By Own Correspondent- A Bulawayo man, Lawrence Dube is on the run after burning his wife for planning to leave him.

Joan Zvaodzamoyo, 32, suffered serious facial burns when she was  allegedly doused with paraffin and methylated spirit before being set alight by her husband when he discovered that she was planning to leave him.

Zvaodzamoyo from Mzilikazi suburb is admitted at Mpilo Central Hospital where she is receiving treatment.

The incident occurred at around midnight on Tuesday last week.

Narrating the tear-jerking incident in an interview with a local publication, the woman’s father, Fortune Mawanga, said the incident happened after her daughter’s husband Dube (41) found out that she was planning to move out after failing to cope with  marital problems they were having, which he said were allegedly caused by the husband’s sister’s abusive behaviour towards his daughter. The two have three children together.

Zvaodzamoyo was burnt on her face in her sleep when her husband allegedly sprinkled paraffin and methylated spirit and then lit her. He went on to cover her with a blanket before running way. He is still at large.

“The couple has been living together for over 14 years although Dube never paid lobolato the family,” said Mawanga.

He said the couple’s relationship was rough sailing for the better part of the past few years and Zvaodzamoyo had decided to quit the marriage.

“What hurts the most is that her children are the ones who saw what happened and had to go through such a traumatic experience of seeing their mother being burnt by their father, having to go out and look for help in the middle of the night while Dube’s sister was there in the house sleeping, acting as if she did not hear the screams,” said Zvaodzamoyo’s sister, Bekezela Kawiro.

After allegedly burning her, the husband is said to have stolen her money and left. The husband was reportedly not taking care of the children and it had become the woman’s duty to pay school fees for them. The case was reported to the police.-StateMedia

Jane Mlambo| Opposition MDC Secretary General has once again fired salvo against Deputy President Professor Welshman Ncube and Deputy Chairperson Tendai Biti whom he accused of trying to drive a wedge between him and party leader Nelson Chamisa.

Posting on Twitter this morning, Mwonzora accused Ncube and Biti of splitting from the party, taking money away while the late party leader Morgan Tsvangirai all sorts of names before retracing their steps back into the party.

“they split from the party, took money away from the party & called the late Pres MT all sorts of names & now they’ve come back to the party. We accommodated them & what they are now trying to do is to drive a wedge between myself & Chamisa as a way of getting an accommodation”

Mwonzora who is gunning for the party presidency has since the announcement of congress dates caused a lot of debate as he seeks to push his way to get a nomination.

Barely a week after her dismissal from Dr Thokozani Khupe’s MDC, Linda Masarira has jumped to sing praises for First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa congratulating her for scooping the 2019 African Phenomenal Women of the Year Award.

Posting on Twitter, Masarira said;

“Chakanaka chakanaka mukaka haurungwe. Congratulations to Amai Auxillia Mnangagwa for scooping the 2019 African Phenomenal Woman of the Year Award in recognition of her philanthropic work in Zimbabwe,” said Masarira.

Jane Mlambo| Controversial National Patriotic Front Spokesperson, Jealousy Mawarire has charged that whenever President Emmerson Mnangagwa opens his mouth, he says the wrong things.

This comes after Mnangagwa said the death of people due to cyclone idai in Chimanimani and Chipinge was a blessing in disguise.

Mawarire blasted Mnangagwa saying; “Whenever @edmnangagwa opens his mouth, stuff meant for the sewer end oozes out.”

Zimbabweans have reacted angrily to Mnangagwa’s remarks with Nkosana Moyo’s APA saying the President was out of his depth and completely tactless.

“You are out of your depth, completely tactless, soulless and a downright embarrassment. The scary thing is you are oblivious to your failings like a giddy school boy.”

RESIDENTS of Chiredzi Town, dogged by perennial water problems, will have to wait a little longer to quench their thirst as former Chiredzi West legislator, Darlington Chiwa and the incumbent Farai Musikavanhu fight over bush pumps earmarked to ease water woes in three most affected wards.

Chiwa claimed that during his tenure he used his allocation of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) to contract Chapeta Drilling Company to drill four boreholes in areas facing serious water problems around Tshovani suburb. He further said during the process he lost track of the whereabouts of the pumps to enable the company to complete installation, forcing him to temporarily shelve the project.

