Pamela Shumba Senior Reporter
DARING thieves broke into Bon Marche supermarket in Bulawayo’s Parklands suburb and seized more than $15,000. The break-in occurred in the early hours of Sunday. There was a delay in opening the retail shop on Monday morning as workers woke up to find an opening on the roof and rushed to make a report to the police. Sources told Chronicle yesterday that the thieves broke into one of the supermarket’s offices through the roof and carved open the ceiling before taking away the cash at about 3AM.
“The thieves gained access into the supermarket through the roof. They went straight to the cash office where money is kept and took about $15,000,” said a source.

“On Monday morning, the supermarket opened about an hour late as workers and police officers were trying to figure out what really happened.”
A source said said police were investigating the matter and no arrests had been made.

When Chronicle visited the supermarket yesterday, a senior official only identified as Makonese declined to comment on the incident and referred all questions to the supermarket’s headquarters in Harare.

Comment could not be obtained as management in Harare was said to be in a meeting.
Bulawayo provincial police spokesperson Inspector Mandlenkosi Moyo said the matter had been referred to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).
CID spokesperson Detective Inspector Monalisa Mangena could not comment on the incident yesterday saying she was out of office.

Bulawayo has recorded a spate of break-ins and robberies in the past few months with schools, supermarkets, churches and businesspeople losing thousands of dollars to thieves.
Statistics released by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat) indicate that armed robbery and plain robbery cases are on the increase in the country.

In the first six months of this year, 355 armed robbery and 3,772 robbery cases were recorded countrywide up from 265 armed robbery and 3, 474 robbery cases reported within the same period last year.

In one of the reported armed robbery cases, a three-member gang pounced on Agribank Maphisa branch at the beginning of this month and stole more than $30,000 in cash at gun-point.

Golden Sibanda Harare Bureau
ZIMBABWE faces formidable economic challenges, but sound policies can unleash the country’s suppressed strong economic potential, the International Monetary Fund has said.
Head of the IMF Mission to Harare Domenico Fanizza said yesterday that Zimbabwe needed to normalise its relations with international creditors to access fresh credit. Fanizza said normal relations with international lenders were key for Zimbabwe’s economic development strategy such as the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation.
He was speaking at The Herald Business breakfast meeting attended by Government ministers and executives from a cross section of the business sector.

“The ambitious development objectives set out in the ZimAsset strategy cannot be achieved without the support of the international community. Zimbabwe faces formidable economic challenges, but sound economic policies can unleash its strong economic potential and bring better living conditions to its population,” Fanizza said.

The IMF mission is conducting its third review of the Staff Monitored Programme to evaluate Zimbabwe’s progress towards re-engaging the global lender. Fanizza said mending relations with the international financial community was critical for Zimbabwe to get support for rescheduling of its overdue debt.

He said Zimbabwe could not access funding from the IMF and other international lenders such as the World Bank and African Development Bank due to its arrears.
Speaking at the same occasion, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said Zimbabwe owed international creditors about $6,9 billion. The country also owed IMF $2,55 billion, with about $1,6 billion of that amount already in arrears as it failed to pay back since 2002.

“What it means is that we are unable to access fresh credit,” he said. “Zimbabwe has engaged both IMF and WB and AfDB on possible strategy to clear its external debt.”
Minister Chinamasa said it was key to normalise relations with the IMF since all lenders across the world dealt with borrowers on the basis of what the IMF said.

Reforms under the Staff Monitored Programme include transparency in minerals revenue and how it is applied, reforms in public debt management, building reserves, increasing social spending, cuts on Government wage bill and improving financial sector management and stability.

Minister Walter Chidhakwa

Kamangeni Phiri Midlands Bureau Chief— 
GOVERNMENT is setting up gold mining service centres throughout the country to normalise operations of small-scale miners commonly known as makorokozas, the Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Walter Chidhakwa, has said. Minister Chidhakwa, who was addressing small-scale miners at Wanderer Falcon Mine in Shurugwi on Monday, said the Government and Fidelity Printers and Refiners were contributing $500,000 each to the $1 million project.

He said: “We are working very closely with the Ministry of Finance and Fidelity Printers and Refiners. Fidelity has an interest that the refinery must continue to get gold throughput. I asked Fidelity to set aside some funds and we as the ministry of Mines will set up these centres starting with $500,000, and asking for a similar amount to come from Fidelity. This amount is for the centres.”

Government — working with the Chamber of Mines and the Zimbabwe Miners federation — intends to set up seven gold mining service centres in the country.
The Shurugwi centre is the pilot project while some of the other centres will be in Zhombe, Shangani, Gwanda and Turk Mine where small-scale mining is rife.

Minister Chidhakwa said the Government would provide equipment for the gold mining service centres through a Chinese $100 million equipment facility meant to revitalise the mining sector.

“For the equipment, we have been in discussion with the Chinese. There is a $100 million facility that we are expecting and we understand that the first batch of equipment is on its way. This equipment will also now be deployed to improve the capacity of small scale gold miners. We also went into discussions with Russia and we went to Russia with the Minister of Finance (Cde Patrick Chinamasa) and during the visit by the Russian Foreign Minister an agreement was signed between ZMDC and a Russian company that provides equipment,” he said.

Min Chidhakwa said Government would continue to capacitate and improve operations in the mining sector and boost gold production since gold mining remained the mainstay of the economy.

The Minister said Government expects to see artisanal miners contributing a lot to the production of gold.
“In the next 12 to 18 months we must see real robust activity in the mining sector. We must get back and exceed the 29 tonnes (per annum) that we were producing in 1997. There is no reason why we cannot do that and a bigger part of the 29 tonnes must come from small scale gold miners,” he said.

Minister Chidhakwa said the centres would be run by skilled miners and engineers who will offer training to artisanal miners.
He said small-scale miners would be recruited in groups and receive training that will help them enhance production without risking their lives and health.

“When we have done that we have provided buying centres but they are not only buying centres, they are also gold mining service centres. We have started the processes of recruitment now. Our team led by the Chief Government Engineer, Charles Tahwa, is recruiting technical people who include geologists. We want geologists to be located in places like this so that you can engage them whenever you get a new claim. They can give you advice. Our Mining Engineers in the provinces can also give you technical advice so that you do things the proper way. This increases gold from you small-scale miners.

When gold increases in the economy we have the resources to now develop infrastructure,” said Min Chidhakwa.
He challenged the Bulawayo-based School of Mines to decentralise and start being visible in other provinces by offering skills through training artisanal miners.
Minister Chidhakwa said the School of Mines must train artisanal miners how to sink a shaft and protect themselves from harmful substances.

The minister said friends like the Chinese, Russians and others could come and assist Zimbabwe but the best source of national economic development lay with Zimbabweans.
The Shurugwi gold mining service centre will start training 80 artisanal miners in groups of 20 people.

Min Chidhakwa commended the Chamber of Mines for working closely with the Zimbabwe Miners Federation in setting up and equipping the centres.
“I am happy that on the private sector side, from the perspective of chamber of mines, they have seen it necessary also to work with government to ensure that as quickly as possible we bring to the fore all small scale gold producers. But it takes time, it takes resources. It is that partnership that is going to give us the growth that we are looking for,” he said.

