South Africa has now registered more than 500,000 cases of coronavirus, the health ministry announced Saturday, making it by far the hardest-hit country in Africa.
South Africa Health Minister Zweli Mkhize
The country has become the epicentre of the deadly pandemic on the continent, accounting for more than half of Africa’s diagnosed infections.
“Today South Africa has exceeded the half-a-million mark with a cumulative total of 503,290 confirmed COVID-19 cases recorded,” Heath Minister Zweli Mkhize said in his daily update.
More than a third of positive cases are in Gauteng province — South Africa’s financial hub.
So far the number of fatalities stands at 8,153, although local researchers have recorded a jump of nearly 60 percent in the overall number of natural deaths in recent weeks, suggesting a far higher toll of coronavirus-related fatalities than officially recorded.
An analysis by the respected South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) suggested an excess of 22,000 natural mortalities between May 6 and July 21 compared to same period in 2019 and 2018.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said Saturday South Africa’s case fatality rate stood at 1.6 percent — “significantly lower than the global average”.
“While South Africa has the fifth highest number of total COVID-19 cases globally, we have only the 36th highest number of deaths as a proportion of the population,” said Ramaphosa.
– Corruption investigations –
South Africa’s case load has been rising rapidly in recent weeks.
Health authorities have been expecting a surge in cases after the gradual loosening of a strict lockdown that was imposed on March 27, during the early stage of the pandemic.
But the recovery rate has so far been a high 68 percent.
South Africa has one of the best health care systems on the continent, but it has been rocked by alleged corruption in the supply of personal protective gear for health workers in public hospitals.
Ramaphosa’s spokeswoman Khusela Diko last week took leave pending a probe into her husband’s alleged links to unlawful contracts for personal protective equipment.
Diko and her husband have maintained their innocence, saying the contract was never finalised.
The health minister for Gauteng province Bandile Masuke was sent on forced leave this week pending a probe into suspected graft in the purchase of protective equipment and other medical supplies.
“It is unconscionable that there are people who may be using this health crisis to unlawfully enrich themselves,” Ramaphosa said in his statement Saturday.
South Africa has embarked on an aggressive testing and tracing exercise, conducting more than three million tests since the first case of the virus was recorded there in early March. AFP
Gut-wrenching images of seven stillborn infants wrapped separately in green sheets and laid out in a row on a hospital counter in Zimbabwe have drawn public outrage.
Wilkins Hospital in Harare (Picture by AFP)
Seven of the eight births in one night last week at just one state hospital in Zimbabwe’s capital were still, and medics warned that the incident was just a tip of the iceberg of the dire state of health care in the southern African country.
The public health care system is teetering on the brink of breakdown with shortages of basic drugs and equipment and an overburdened and underpaid staff.
Experts say the health crisis has its roots in the country’s wider economic collapse which has brought back hyperinflation, shut factories, pushed the official unemployment rate to an estimated 90% and seen the majority of the population sink deeper into poverty and hardly able to afford a square meal.
The coronavirus pandemic has added to the crises.
Nurses countrywide have been on a go-slow for months demanding improved remuneration and coronavirus protective gear.
They have since been joined by senior and junior doctors.
Burying his agriculture minister Perrance Shiri, who died from coronavirus last week, Zimbabwe’s leader Emmerson Mnangagwa appealed to health workers in the face of the rapidly spreading pandemic.
On Saturday night, the country recorded 490 cases, its highest number of new COVID-19 infections in any 24-hour cycle.
‘Act in the national interest’, Emmerson Mnangagwa tells health workers (Picture by AFP)
The total number of diagnosed cases now stands at 3,659 with the number of deaths having more than doubled to 69 in ten days.
“I call on our medical staff to act in the national interest and exhibit sense of responsibility,” said Mnangagwa in a eulogy on Friday.
“Your grievances, which we acknowledge and continue to address, cannot be at the expense of the loss of lives.
“When the pandemic spreads and the death toll rises there are no winners, none at all. We all die,” he said.
But nurses who staged protests separately at major state hospitals last month have vowed not to backpedal until their grievances are addressed.