“I am supposed to make my acquittals of the CDF to Parliament in order to receive my outstanding perks so I was expected to account for the pumps. That prompted me to make my own investigations. I had to use my experience as a former detective to trace the pumps to Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) in Triangle after I got wind that Musikavanhu was receiving pumps from (Zinwa).

“When I confronted Zinwa manager he said Musikavanhu was the rightful person to collect the pumps. I was surprised how Zinwa got involved because they have nothing to do with those pumps since I had contracted a private player. If I had not intercepted the pumps; chances were high that there was going to be a duplication of a project which was completely funded by the eighth Parliament.

“That would have created a leeway for misappropriation of government funds availed through the current CDF being chaired by Musikavanhu, on the pretext that there are new boreholes that are being sunk. If the previous project and the current one are reconciled – it’s a fact that sitting Zanu PF MP is about to steal CDF funds on false pretences,” said Chiwa.

Musikavanhu, however, said he was invited by Zinwa to help with the installation logistics, but failed to explain why they extended the invitation.

“Well, I was invited by Zinwa as the responsible authority to help them with logistics of installing the pumps so there was never a question of me having to check with Chiwa. I am not sure where that is coming from because I met with Chiwa earlier in the week when we were installing the bush pump for the ward 5 borehole and there was no misunderstanding whatsoever,” he said.

Zinwa southern region manager, Peter Shotere, said he was not aware of who was supposed to receive the pumps since his bosses had not given him directives on the consignment. Asked how he ended up giving the pumps to Musikavanhu when he was not aware who drilled the boreholes, he said: “I wasn’t aware who was supposed to get the pumps because I was not told. I thought the pumps were availed during command water. I am not aware who drilled the boreholes I just thought Musikavanhu was supposed to get the pumps.”

-Newsday

Own Correspondent|Mthwakazi Kingdom restoration proponents have been sending reports within Matabeleland region that Hartzell High School which went on fire last week was burnt down by parents who were angry because of the deployment of a Ndebele speaking teacher at the school.

Over the weekend, social media groups in the Matabeleland region were hype on discussions that parents in Manicaland set the school on fire because of the presence of one Ndebele teacher while their region was “flooded with teachers who can not speak local languages.”

The proponents circulated an unverifiable media article indicating that parents at the school had protested against the school authorities over the Ndebele teacher before the school went up in flames.

Below is the news article making round within Matabeleland region and causing huge despondency amongst the people in the region.

Authorities at the school have however previously indicated that the fire was a result of an electrical fault.

ZimEye.com has not yet been able to verify with the authorities on allegations that there was ever a discourse over deployment of a Ndebele speaking teacher at the school.

Below are some of the discussions that emerged following the publication of the post on social media.

A 20-YEAR-OLD Zhombe habitual thief was sentenced to three years in jail for unlawfully entering a house in Kwekwe and stealing goods worth $1 121 a week after his release from Khami Prison, where he had served a jail sentence over a similar offence.

Tinashe Sibanda (20) of Mashandike village, Zhombe, under Chief Malisa was slapped with a 36-month jail term by Kwekwe magistrate Stories Rushambwa.

However, six months were later suspended on condition that he restitutes $1 121 to complainant, Remekedzai Makunde.

Prosecutor Freddy Ndoro told the court that on December 29 last year, Sibanda broke into Makunde’s house in Newtown and took away property worth $1 121.

On New Year’s eve, Sibanda was arrested after the gas stove he had stolen was recovered.

The rest of the stolen goods were not recovered.

-Newsday

Correspondent|In a shocking development, the Zimbabwean man who was “raised from the dead” by South African prophet, Pastor Alph Lukau back in February has died. Brighton ‘Elliot’ Moyo made waves across the whole world after a video in which he was allegedly raised from the dead after 3 days went viral although Pastor Lukau later backtracked on his claims and accused Moyo’s family of staging the miracle.

According to local publication H-Metro, Brighton died last week in a village called St Luke’s in South Africa. Unfortunately for Brighton, there was no resurrection this time and he was buried on Saturday. He is survived by his wife only as they had no children.  A close family member who spoke to H-Metro said,

His stomach started swelling and didn’t stop for three days and on the third day, he died.