Min Chidhakwa said the centres should be self-sustainable with members servicing machinery in future.
Ian Saunders, who is Chamber of Mines gold producers committee chairman, said the chamber wanted to help artisanal miners realise more money from their mining activities.
He said the chamber would help the small-scale miners respect environmental laws and work with protective clothing, among other issues.

Dr Gideon Gono

Patrick Chitumba Senior Reporter—
FORMER Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono cannot fill the vacant Buhera West Senate seat because he is not a registered voter in that constituency, the chairperson of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, Justice Rita Makarau, has said. Zanu-PF Manicaland province recommended Gono’s appointment to fill the seat left vacant following the death of national hero and Senator, Cde Kumbirai Kangai, in August last year. The recommendation was endorsed by the Politburo.

Based on the party-list system, former CIO boss and veteran freedom fighter Cde Shadreck Chipanga should have replaced the late Cde Kangai, who was elected to the Senate through proportional representation, but for the Politburo’s intervention.

In a letter addressed to Zanu-PF national chairman Cde Simon Khaya Moyo, dated September 15, Justice Makarau said Gono had been disqualified because he had not been registered in any ward in Manicaland Province as a voter.

The ZEC chairperson noted an attempt by Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede to transfer Gono from his ward in Harare in December last year to Manicaland, but the “purported transfer” was “constitutionally unsustainable”, Justice Makarau added.

“We wish to advise Honourable Chairman that, according to our records, Dr Gideon Gono is not registered as a voter in any wards in Manicaland Province,” said Justice Makarau.
“This is notwithstanding the Certificate of Registration of a Voter Serial no. 454601K, issued at Makombe Building on December 5, 2013, attached to his nomination forms.”

The ZEC chairperson said Gono could not be registered or transferred as a voter to Manicaland Province now since the voters roll had been closed on July 10 for the July 31, 2013 harmonised elections and any power to register or transfer voters became the preserve of the ZEC after that date.

She added: “As you’re aware Honourable Chairman, the constitutional function to register and transfer voters vested in the then Registrar General of Voters in accordance with provisions of Clause 6 (2) of Part 3 of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution for the purposes of July 31, 2013 ceased when the voters roll for those elections closed on July 10, 2013”.

“Any purported transfer of a voter by the Registrar General after that date is of no force and effect and is constitutionally unsustainable. In view of the fact that Gono is, on the face of it, not as of now resident in any ward in Manicaland, he then becomes disqualified to fill a vacancy in the province in terms of Section 45D (1) (d) of the Electoral Act (Chapter 2:13).”
Justice Makarau said now that the function to register and transfer voters is vested in the ZEC, the most practical way around the current difficulty would have been for Gono to apply to the commission to transfer his vote from Harare to Buhera West.

“Again, Honourable Chairman, we regret to advice that while we now have the constitutional mandate to register and transfer voters, and are willing and ready to register and transfer voters, there is no legal framework on voter registration and allied matters as envisaged in Section 157 (1) (b) of the Constitution, a vacuum that has made us hold back on voter registration, thereby prejudicing not only Gono in this case, but the generality of the electorate in Zimbabwe,” she said.

Zanu-PF secretary for administration, Cde Didymus Mutasa, last night said Zanu PF would bend the law to help Gono get into the Senate.
“The Politburo wants Gono to be a Senator and if it means that the law would be amended, then let it be,” he said. “No one will reverse the decision of the Politburo. We will ensure that the law fits with the requirements of the party.

“If you see a big man failing to land a position because of opposition from small children, then there’s something wrong.”
But legal analysts said even if the law were to be enacted overnight, allowing Gono to transfer his voter registration, he would still face major hurdles.

“Section 120 of the Constitution says nominees for the Senate must be on the party list, Gono is not.
“It would be impossible for him to get to the Senate as it stands, even the recently-amended Electoral Act is quite clear on this — one can’t be on the party list retrospectively,” said one city lawyer.

Last night, Gono was unreachable. He was believed to be travelling to Bulawayo for today’s burial of the late economist, Eric Bloch.
The setback is a major blow for Gono, who is thought to harbour ambitions of senior leadership of the liberation party. Assuming the Senate seat would have given him a political base and a voice in Parliament.

Auxilia Katongomara Court Reporter—
A DAY-OLD baby was BURIED ALIVE after a Fort Rixon man claimed his wife had been impregnated by another man, a court heard yesterday. Andrew Mhodi, 39, of Village 2 in Pioneer, abandoned his wife and five children in Chinhoyi in 2010 and did not communicate with them for three years. He returned last year to find his wife pregnant and reportedly assured her he was not bothered by the pregnancy.

But Mhodi changed his stance with chilling cruelty by burying the infant alive in a shallow pit a day after his wife gave birth, the Bulawayo High Court heard.
His wife, Deliwe Tsikai, was screaming uncontrollably as Mhodi killed the baby, Justice Martin Makonese was told.

Yesterday, Tsikai took to the witness stand to accuse her husband of the April 7, 2013, murder.
She told the court that she watched in terror and grief as her husband buried her baby in a 50cm pit on a stream bank.

Fighting back tears, she told court: “My husband left home for Fort Rixon where he said he was going to look for a job. He never returned or communicated with me for almost three years and upon his return last year, he found me heavily pregnant.

“He convinced me that he had no problem with my pregnancy and indicated that he wanted us to go to Fort Rixon to get our children’s birth certificates and my identity card.”
She said they proceeded to Fort Rixon and lived happily until the day she gave birth to a baby boy, two weeks after their arrival.

“I gave birth on my own on Saturday, April 7, 2013, at around 3AM. Shortly after 9AM, he told me he hated the new-born baby. After that, he armed himself with a pick and shovel and forced me to accompany him to a nearby bush where upon arrival, he began to dig a pit.”

She told the court that as he dug, he instructed her to sit down and she complied.
“Soon after he had finished digging the grave, he forcibly took the baby and buried it alive. I was crying but there was no-one who could hear or assist me since we were very far away from the homesteads,” said Tsikai.

She said he then force-marched her back home and warned her against being impregnated by another man again.
She told the court that she fled home with her two daughters and filed a police report at Murekerera Police Station in Chinhoyi, Mashonaland West. Fort Rixon police moved swiftly and arrested Mhodi.

Mhodi, through his lawyer, Hlabezulu Malinga, denies murder.
“My client will tell this court that she gave birth to a still-born baby and she is the one who asked my client to accompany her to the bush to bury it,” said Malinga.
The trial continues today.

The late Catherine Ndlovu (inset), her daughter , Prioress Tshuma, and mourners gathered at the family home in Mpopoma, Bulawayo yesterday

Mpumelelo Nyoni Chronicle Reporter—
A DESPERATE Bulawayo woman who paid thousands of dollars to visit Nigeria seeking divine intervention for her hospitalised daughter will return home in a body bag – one of at least 115 people now confirmed to have died after the collapse of a church building owned by the controversial pastor, TB Joshua. Yesterday, the family of Catherine Ndlovu, 40, accused TB Joshua and his church of erecting a “wall of lies” in the aftermath of the September 12 disaster, including insisting that the mum-of-two was unharmed and would be returning home.