“Nurses are being infected everyday,” president of the Urban and Rural Council Nurses Workers’ Union Simbarashe Tafirenyika said.
“We are being forced to wear N95 masks for seven days and surgical masks for three days yet we are supposed to use them once before we dispose them.
“We cannot continue dying and we will protect ourselves and families by staying home,” he said.
– ‘We all die’ –
The country has had no substantive health minister for nearly a month.
President Mnangagwa sacked health minister Obadiah Moyo on July 7 after he was charged with corruption over the illegal awarding a $20-million contract for coronavirus testing kits and protective gear.
Most public hospitals are without administrative heads following their dismissal en-masse over corruption allegations related to the procurement of coronavirus equipment.
Doctors attribute complications that lead to deaths of infants to difficulties by expectant mothers to access health care when needed.
The few staff reporting for duty at government hospitals that serve the majority of poverty-stricken Zimbabweans feel overwhelmed.
“The situation is of deep concern,” Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association head, Norman Matara told AFP.
“A brave doctor only managed to take that picture (of dead infants) but that is a very small number taking into consideration what is happening in other hospitals,” said Matara.
“We have no PPEs and all the government does is promise. There are no medicines in the hospitals. It is difficult to do our job,” said Matara.
According to Matara, 15% of the national recorded virus infections have been detected among health workers.
“That’s a huge number. It shows that we are at high risk of getting infected as such we can’t continue working without protective clothing,” Matara said.
A lobby group, the Community Working Group on Health, is urging president Mnangagwa to urgently fix the health sector and stop unnecessary deaths and suffering.
“There is a lack of political seriousness needed to address the current health challenges,” said the group’s director Itai Rusike.
“Without a substantive minister and permanent secretary to lead from the front in dealing with the crippling industrial action, the ministry is operating on autopilot,” added Rusike. AFP
The death toll from a toxic bootleg alcohol scandal in the north Indian state of Punjab rose to 98 Sunday, officials and reports said.
A man sits by the body of a relative who died after apparently drinking toxic moonshine. Dozens of people in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district have died after consuming illicit booze in recent days (Picture by AFP)
Police have arrested 25 people so far over the worsening tragedy, which starting coming to light late last week, the Press Trust of India news agency said.
Hundreds of people die every year in India from illegal alcohol made in backstreet distilleries which sells for as little as 10 rupees (13 US cents) a litre, affordable for even the poorest.
The death toll from the illicit booze had risen to 75 in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district after further investigation, the local administration’s deputy commissioner Kulwant Singh said.
“Several families refused to divulge details of deaths and a few even cremated them. We have come to this number after information gathering,” Singh told AFP Sunday.
A further 11 people had died in Gurdaspur district, a local official told AFP. PTI reported Saturday that toxic moonshine had also killed 12 in Amritsar.
Relatives of the victims mourned on Sunday as the state opposition party called on the Punjab government to “curb liquor mafia in the state” in a series of tweets.
Punjab state chief minister Amarinder Singh said Friday he had ordered a special inquiry into the deaths and “anyone found guilty will not be spared”.
In a separate incident, authorities in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh said on Friday that nine people had died after drinking alcohol-based sanitiser.
Of the estimated five billion litres of alcohol drunk every year in India, around 40 percent is illegally produced, according to the International Spirits and Wine Association of India.
Deaths are frequently reported, with bootleggers often found adding methanol — a highly toxic form of alcohol sometimes used as an anti-freeze — in their brews to increase its strength.
If ingested, methanol can cause blindness, liver damage and death in larger concentrations.
In 2015, more than 100 people died in a Mumbai slum died after drinking illegal moonshine. AFP
Tsitsi Dangarembga during an appearance on eNCA in South Africa
Award-winning Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembga, a nominee for this year’s Booker Prize, was arrested in the country’s capital, Harare, during an anti-government protest on Friday.
Tsitsi Dangarembga during an appearance on eNCA in South Africa
Dangarembga, 61, and another protester were bundled into a police lorry while carrying placards.
The government had warned that participation in Friday’s demonstration is regarded as insurrection.
Police and soldiers were patrolling cities where streets were mainly empty.