According to other reports, when Brighton joined Lukau’s Alleluia Ministries International there were reports that he was HIV positive and he had kidney failure and he also had TB (tuberculosis).

Jane Mlambo| Self exiled former Zanu PF politburo member Professor Jonathan Moyo has dashed to the defence of the opposition MDC saying legitimacy is derived from the people according to the constitution.

Correspondent|GOVERNMENT has reportedly begun an exercise to register white former commercial farmers interested in advance payments as compensation while waiting for full packages for losses they incurred during the 2000 chaotic land reform exercise.

At least 4 000 white farmers are still waiting for compensation more than 18 years after they lost farms during the often violent land reform exercise, which government defended as necessary to correct colonial land ownership imbalances.

Finance minister Mthuli Ncube in his 2019 Budget statement set aside $53 million to compensate the farmers, a figure that has, however, been described as not enough to address the compensation stand-off.

Lands minister Perrance Shiri and Ncube, in a joint statement on Friday, said advance payments would be made to interested former farm owners, while government mobilises the needed financial resources for a full compensation package.

“The process to identify and register former farm owners who want to participate in the interim advance payments scheme has now commenced and is being co-ordinated by the Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU) and the Compensation Steering Committee, representing former farm owners,” Shiri and Ncube’s statement said.

“The registration process and the list of farmers should be completed by the end of April 2019, after which the interim advance payments will be paid directly to former farm owners by the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement. Government will put in place institutional arrangements to expedite the disbursements for these interim advance payments.”

It is estimated that government needs at least US$9 billion to compensate the farmers for their losses.

“In the meantime, government’s accelerated farm valuation exercise for farm improvements is expected to be completed by (the) end of April 2019. This will pave the way for both parties to reach an agreement on the compensation quantum figure for farm improvements by (the) end of May 2019,” the two ministers said.

“Consultations on sustainable options for mobilising the requisite compensation resources are being explored in conjunction with the International Financial Institutions and other stakeholders.”

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said the land reform exercise is irreversible, promising to compensate farmers who were hounded out of their land.

A Waterfalls based “underground” actor and musician has claimed that his manhood has made him a fortune.

Kudzi Savanhu said rich and lonely women are after him because of his extraordinary manhood that satisfies them.

He has boasted of his skill to use his big organ, hence the local and foreign rich women are after him and others even pay just to see it on visuals to quench their sexual desire.

“I think I am naturally gifted when it comes to this manhood that has made me some few thousands within a short space of time.

“Women love how I use it in bed and they say its size and form is unique.

“This made me realise that I could use my natural wonder to make money when I got intimate with a local business lady who paid me just to appreciate the pleasure and satisfaction she got from me,” said Savanhu.

“For some women, they don’t need to sleep with me.

“They just want to see the visuals of me playing with my manhood and they masturbate as they watch.

“Then they just send me money and those who usually want visuals are from South Africa, and some other parts of Europe.

“I am enjoying it because it’s fun and getting money in that easy way,” he added.

Savanhu narrated how the rich and lonely women got to know about him.

“There are a lot of social networks on the Internet and some dating sites.

“When I realised about the unique package that I have and the talent I have on using it, I thought of making money and advertised myself on several dating and fling sites.

“This explains why I have some clients from outside the country. I have six clients that have actually come here from SA and Europe just to enjoy with me,” he said.

The actor also has a movie titled Money is The Root of All Evil set to be released in May on the local market.

H metro

MDC members opposed to Nelson Chamisa’s presidency are reportedly plotting to leave him isolated after the opposition party’s congress next month, with most of his trusted lieutenants culled off in the event that he retains the post.

Party insiders said while it was becoming clear that Chamisa could be headed for an easy win at congress, it was his lieutenants that are now being targeted, particularly those who broke away from the party in the past and only rejoined in the run-up to last year’s polls.

“The new plan is to surround Chamisa with a team that will not be entirely loyal to him. His opponents want to make sure that if he wins, he will not have an easy reign and will not manoeuvre easily, while, for instance, if Douglas Mwonzora loses, he wants to have insiders and control the narrative of the MDC (from the sidelines),” one of the sources said.