“We called them [TB Joshua church] every day, asking where my sister was and they said she had boarded a plane back to South Africa and would be back on Sunday last week,” Catherine’s brother, Jabulani, told Chronicle from the family home in Mpopoma.

“We became suspicious when other Zimbabweans who had travelled to Nigeria came back via South Africa and she wasn’t part of the group. It became clear they’d been lying to us and withholding information from us all along.”

Catherine becomes the second Zimbabwean to have died in the disaster after Greenwich Ndanga, the MDC-T chairman for Mashonaland West, was reported to be among the dead by his family.

At least 84 South Africans were killed and dozens trapped when the multi-storey guesthouse attached to TB Joshua’s Synagogue Church of All Nations caved in, apparently after TB Joshua ordered the construction of additional floors without reinforcing the foundations.

He claims it was a conspiracy, insisting that a mysterious plane flew, four times, too close to the structure causing the collapse.
TB Joshua, who inspires an almost fanatical devotion from his thousands of followers around the world, who are drawn to his services by claims of miracle-working and prophecies, has offered to hold services in South Africa once every month, claiming that six out of every 10 visitors to Nigeria from Southern Africa are coming to his church.

But the youth wing of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress yesterday demanded that he be denied a visa.
“TB Joshua should not be allowed to come to South Africa until we know what happened to our fellow countrymen at his church,” ANC Youth League spokesperson Bandile Masuku said in a statement.

“We will engage with the department of international relations and co-operation to make sure they do not issue him with a South African visa.”
Catherine’s family said she left Zimbabwe on September 11, a day after her 19-year-old daughter – Prioress Tshuma – who has suffered from seizures since 2007, was admitted at Mpilo Central Hospital. She believed the seizures were caused by an evil spirit, and hoped TB Joshua would heal her.

It would have been just hours after she touched down in the Nigerian capital, Lagos, before her life was snuffed out by falling concrete blocks and cement dust – leaving a daughter in hospital and a nine-year-old school-going son, Progress Sibanda, both orphaned.

Their uncle, Jabulani, is still battling with a lot of questions – and he accuses the besieged church of attempting a clumsy cover up.
“When we heard news of the collapse, we feared the worst. There was no communication from the church until my cousin, who lives in South Africa, called them.
“They just put up a wall of lies and kept telling us she was safe. It would be only several days later that they confirmed our worst fears,” he said.

But the family’s hope of getting Catherine’s body any time soon were immediately dashed after TB Joshua’s aides asked them to provide a DNA sample for positive identification.

“We don’t even know if that’s true, and our only hope now is that our government can get to the bottom of this. Who knows how many other Zimbabweans have been kept in the dark about their relatives’ fate?”

TB Joshua has been heavily criticized over his handling of the crisis, with aide workers saying they were prevented from accessing the disaster area for several days.
The preacher rejected the lack of co-operation claims as “inaccurate”.

“Contrary to this, we want to categorically state that the church has provided assistance when and where required and continues to do so: good Christians are good citizens,” he said.
Since the disaster, at least two journalists have told how TB Joshua tried to bribe them to influence them to write positively about him.

Nigerian journalist Nicholas Ebekwe said TB Joshua handed out envelopes, each containing 50,000 Naira (R3,300 or US$330) to local journalists during a closed press conference.
Ebekwe, who released a secret recording of TB Joshua offering the bribes, said he was surprised to see some of his colleagues take the money.

“What got me angry is we’re talking about a tragedy, we’re talking about a loss of over 100 lives. Now journalists don’t have the conscience to report what is right.”
South African investigative journalist and author, Jacques Pauw, also revealed that the preacher once tried to bribe his entire television crew. He said he accompanied the late Blue Bulls rugby player Wium Basson to Lagos for healing. Basson died in April 2001 aged 25.

“Basson was dying of liver cancer and while he was there, the prophet refused to pray for him. He obviously realised that it was going to be bad publicity for him and then he handed an envelope full of $100 notes to me and the sound person. We told him we couldn’t accept it and he said it was a gift from God.”

He said Joshua wasn’t very forthcoming in the interview.
“It was difficult to find out where he comes from, how much money he has and how much power he wields.

“The church is also very suspicious because after we broadcast the documentary, there was a campaign against us in Nigeria.
“On their website, we were described as the disciples of the devil.”

Pauw said he and his crew were incarcerated in his church for almost three weeks and not allowed to leave the compound.
“You aren’t allowed to leave without the group you came with. These groups normally go for a week. You can’t leave to go to a restaurant and the gates are locked.”
TB Joshua founded the church in the late 1980s with only eight members and at the moment he has between 15,000 to 20,000 people who attend his sermons every Sunday in Lagos.

Rest in peace: Dr Eric Bloch was buried in a simple casket – Jewish tradition teaches that the deceased should be buried in a simple casket

Online Reporter

CELEBRATED economic commentator and former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) adviser Dr Eric Bloch was laid to rest this morning at the Jewish Cemetery in Bulawayo.

Hundreds of people attended the burial of Dr Bloch.

Dr Bloch was buried next to his late wife Baileh Thelma Bloch who passed away in 2011.

United in death: Dr Eric Bloch was laid to rest next to his late wife Baileh Thelma Bloch who died in 2011

Among the mourners were former RBZ Governor Dr Gideon Gono, former senator David Coltart, Bulawayo Mayor Martin Moyo, economist John Robertson and Dr Simba Makoni.

Friends to the grave: Former RBZ Governor Dr Gideon Gono (wearing a black Jewish cap) was a pallbearer at Dr Eric Bloch’s funeral

Dr Bloch was encased in a simple kosher casket.

Jewish tradition teaches that the deceased should be buried in a simple casket. It should be completely biodegradable. A kosher casket is made entirely of wood – with no nails whatsoever. Embalming is also not permitted (unless required by law). The reason for this is so that the process of decomposition can take place in a natural fashion.

There was no body viewing because open caskets are not permitted at Jewish funerals.

Former Senator David Coltart was also a pallbearer at Dr Eric Bloch’s burial

Dr Bloch died aged 75 on Saturday night.

The late Dr Eric Bloch

He is survived by three sons, Mark, 48, Raphi, 50, and Barry, 46, and a daughter, Ruth, 43, and 16 grandchildren who live in Israel, the United Kingdom and Australia.

Read the Chronicle tomorrow for more details.

Politically, Morgan Tsvangirai is finished.The MDC-T leader lost a free and fair election on July 31, 2013. The United Nations, Sadc, African Union, Non-Aligned Movement and to some extent, the European Union accepted the results that gave President Mugabe a 61 percent mandate and his party, Zanu-PF 197 parliamentary seats.

Tsvangirai’s party has split. Former secretary general Tendai Biti wanted him to step down after elections last year saying he no longer had any ideas on how to defeat Zanu-PF. Tsvangirai refused to go, so Biti sacked him, at least on paper.

Compounding Tsvangirai’s misery, western donors, who held his party together through generous handouts and moral support, are holding on to their money and goodwill.

Also, his recent attempt to concentrate power in his hands in response to two splits in nine years which he says were masterminded by his secretaries-general were rejected by his own party.

