.
Mutumanje appeared before Harare magistrate Nomsa Sabarauta represented by David Hofisi facing charges of undermining the authority of the president.
Hofisi made another application for referral of the case to the Constitutional Court (Con-Court) to reinstate his application challenging the constitutionality of charges he is facing.
Mutumanje’s case was previously referred to the Con-Court after he argued that his constitutional right to freedom of expression had been trampled on when he was charged under section 33 (2) (b) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform Act).
Prosecutor Edmore Nyazamba confirmed the withdrawal, before advocate Zvikomborero Chadambuka — who represented Lumumba —then withdrew the application.
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However, to Mutumanje’s surprise, when he appeared at Harare Magistrates’ Courts anticipating withdrawal of the charges, prosecutors advised him that they were going to proceed to trial.
In the current application, Hofisi wants the apex court to decide “whether or not the conduct of the State, in choosing to ignore its commitment to withdraw charges in the Con-Court on May 24, 2017 but rather proceed to apply for a trial date conforms to the rule of law”.
“When the State commits to withdrawing charges in a higher court but opts to proceed to trial in the lower court that is procedurally and substantively unfair. Since State has opted to change its mind, the accused person must similarly be permitted to return to Con-Court and withdraw his withdrawal,” Hofisi said in his application for referral.
“The matter should be allowed to go back to where this mess arose. In this way, Con-Court itself can make a determination whether the conduct of the State is substantively and procedurally fair.”
Mutumanje took to the witness stand and pleaded with the court to refer the matter to Con-Court because he was being prejudiced.
“It has been 13 months paying visits to various courts in this building and on six occasions, the State has been unable to begin the matter as they have either changed prosecutors or requested for time to consult with higher offices,” Mutumanje said.
“I am an international consultant and travel a lot with my work. This has affected my rights of profession and my ability to do politics. The longer State keeps me busy in this court, I am unable to perform my political functions.
“I am not even sure that I would stand a fair trial and plead with the court to safeguard the rule of law because clearly, the State is no longer representing legal interests but political interests.”
HARARE – The Labour Court has granted the MDC a stay of execution, stopping the sale of the opposition party’s property seized over a $108 000 debt owed to former employees.
MDC lawyer and secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora had filed an urgent chamber application to stop the sale.
This was after the Sheriff of the High Court had instructed LM Auctioneers to place the MDC property under the hammer on Saturday.
“I wish to advise that today the Labour Court granted the MDC an order for stay of execution against its property,” Mwonzora said yesterday.
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“This is in respect of the matter of Toendepi Shone and 16 other former employees, including Sally Dura. We are now in the process of repossessing our property that was taken by the Sheriff. I want to thank party members for their patience. This is the time to unite. Together we will win.”
The Labour Court decision follows a notice by LM Auctioneers indicating they would go on with the sale of the property in Southerton, Harare on Saturday with viewing set for Friday.
The sale had been precipitated by former MDC employee Dura and 15 other ex-staffers after they won an arbitration award for $600 000 for unfair dismissal.
Dura is allegedly owed 27 months’ salary arrears, damages for 36 months, among other benefits.
The labour-backed party is currently fighting off a series of disputes with former employees.