Already, the MDC has started provincial nomination processes, with its United States branch snubbing party deputy chairperson and Chamisa’s right handman Tendai Biti.

The US branch has, instead, thrown its weight behind youth leader Happymore Chidziva to deputise chairperson Thabitha Khumalo.

Theresa Makone has also been left out, with respected lawyer David Coltart nominated for the post of treasurer, while current vice-presidents Morgen Komichi and Welshman Ncube; and Lilian Timveous (MDC Senate chief whip) have been nominated for the three vice-presidents’ slots.

Chamisa yesterday told NewsDay that it was too early to discuss the outcome of provincial nominations as 12 more provinces were yet to file nomination papers ahead of congress.

“These statements are premature and party processes are guided by democracy. We have 13 provinces, three are outside Zimbabwe and the other 10 are in Zimbabwe. We have only started our provincial congresses today in Matabeleland South, where they will consider nominations from districts,” he said.

To contest for any position at national level, one needs at least two nominations from the 13 provinces.

There is serious jockeying, with top leaders desperate to retain their posts, traversing the width and breadth of the country coaxing delegates for nomination.

Charlton Hwende, a close Chamisa ally, is eyeing the post of secretary-general, currently held by Mwonzora, who is reportedly angling to take over the party presidency.

Mwonzora and vice-president Elias Mudzuri are the only candidates known to be plotting to topple Chamisa.

Both have confirmed their interest in the post.

But Mwonzora denied allegations that he was sponsoring a campaign to isolate Chamisa, saying the allegations were being raised by former party rebels to soil his image.

“What is ironic in the MDC is that the people who are bringing these allegations are people who split from the party, who took money away from the party and who called (the late party founder Morgan) Tsvangirai all sorts of names (before returning) to the party,” he said.

“We accommodated them and what they are trying to do is to drive a wedge between myself and Nelson Chamisa as a way of getting an accommodation. Fortunately, the MDC members are intelligent enough to read through
this.”

Party spokesperson Jacob Mafume said: “There are ambitions and some of them run wild, at times ahead of the party, and these are not things the party is concerned about at the moment. We are going to run a successful congress and members will be deployed not because they are friends or enemies of a particular person, but because the members decide as such.”

NewsDay

By Own Correspondent- Journalists here have been detained at Harare Central police station as they sought to present a petition against the harassment of journalists.

This is a developing story. Refresh this page for updates

Own Correspondent|FORENSIC auditor and investigator Ralph Bomment Greenacre has nailed Mines Minister Winston Chitando in a case in which Hwange Colliery lost US$111 million from government to fund its revival in 2016.

Chigumba was recently sensationally revealed to be involved in an extramarital relationship with ZEC Chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba.

Chitando, who was the Hwange Colliery board chairperson at the time in question, embarked on unethical practices during his tenure because a company transporting the bulk of the coal at the mine, Inductoserve, was linked to his constituency in Gutu, and that he was paying journalists “bribes” to cover up corruption.

“Management during the chairmanship of Chitando embarked on extensive unethical practice of paying what I define as ‘bribes’ to many journalists under the guise of corporate social responsibility,” read the forensic audit prepared by investigator Reynolds Tendai Muza of Ralph Bommet Greenacre.

“Management during the chairmanship of Chitando embarked on extensive unethical practice of paying what I define as ‘bribes’ to many journalists under the guise of corporate social responsibility,” read the forensic audit.

Hwange Colliery was hurriedly put under reconstruction by Chitando and Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi; an issue which the Parliamentary Mines Committee during the chairmanship of Temba Mliswa felt was to cover up corrupt practices at the mine.

“During the year 2016, the mine got a United States dollar $111,5 million 15-year loan from the Ministry of Finance which attracts an interest of 7% per annum in the form of Treasury Bills (TBs), although TBs styled in the US dollar are not money that can be utilised to pay for foreign currency-denominated logistics,” Muza said in the forensic audit.