After 14 years of failure, Tsvangirai looks and sounds worn out and ready to give up. But it is important to watch the last kicks of a dying horse.
He declared two weeks ago that he was organising protests to force Zanu-PF to create jobs and revive the economy. He said the demonstrations would begin next month.

Our constitution permits peaceful protests.  However, we are not naïve to think that Tsvangirai wants to demand jobs and a working economy and end there. The not-so-hidden agenda is to trigger a national uprising to undermine the people’s mandate that Zanu-PF and President Mugabe got last year, and possibly nullify it.

Tsvangirai has to know that only peaceful protests are permitted under our national laws.  Those that seek to overthrow a democratically elected government as the ones he is planning, are illegal. These should and would be condemned and stopped. Zimbabweans demand that the full force of the law be necessarily applied on those responsible for organising them; that means Tsvangirai and his cabal.

We are the first to acknowledge that many people are out of work, under-employed and underpaid, in some cases unpaid. Many of us are desperate to secure jobs that can give us a decent existence. That the economy is not doing well is self-evident. But these ills are not deliberately caused by Zanu-PF.

Tsvangirai is finished, as we said, but a man of his boastful kind cannot slip away quietly. He thinks the demonstrations can divert public attention from internal troubles in his party and give him relevance. Most crucially, they are meant to scuttle the recently clinched Chinese and Russian investment deals, which even he knows will create hundreds of thousands of jobs and get the economy on the path to recovery and growth.  The $3 billion platinum project at Darwendale should create 15,000 jobs. Hundreds of thousands more would be created when Chinese money starts flowing into infrastructural projects after billions worth of deals were signed in China three weeks ago. At least 1,6 million households would be supported through the government farm input scheme and these are jobs in the agriculture sector too.

The EU promised to lift sanctions in the next month or so. We are confident that the Chinese and Russian investment in infrastructure, government’s input schemes and lifting of sanctions will transform the economy.

Therefore, the protest plan is a sinister rejection of these serious efforts to revive the economy.
We note that Tsvangirai’s previous attempts at using demonstrations and job stayaways to unseat Zanu-PF failed. But they hurt the economy.  They left some people dead and injured in terror attacks when MDC-T militants threw petrol bombs through home windows as people slept.  Policewomen, Busani Moyo, Pretty Ruswaya and Brenda Makamba are now permanently disfigured after attacks on their homes in Harare in March 2007. Inspector Petros Mutedza died in a MDC-T mob attack in 2011. These are the more prominent victims of MDC-T’s politics of chaos; hundreds more have been similarly affected countrywide.

Zimbabweans must not let Tsvangirai’s evil schemes succeed; they must not allow themselves to be used to help him to attain by undemocratic means what he failed to achieve democratically on July 31, 2013. We can’t let a man who created the prevailing economic challenges through his active campaign for illegal sanctions, to now turn around to call for demonstrations to protest against the effect of the same while blaming that effect on someone else.

Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa, speaking at his Tuesday service in Harare, is right to tell Tsvangirai to stop. Demonstrations will only worsen our unpleasant economic and social conditions.

Accordingly, our message is that our people must ignore the MDC-T protest call and continue working towards sustainable socio-economic recovery to fulfil the development agenda that Zim-Asset enunciates. Law enforcement agencies need to be on top of the situation too to punish leaders of illegal protests and their followers.

Midlands Reporter
A HOMELESS man who was caught in possession of a firearm without a licence was yesterday jailed for 12 months by Gweru magistrate Judith Taruvinga. Benjamin Sibanda, 18, who lives in a bushy area situated along Gweru River, had pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm without a licence when he appeared before Taruvinga on Wednesday.

Sibanda will serve an effective eight months after Taruvinga suspended four months on condition of good behaviour.
For the state, Helen Khosa told the court that on Monday this week, at around 8AM, police were called after reports of a man waving a gun at passers-by.

Police raced to the scene and arrested Sibanda, but they could not find a gun after a body search.
The court heard that the police then interviewed Sibanda who confessed to possessing a gun.

Khosa said Sibanda then took the police to a bushy area near Gweru River Bridge where he had buried the gun, a Revolver Ross 38.
She said the revolver was wrapped in a woollen jersey.

In mitigation, a remorseful Sibanda said he had no intention of using the gun.

Mashudu Netsianda Senior Court Reporter
A THREE-YEAR-OLD girl died after being forgotten in a bathtub filled with hot water by a nurse. The nurse was incensed after the girl, who suffered from cerebral palsy, soiled herself. She opened the hot water tap and put her patient inside before going away, the Bulawayo High Court heard. She returned to find the child close to death after suffering burns. She died two days later.

Yesterday, Tholiwe Moyo, 32, of Matshetsheni in Gwanda, was fined $500 or alternatively six months in prison after pleading guilty to the lesser charge of culpable homicide. She had originally been charged with murder.

Moyo has already lost her job as a nurse at Filabusi District Hospital.
Whisper Mabhaudhi, prosecuting, told Justice Martin Makonese that the little girl had been found abandoned sometime in 2007 and was taken to the hospital. Her parents were never found.

The court heard that on February 15, 2008, shortly after 4PM, Moyo was on duty when the girl soiled herself and it was her duty to clean up the mess and bathe her. The nurse simply turned on the hot water tap and dumped her patient inside without checking the water temperature, he said.

Her lawyer Thomson Mabhikwa said the former nurse was offering the limited plea, and Mabhaudhi did not oppose.
Justice Makonese told Moyo: “The court is satisfied with the assertion by the state and the defence counsel and accordingly you are found not guilty of murder and acquitted. The court has noted that although the victim suffered from cerebral palsy, which also resulted in complications, there is however, moral blameworthiness on your part. You were clearly negligent.”

The judge said Moyo committed a serious crime by failing to look after the infant at a hospital and as a result she would endure the trauma of causing the death of an innocent child for the rest of her life.

“The court does not condone such actions, but because of the sensitivity of this peculiar case, it’s my view that the justice of this matter would be met with a fine. Accordingly, you’re found guilty of culpable homicide and fined $500 or six months in jail in default.”

In mitigation, Mabhikwa told the court that Moyo was a single mother looking after two of her children.
“She’s now a holder of a human resources diploma and looking for a job to fend for her children. A custodial sentence would impact negatively on her school-going children,” said the lawyer.

For the state, Mabhaudhi said Moyo committed a serious crime in a hospital where a degree of care should have been higher than expected.
“The victim suffered in an institution where she was supposed to get maximum care. It’s the duty of the courts to protect victims from people like Moyo. The incident was perpetrated by a person who was supposed to take care of the victim,” he said.

Moyo pleaded for leniency, telling the judge: “I’m sorry My Lord, I was negligent because I didn’t make an effort to first check the temperature of the water before placing the victim in the basin. It was not my intention to cause the death of the victim in any way.”

Senior Reporter
ZANU-PF national chairman Cde Simon Khaya Moyo has celebrated the existing rapport between Cuba and Zimbabwe saying the two were revolutionary twins.
Addressing students at the High Institute of Foreign Relations in La Habana, Cuba, on Tuesday, Cde Khaya Moyo said Cuba and Zimbabwe found each other so many years ago as they fought colonial injustice.

“The struggles for the end of colonial subjugation, racial and class privilege in both Zimbabwe and Cuba were very similar and started at about the same time in the 1950s,” he said.

“It was the common desire for true justice that drove the people of Cuba to decide that justice would only come through the barrel of the gun and took their destiny and sovereignty by force. The Cuban people also resolved to keep their sovereignty intact, and that has been tested over the years. The detractors of this country have always found Cuba ready and willing to defend its rights.”

Cde Khaya Moyo said the liberation movements of Zimbabwe have a very heavy debt to Cuba.
“Working with our late Father Zimbabwe Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo, El Commandant, President Fidel Castro and the might of the Cuban armed forces assisted the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army, Zipra, to transform itself from being simply the armed wing of a nationalist party into a formidable fighting force,” he said.

Added Cde Khaya Moyo, “Under the encouragement of the Liberation Committee of the Organisation of African Unity, the precursor of today’s African Union and sister revolutionary comrades like the Communist Party of Cuba and the Chinese Communist Party, the then Zapu and Zanu liberation movements formed the Patriotic Front in order to deliver a final united blow to the settler regime of Rhodesia.”

Cde Khaya Moyo said the mutually beneficial relationship has continued to grow as in the almost 35 years after Zimbabwe’s independence hundreds of Cubans have had the opportunity to work in an independent Zimbabwe as doctors, teachers and other professionals.

“As you can also see with the presence of Zimbabwean students here with us today, hundreds of Zimbabweans have come to Cuba in continuation of your very generous offers — hosting future generations of Zimbabwean professionals in their formative years,” said Cde Khaya Moyo.

“So like twins, Cuba and Zimbabwe have experienced the same birth, have had the same life and it’s not surprising therefore that we both ended up with unilateral and illegal economic sanctions slapped on us by the United States and Britain, primarily for what we have always believed in.”

He said while Cuba has lived a heroic 53 years under these illegal economic measures, Zimbabwe has suffered the same experience of economic sanctions for almost 15 years now.

“Comrades, our perceived crime against these countries are the same. Let’s not be fooled by the complicated demands for all manner of things in order to normalise relationships with them. The crime is that we defeated them and we’re ruling our own countries without them and we’re determining our own policies,” he said.
Cde Khaya Moyo said the Zanu-PF government crafted Zim-Asset adding that the economic blueprint was driving the country’s economic performance up to 2018.

“All economic activities have been organised into four clusters of Food Security and Nutrition, Infrastructure and Utilities, Value Addition and Beneficiation and Social Services and Poverty Eradication. This is the mandate that we got from the people and we’re pursuing it sanctions or no sanctions. Not negotiable,” he said.

Turning to the region, Cde Khaya Moyo said Sadc was prosperous and peaceful, except for perhaps two countries — that is, parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Kingdom of Lesotho.

“These security concerns are receiving due attention from, both, Sadc and the AU and we hope to see resolution of those conflicts soon. Our aim, as a region, is to concentrate on the business of economic prosperity in a completely peaceful social and political environment,” he said.

He said the threat of the spread of the Ebola virus had the full attention of the leadership of Sadc adding that the Ministers of Health were currently engaged in implementing appropriate counter measures.

“It’s important to be ready to tackle any outbreak and this readiness will also be useful in strengthening our collective public health capabilities as a region, as Africa, and globally for diseases know no borders.”

Kamangeni Phiri Midlands Bureau Chief
BULAWAYO High Court judge, Justice Nokuthula Moyo, yesterday sentenced to a combined 30 years the three Harare-based police officers who tortured to death a housebreaking suspect in Mvuma. The three, Assistant Inspector Chikena Mumpande, Inspector Gcobani Mkwananzi and Renias Mapfumo, who had taken up a new job as chief security officer with Savanna Tobacco had pleaded not guilty to causing the death of Oliver Nyagondo.

However, Justice Moyo sitting with assessors, Wellington Takawira Matemba and Chipo Junior Baye, convicted them of a lesser crime of culpable homicide and sentenced each of them to 10 years in prison. They will serve an effective eight years each after two years were suspended for five years on condition of good behaviour.

Justice Moyo said she considered, in her sentencing, the fact that Mumpande, 36, Mkwananzi, 38, and Mapfumo, 35, were all married and had children.
She said the fact that the crime was committed in 2008 when the three were relatively young was another mitigating factor. Justice Moyo also considered that they were first offenders.

Mumpande, Mkwananzi and Mapfumo’s spouses and female relatives could not contain themselves as they started wailing immediately after getting out of the courtroom.

Two of the women who were weeping uncontrollably had to be consoled by a male relative as they left the court. Passing judgement, Justice Moyo said:
“You were deeply involved in the investigations in a case in which you were the complainants and allowed emotions to overwhelm you. The deceased confessed to having broken into accused one’s house. There was no reason for you to interrogate him again. Also, it defies logic for you to fatally assault someone for stealing property that could be ferried in a Mazda 323. This shows the property was not much. You therefore went to extremes in trying to recover the property.”

Justice Moyo also said it was illogical for the three to drive all the way to Mvuma from Harare to investigate a case of housebreaking in an area that had competent police officers.

The three struck Nyagondo with a baton under his feet and all his body several times until his health deteriorated resulting in his death.
Mumpande, Mkwananzi and Mapfumo were represented by Bulawayo Lawyer, Robert Ndlovu of R Ndlovu and Company.
The state said that on December 31, 2007, Mumpande’s house in Mvuma was broken into.

This prompted the trio who were stationed in Harare and attached to the Criminal Investigation Department Vehicle Theft Squad, to drive to Mvuma.
While in Mvuma, Mumpande, Mkwananzi and Mapfumo who were by then detective sergeants made their own investigations leading to the arrest of Nyagondo and five others.

The six were detained at Mvuma Police Station while the three police officers drove back to Harare, the court heard. On January 3, 2008, they were back in Mvuma and started interrogating Nyagondo and the other suspects.

In the process, they took turns in assaulting Nyagondo with a baton under the feet and all over the body, extracting a confession. After the assault, Mumpande, Mkwananzi and Mapfumo returned Nyagondo to the cells but he could neither sit nor walk properly.

During the night of that day, Nyagondo’s condition deteriorated and he started vomiting.
He continued vomiting until the morning of 4 January.

Nyagondo’s condition was brought to the attention of Mumpande who said he could not take a criminal to hospital. His health worsened resulting in Mumpande and his two accomplices taking him to Mvuma District Hospital. After two days, Nyagondo was transferred to Gweru Provincial Hospital where he died on 10 January, 2008.
A post-mortem carried out at Mpilo Hospital in Bulawayo revealed that Nyagondo’s death was a result of asphyxia, trauma (assault) and gastric contents aspiration.
Mirirai Shumba appeared for the state.

Hon Paradza Kindness

Thandeka Moyo Chronicle Reporter
ZIMBABWE will never legalise prostitution and homosexuality, a Member of Parliament has said. Speaking during a two-day National Aids Council (NAC) workshop for journalists in Kadoma, Cde Kindness Paradza (Zanu-PF, Makonde), said the very notion of legalising prostitution was nonsensical. “It’s true that sex workers and men who have sex with men have been identified as key populations to be targeted in HIV and Aids programmes. However, as a country, we will cater for their health needs as we do to every other individual. However, there is no way we are going to legalise their practice in the name of eradicating the pandemic in our communities,” said Cde Paradza.