“Audited accounts show that the company made a loss after tax of $115 million for the year ended December 31, 2015, but in 2016 after implementing Ralph Bomment Greenacre and Reynolds turnaround quick wins, the performance improved by 37,6% in under six months, and the loss for the year came down to $89 million. The 2017 audited results show that the loss for the year went down to $43 million, a 62,61% cumulative improvement in under one-and-a-half years, and by 2018 as at September 30 management accounts show that the loss for the nine months stood at $32 million,” he said.

Muza said some directors at Hwange felt that its waning fortunes could have been because the board appeared to be leading the company into “reckless trading” and deviating from the “quick wins” which were directed by Ralph Bomment Greenacre and Reynolds in order to turn around its fortunes.

“There was trading with gross negligence, buying of Turbo mining equipment ($2,02 million) without due diligence when the equipment was only worth $823 000 only; and (there was) no valuation; and (there could also have been) money laundering involving Inductoserve, a contracted foreign haulage company,” read the forensic audit.

When Muza appeared before the Mines Committee last year to give oral evidence, he said 68% of coal transportation at Hwange Colliery was being done by Inductoserve, adding that several companies performed incompatible functions of loading coal.

He said there were fraudulent activities by companies ferrying coal at Hwange where they overstated the tonnage.

“Assuming the tonnage is deemed to be 30 tonnes per each load, a truck that makes 10 loaded trips per day is deemed to have ferried 300 tonnes per day. There is persuasion for hired truckers to make more trips per day, but carrying less than the assumed 30 tonnes. Because of the foregoing weaknesses, tonnages recorded in forecasting processing at the processing plants can be overstated or misleading,” Muza said. 

By Own Correspondent| Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube revealed last week that vehicle importers will continue to pay duty in foreign currency.

Following the 2019 Monetary Policy Statement, business people have been calling on Government to charge vehicle duty using the local currency.

The Monetary Policy Statement introduced an interbank market for forex and RTGS dollars.

Ncube who gave the government’s position in an interview said:

Look, I don’t want to chop and change policies too much. Every other week you change policy because you have this and that; it’s not very good.

I am sticking to the payment of duty in the forex; basically in the currency someone has acquired the vehicle, it could be in rand, it could be in US dollars, whatever currency you acquire it in, pay in that currencVehicle imports have been rising exponentially since 2009 from US$250 million to upwards of US$800 million in 2010.

By Own Correspondent| Nedbank Zimbabwe bank tellers who were arrested last week on allegations of defrauding Nedbank of USD $1.1 million are accusing the management of the bank for being behind the scam.

A leaked audio recording of a meeting apparently held yesterday by the tellers contains details of how the management turned a blind eye and also actively participated in defrauding the bank of US dollars against Bond Note deposits.

Nedbank executives, said one teller, would go to some branches and demand to withdraw US dollars against their Bond Note accounts.

Said one bank teller in the meeting:

Whenever the executives, especially at those branches which they were frequenting, whether they were withdrawing from their RTGS account or from their Nostro, they’d always maintain or demand to withdraw that in USD.

So we don’t know what triggered this but our suspicion is that it started there on top because we started to hear these stories sometime back. We never knew that it was going to be thrown wholesomely on us and probably we are the easiest target for them to just pounce on.

Another teller said that there was a policy at the bank that bank staff could get their salaries in USD even though they had Bond Note accounts. Said the teller:

You would have noticed that as staff we had a privilege of being given 100% of my salary once off per year in USDs. If I applied for an overdraft, I was given USDs but it was coming from the Bond account – it was 1:1.

In addition to that, I think my colleague will support me – staff withdrawals authorised by one of the executives. He’d just send an email [saying]  “Pay”. And usually $800 to $1,000 US Dollars. We had no Nostro account. These were Bond accounts. That’s how we could facilitate withdrawals…. And we wonder now why fall heavy on us.

ZimEye brings you live the Parliamentary probe into corruption allegations against Norton legislator Temba Mliswa, Anele Ndebele, Prince Sibanda and Zanu Pf’s Chikomba.

Refresh this page for updates.

Mliswa’s lawyer Tawanda Zhuwarara on the phone.

We are told lawyer, Job Sikhala is filing an appeal against a ruling that he is conflicted. If he successfully files the appeal the proceedings will be stopped