He said the country would not succumb to pressure from other nations who legalise prostitution and homosexuality as the practices have never been part of Zimbabwean culture.

“We can watch, talk and write about legalising that but though that Bill may be brought to Parliament, I assure you we’ll never accept homosexuality and prostitution in Zimbabwe, not in this lifetime,” he said.

NAC board member Catherine Murombedzi urged Zimbabweans to call the police on churches or individuals who claim to prophesy and encourage HIV-positive people to stop taking their medication.

“There’s no cure for HIV and Aids and I encourage people to stop listening to advice from clergymen or prophets who encourage them to stop medication as they would have been healed. This is a serious matter and it will take families to unite and report such prophets and even engage lawyers to stop all these misconceptions around HIV,” said Murombedzi.

Sexuality, HIV and prostitution have always been contentious subjects in the country.
President Mugabe often describes gay people as worse than pigs and dogs.

MDC-T Bulawayo East MP Thabitha Khumalo is known for championing the cause to legalise the world’s oldest profession.
In 2011 she led a campaign to include the rights of “pleasure engineers” in the country’s constitution.

Khumalo was quoted saying: “It (prostitution) is here to stay and we need to bite the bullet. Pleasure engineering did not begin in Bulawayo or Zimbabwe. It all began in the Garden of Eden and one of those pleasure engineers was Eve.

“Who in their right mind will deny it? We will have to embrace it, whether we like it or not.”
She allegedly threatened to expose colleagues using the services of prostitutes if her campaign was not supported in Parliament.

MDC-T Matobo senator Sithembile Mlotshwa once stirred controversy when she suggested that people should have sex once a month and that men must be injected with drugs that reduce their libido, to curb the spread of HIV.

She also called for prisoners to be given sex toys to quench their sexual appetites.

Walter Mswazie Masvingo Correspondent
A GOKOMERE woman who was allegedly strangled to death by her husband three weeks ago has finally been buried after her family was paid four beasts and $1,000 as compensation. Sukai Chiutsi, 35, was buried at Gokomere Roman Catholic Cemetery on Wednesday, three weeks after her killing that was allegedly triggered by a misunderstanding she had with her husband, Paul Chiumba, over isitshwala and vegetables she had served him with.

Chiumba allegedly chocked his wife to death, a day after arriving home from work in Chisumbanje. Her family was demanding compensation before she could be buried.

A post-morterm report revealed that she died due to asphyxia and strangulation. However, Chiumba, who was arrested following the murder and is out of custody on bail, is denying killing his wife.

The woman was buried on Wednesday and the situation was tense at the ceremony that Chiumba boycotted.
After the burial, the late woman’s brother, Stephen Chiutsi, told Chronicle that his family had demanded 15 cattle from Chiumba’s family before burying her, but later compromised and were given four cattle as the body was deteriorating at Masvingo Hospital mortuary.

“We had to compromise given the decomposed state of the body at the mortuary and the police appealed to us to reach an agreement with Chiumba’s family. They have paid four beasts and $1,000 which is a far cry from our demands,” he said.

“We demanded 15 cattle and we hope they’re going to look for the remainder as we still hold them responsible for my sister’s death.
“We expected our brother-in-law to speak, to be apologetic, but it seems he’s not taking the matter seriously. We put everything to God who has the power to explain our fate but people should learn to treat other people like human beings not animals.”

Chiumba however, refuted the murder allegations and reiterated what he told the court through his lawyer, Charles Ndlovu: his wife had complained of headache the previous day and her family may have tampered with the body while it was in the mortuary following her death.

He told Chronicle: “I arrived home at night and found my wife asleep. She woke up and served me isitshwala with vegetables which I refused because I don’t like vegetables. I went to sleep. At around 4AM, I woke up as I wanted to prepare to leave for work at Green Fuel Company in Chisumbanje.

“I was taken aback to see my wife unconscious and I woke my sister, my mother and my young brother. I then sought transport and rushed her to the hospital where she died before being attended to.”

Auxilia Katongomara Court Reporter
TWO self confessed Bulawayo prostitutes who initially appeared in court as witnesses in a theft case, were later arrested after one of the suspects implicated them as accomplices in the commission of the crime. The duo, Sinanzeni Ncube, 40, and Sithokozile Nyathi, 43, both from Queenspark suburb, yesterday appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Sibongile Msipa facing theft from motor vehicle charges.

The two ladies of the night appeared in court on Wednesday as witnesses for Mike Moyo Pongo and Ndumiso Banda who were facing the same charge.
Prosecuting, Dennmore Kasenza told the court that on September 1 this year, the women of easy virtue, in the company of Pongo and Banda, connived to steal from a parked motor vehicle belonging to Tafadzwa Gurajena..

“The quartet opened the doors of the vehicle, a Honda Fit and stole two Lenovo laptops, five HP laptops, one Acer laptop, one HP printer and a Toshiba 32 inch LED television set,” said Kasenza.

The court heard that Ncube and Nyathi later took the property to Ncube’s house in Queenspark suburb for safekeeping.
They then sold the stolen goods to Cliff Sithole and Sheperd Makwikwi.

Gurajena made a report to the police leading to Pongo and Banda’s arrest.
The pair implicated Ncube and Nyathi, the court heard.

The property was valued at $5,630 and property valued at $4,206 has been recovered.
“Your worship, we were not part of the theft; we were on the street looking for clients when we were approached by Banda and Pongo who said they were looking for transport to carry their stuff. We arranged transport and they only told us they were carrying tissue paper”, Ncube told the court.

Asked what type of clients they were looking for at night, the duo said they were commercial sex workers and plied their trade at the street corner where the offence was committed.

Banda and Pongo were sentenced to 36 months in prison. Six months were suspended on condition of good behaviour and a further six months were suspended on condition that they restitute the complainant.

They will serve an effective 24 months behind bars.
Ncube and Nyathi were remanded in custody to September 29.

Dr Chimedza

Nduduzo Tshuma Senior Reporter—
ALMOST 4,000 trained nurses are unemployed with more graduates joining them every year, as the government cannot employ them all, Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care Dr Paul Chimedza has said. Speaking during question time in the National Assembly, Dr Chimedza said the government was only able to engage 680 nurses annually. He was responding to legislator Mabel Kaundikiza who wanted to know the government’s position on the jobless nurses.
“As you are aware, we had a government freeze on posts for nurses and all civil servants but the government freeze was recently lifted.

“So, at the end of the year, as per the establishment of the Ministry of Health and Child Care, we can only take in 680 nurses,” said Dr Chimedza.
“After the 680 nurses are taken in, the establishment is full but outside of that there are almost 4,000 who are on the streets. So, as a ministry, we have put in a proposal to increase the establishment.”

Dr Chimedza said the establishment had not been reviewed since 1980 for it to be able to respond and speak to the disease pattern of today and increased demand of a growing population.

“We have put in a proposal to the ministry of Finance and Economic Development to increase the establishment of the Ministry of Health and Child Care so that we can be able to absorb those nurses whom we really need in the healthcare system,” he said.

“Hopefully, if that is accepted by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development then we will be able to absorb the majority of nurses who are on the streets.”
Dr Chimedza said the ministry also realises that they might not get the proposal granted and was looking at other options.

“We have put plan B and rekindled the plan of having some of our nurses on government to government arrangement with other countries that require them so that we do not keep them on the streets,” he said.

“We get them employed but on a formal basis.”
Kaundikiza asked why government was advertising nurse training vacancies when there were no job opportunities.

“Training of nurses will continue. It is like, if a child goes for Grade One and does not find a job after completing Form 4, it does not mean that, that child ends there,” said Dr Chimedza.

“There are natural conditions in the system. Some retire, some die of natural causes, so we need to replace them. So, training, even though people are not getting fully absorbed, will continue. This is the policy of the ministry.”

Mr Tsvangirai

Peter Matambanadzo Harare Bureau—
MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s time as a meaningful political force is over and Zanu-PF will not have any problem romping to victory in the 2018 harmonised elections, a respected United Kingdom academic and author has said. Zimbabwean watcher Professor Stephen Chan, an International Relations lecturer at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, gave his damning assessment of Tsvangirai in an interview published on Wednesday by World Politics Review.

His views came as Tsvangirai has blamed himself and his party for entering the inclusive government, saying it had a bearing on their dismal performance in the 2013 harmonised elections.

Tsvangirai made the remarks during a programme on South Africa’s e.tv Africa last week on the in-fighting in MDC-T and failure to deliver what the opposition had promised its supporters.

Prof Chan said Tsvangirai’s problems mounted since the elections last year.
“The former premier’s political prospects have been mortally wounded by a combination of his inept campaign for last year’s elections, the MDC-T party’s split after the vote, infighting in the faction he leads as well as the cutting of financial support by the West,” he said.

Prof Chan attributed Tsvangirai’s demise to the splits that have haunted the MDC since it was formed in 1999.
“The current splits in the MDC reflect fissures that have been building for a long time,” he said. “The nature of the 2013 electoral defeat (is) because of a spectacularly inept MDC campaign led by Tsvangirai – (it) was the nail in the coffin.”

Prof Chan said the opposition underwent a process of self-destruction.
“Tsvangirai will seek to retain control of a reduced party, but his time is over as a meaningful Zimbabwean political force,” he said. “The British and Scandinavian governments are cutting his funding and he seems to have no new ideas.”

Tsvangirai recently told e.tv Africa that he had only himself to blame for the 2013 defeat by Zanu-PF.
“I think with hindsight, it was important to have a GNU. We resolved a number of issues. I know (President) Mugabe was talking about horror. It was not horror. In fact, for the first time we started to see things stabilise,” Tsvangirai said.

“The economy stabilised, the education sector, the social sectors restored, people planning about their future in a more effective way. But what has now happened as far as that GNU is concerned is that we actually saved (President) Mugabe and Zanu-PF. On that you can criticise us.”

But Zanu-PF spokesperson Cde Rugare Gumbo said it wrong for Tsvangirai to suggest the inclusive government saved President Mugabe and Zanu-PF.
“He offered nothing in the inclusive government,” he said. “He is seeking relevance. Zanu-PF saved itself, we are a revolutionary party that fought for the independence of this country and Tsvangirai cannot find an answer to the political situation in Zimbabwe.”

Tendai Biti, the former MDC-T secretary general and leader of the splinter MDC Renewal Team, laid the blame on Tsvangirai’s ineffective leadership for the party’s defeat last year.

Biti, who was also on the same e.tv Africa programme, compared Tsvangirai, who has led the opposition in the last 15 years, to a “mad person’’ for doing the same things over and over again.

Biti was responding to a question why he broke away from the MDC-T and also why he thought the opposition party lost the elections.
“Only a mad person does the same thing over and over again and in Zimbabwe, in our opposition trenches, we have been doing the same things for the past years and we have come out with no tangible thing,” he said.

Biti said the MDC, and Tsvangirai in particular, should take responsibility for the election defeat last year.
The MDC-T was humiliated by Zanu-PF in the harmonised elections in both the National Assembly and the Senate where the ruling party garnered a two thirds majority.

President Mugabe romped to victory with 61,09 percent of the presidential vote compared to Tsvangirai’s 34,94 percent.

URBAN BEATS with Nkosilathi Sibanda
WHEN I buy a ticket to watch a show, I expect the entertainer to blow me away. Instead of playing a skit, give me a good run with the guitar and hot up the stage.
We thank those entertainers who gave us an Intwasa moment to remember although last year’s closing show is still the talk of the town.
In the midst of all the blunders that came with the festival during the week, the closing show should be a bomb!
The superstars are what the fans want and they are the money makers at these festivals. Such big names bring in the crowds, huge earnings and endorsement to festival organisers.

Then, the leading thought in the showbiz industry is the so-called sustainability of popular entertainment that comes with festivals such as Intwasa Arts Festival KoBulawayo.

I have no official statistics but having attended all the festivals’ shows, I know numbers have increased. We remain hopeful though, that as the festival grows it will attract the kind of culture that we see at international shows.

On observation, Intwasa has over the years created a business model that is favourable to musicians, promoters and producers.
Instead of spending time and money on a single musician, Intwasa music concerts should in the future maximise on grouping musicians.
And now here is one disturbing sight – “The rise of hypocritical citizens”.

There are some of us who look and sound like Zimbabweans yet it is clear we wish to have been born elsewhere. What a shame!
These are the kind that will live the rest of their lives in the motherland and still not know what makes this country tick.

They are out of touch with what happens at their doorstep. Sadly, they know all about Mzansi television. Real showbiz to them happens on the other side of the border.
I fail to understand how someone living in Bulawayo would say they know nothing about the Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo with all the WhatsApp and mobile internet craze abuzz. They must be joking!

Is it not hypocrisy for one to be proudly Zimbabwean and have an appetite for foreign entertainment products? Such insincerity is even treacherous when one chooses to be ignorant of local talent.

I would be damned if I am seen dancing to Sulu Chimbetu and know nothing about an outstanding visual artist in Bulawayo.
But, what has knowledge about South African showbiz got to do with my pride of being a Zimbo?

It does not make sense at all to keep shunning local talent as if our artistes are cursed.
It is worth the experience to reduce one’s DStv subscription to buy a few concert tickets for the family. This is what can turn around the fortunes, when locals support home grown initiatives.

Had we a people that think like big corporates such as Delta Beverages, Zimbabwe’s showbiz sector would be bubbling with success.
Despite the waning support of the arts by the fans over the years, Delta has stood its ground in sponsoring the industry.

Let us help each other change attitudes towards entertainment products that are made by our fellow countrymen.
In respecting our choices and opinions, we ought not to let fellow countrymen wallow in cultural erosion.

Really, one would be best placed in the “culturally inept” class if they do not associate with national events that bear a semblance to nationhood.
Well said, I hope those who have not experienced the flavour of Zimbabwean showbiz will go out and have a taste.

Today being the last of Intwasa, I share what I love about it. The festival exuded high-voltage energy.
Sponsorship for the festival, all the reasons stated was a vital cog of the event. One could almost suggest that without sponsorship there would be no arts festival.
Intwasa and festivals alike in the country are continuously growing despite the economic, environmental or social changes occurring in society.

It is vital for successful businesses to get on the sponsorship bandwagon otherwise they miss out on potential business. The arts are a ready market.
But, I fear a certain blind chauvinism when I hear whispers of some people who underestimate the economic value of the showbiz industry sponsors pulling out.
This terrifies me!

Perhaps it would not terrify me as much if I had the confidence that we could remember to ask ourselves why we are doing these festivals, and make sure we have a good, clear answer.

It is this clarity that seeps through the entire festival experience for all those who participate in it. And, it is the richness of this experience that festivals need to keep at their core.

Remember to support home grown initiatives.

Let us keep the conversation on. Twit @nkosi legend or WhatsApp 0773 481 603

Oswell Moyo Chronicle Reporter
CHIEFS and lawmakers have appealed to government to ensure that Chinese miners respect local cultural values as they are desecrating graves in some areas where their companies are carrying out mining activities.
Speaking at the Zimbabwe Alternative Mining Indaba organised by the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (Zela), members of the Zimbabwe Council of Chiefs and MPs said there are times when the Chinese failed to observe their cultural practices.

Chief Zimunya of Chiadzwa in Manicaland province said Chinese miners disrespected their cultural values by leaving remains of their forefathers lying in the open and excavating graves without consulting them.

“My people are living with human bones in Arda Transeu after a Chinese company, Anjin Investment and Jiran excavated them. They’re not even forthcoming in organising for their reburial. That’s lack of respect for the dead and a taboo in our culture,” he said.

Arda Transau Relocation Development Trust chairperson Cephas Gwayagwaya echoed similar sentiments saying the Chinese undermined the authority of the District Administrator (DA).

“I once went to the company’s manager with a letter from the DA seeking compensation for my houses which they had destroyed. I was told that even though the letter had the DA’s signature, he had no authority to force them to pay me because they were bigger than him,” he said.

Zanu-PF Kwekwe Central legislator Cde Masango Matambanadzo said some Chinese miners went to the extent of battering employees for poor work performance.
“There was an issue in my area last year when a Chinese employer beat employees for work related problems,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chief Chipuriro from Guruve blamed chiefs for failing to stand their ground in dealing with the ongoing problem.
“In my land, no one can perform any activity without consultation. The land belongs to me. The Minister, MP and councillors don’t have land. Even a civil servant can be chucked out of my area if they don’t comply with our values. What more the Chinese,” he said.

WHEN you see purple flowers around you, the Jacaranda tree is flowering — it’s that time of the year again — time for examinations.
This is a very trying time especially for adult learners, some of who are family people. Balancing school, work and family is always a challenge. Having been involved with exams at tertiary level I want to share a few examination hints for exam candidates this year, especially adult learners.
When it’s exam time, if your job allows, just take study leave. It’s very difficult to prepare and write examinations from work. Some of us are bosses and there is really no time you can say you are free to open your books. Just take leave. Some bosses are afraid of taking leave because they are insecure at the workplace.

Adult education is all about sharing with classmates. You need to meet with classmates and discuss past papers and other related literature for the exams. That mentality of hiding what you think are good notes from your colleagues is high school mentality. At tertiary level there are no report cards; there is no “number one”.

Share what you have with colleagues and they will also show you what they have. At times we hide literature thinking it’s the best, but on sharing we discover our colleagues have even better stuff. When you meet for discussions participate in the group discussions, don’t just stare at people saying nothing, taking down their points like you’re taking minutes in a meeting.

Having been involved with exams at university level, I have discovered that most students fail not because the exam was difficult but just because they didn’t conduct themselves well before and during the exam. I once invigilated a paper for a certain university where the students were using laptops. One student came with a laptop which was not charged. This is poor exam conduct. Her plug was square and the exam hall had round sockets.

We finally managed to get her an adaptor 10 minutes later and I could tell she was already panicking. Always prepare for the exam — some of us fail before we even write the exam. You find an adult going for an exam without a ruler, a rubber or pencil. They call the invigilator “may you get me a ruler from my colleague.”

Honestly how do you pass an exam where you are borrowing other people’s property throughout. Now it’s not the invigilator’s job to get you rulers, rubbers and pencils from other people, you must bring your own things.

Another student came without a calculator in an exam that had calculations. I’m not exaggerating. The student asked me to get them a calculator from a colleague who refused because they were using it. How does one come for an exam which requires a calculator without a calculator? At times you believe when people say maybe someone’s departed ancestors are interfering with their learning.

The evening before the exam you must have enough sleep. The evening before the exam is not for burning the candle till morning. Have enough sleep so that you are fresh and fit for the exam the next day. The habit of taking “wake up” tablets and energy drinks is very unhealthy. Just function naturally for your exam. I’ve seen cases where people dose in the exam. Yes the spirit will be willing but the flesh will be tired.

You cannot cheat sleep; it’s a natural process. In fact what causes these sleepless nights at times is lack of preparation. You suddenly discover there is so much to read and the time is little. This is where again you see someone reading right to the door of the examination hall. You need to relax and settle down just before you enter the exam. Reading to the door will in most cases unsettle you.

This might work for some people because we are different but I know reading to the door normally causes exam blackouts. You will agree with me that at times when you read to the door, you enter the exam and you open the question paper and you discover that what you were reading at the door is indeed in the paper but you can’t just recall any of those things — suddenly you are blank. This is the blackout. I am not a psychologist and cannot fully explain how the human brain functions but suffice to say it happens and is caused mostly by not settling the mind before the exam.

Some adults because of lack of preparation will bring “discs” (prepared answers and formulae) in the exam written on rulers, rubbers, the inside of caps and hats and at times on hands and thighs — this is suicide. Invigilators will catch you and you are disqualified.

The other behaviour that fails candidates is poor time management. Recently again I was invigilating and a candidate called me and whispered “Sir, how much time is left?” I whispered back “ten minutes”. He immediately said “Oh! my God”. Yes “your God” but it’s too late. He started writing wildly like Mr Bean when he had taken the wrong exam.

Take your clock to the exam; do not depend on the clock provided for in the exam hall. At times the exam hall is too big and the clock is not quite visible from certain points. Take your stop watch to the exam and allocate your time accordingly. In 3-hour exams where you are doing four questions, you know you have 45-minutes per question. At 43-minutes, wind up your answer and go to the next question. When you finish the question in 40 minutes, you know you have 50 minutes to do the next question and so on. Many a time candidates don’t finish exams because of poor time management.

When you choose your questions to answer, rank them in terms of your strength, beginning with the easiest and finishing off with the question you find the most difficult on your choice. I have heard people say you start with the most difficult question while you are still fresh . . . this advice is “poison”.

During the exam do not peep to check on what your neighbour is doing, mind your own business. You can unsettle yourself by being a peeping Tom. You peep and you realise your neighbour has written a page while you are still planning; leave him alone, it’s not a competition. When in the exam just forget about your neighbour.

When the Jacaranda is flowering we again start our countdown for Christmas. May I take this opportunity to wish all candidates this year the best in their coming examinations. There are those employed young adults (below 40) who have not written an exam in the past 10 years — be warned — you are decaying — soon you will be manure.