Opposition parties and civil society organisations had called for protests against alleged government corruption and a deepening economic crisis with inflation running at more than 700%.
But President Emmerson Mnangagwa has accused the opposition of exploiting the country’s economic challenges to topple his government.
Zimbabwean novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga, centre, and a colleague Julie Barnes hold placards as they are arrested on July 31, 2020 in Harare. (ZINYANGE AUNTONY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
An opposition politician who called for the demonstration is in detention, arrested last week and charged with inciting violence.
He remains behind bars, along with prominent investigative journalist Hopewell Chin’ono, who was detained at the same time.
In June Chin’ono had exposed an alleged multi-million dollar scandal involving coronavirus supplies – revelations which led to the sacking of the health minister.
Why is the protest banned?
The authorities say that the demonstration is not allowed because of coronavirus restrictions.
Scores of people were arrested Friday in Zimbabwe as hundreds of military troops as well as police attempted to thwart an anti-government protest, with streets empty and many people hiding indoors. (ZINYANGE AUNTONY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
Security forces have intensified their patrols and streets are deserted despite assurances by government that the public should go about their normal business without fear, reports the BBC’s Shingai Nyoka in Harare,
Covid-19 checkpoints have meant only essential service workers have been allowed in the city centre, she says.
Most people have chosen to stay at home – and the few who have gone out to demonstrate have faced arrest.
The main opposition Movement Democratic Change (MDC) party says several of its supporters, including a party official, have been detained.
A photographer with the AFP news agency reports that police bundled Dangarembga and another protester into a lorry full of police armed with AK-47 rifles and riot gear.
Dangarembga was carrying placards calling for reforms and for the release of Chin’ono, the agency says.
The author later tweeted that they were being held at Borrowdale Police Station, later saying: “May not be able to tweet for a while.”
On Thursday, Dangarembga had told the BBC that demonstrating against the government was “necessary” given the situation in the country.
“Every sector is disintegrating. Health, education, the economy. I am concerned for my safety. It would be naïve not to be because we have a very repressive regime and we know that they will most likely be deployed against the people,” she said.
“This is one of the grievances that the people have, that the security forces, the security service is often deployed against the people, instead of being deployed for the protection of the people.”
Who is Tsitsi Dangarembga?
The writer and film director was born in Mutoko town in the north-east of the country when it was under white-minority rule.
At the age of two she moved with her parents to the UK, returning to her homeland in 1980 just before Zimbabwe became independent.
Her first novel Nervous Conditions won the African section of the Commonwealth Writers Prize in 1989.
Other award-winning credits include Neria, Zimbabwe’s most successful film released in 1993.
Her latest book, This Mournable Body, is on the Booker Prize longlist, which was unveiled earlier this week.
It is a sequel to Nervous Conditions, and “channels the hope and potential of one young girl and a fledgling nation to lead us on a journey to discover where lives go after hope has departed”, the Booker Prize website says. BBC News
The husband is Eria Tembo, son to the late Zimbabwe international musician Biggie Tembo.
By Takawira ‘Photovet’ Dapi
End Time Messages Church Pastor Daniel Mutowembwa recently ordered his daughter to come back home because her husband had not paid lobola.
The husband is Eria Tembo, son to the late Zimbabwe international musician Biggie Tembo.
The husband is Eria Tembo, son to the late Zimbabwe international musician Biggie Tembo. H-Metro got in touch with him and he claimed his wife was forcibly taken from him.
He blamed a rival suitor, Mind Chibanda, of sponsoring the whole fiasco.
“Mai Michael (Faith Mutowembwa) is my wife. Mind Chibanda is the boyfriend. I Am hurt so much because Mind Chibanda (a businessman) is using money to destroy my family, he took my wife and kids, as a result of lust.
Truth be told, I am on his back and revenge is along the way .I will do my level best to recover my lost treasure..peace shall never be his until he admits that he is an agent of darkness.
“Again, The funny part is that pastor Daniel Mutowembwa (father to my wife, faith) is the pastor of end time message …a strong disciple to the doctrine of pastor Gumbura, he is the one behind all this drama, all for money and riches.”
“I got married to Faith Mutowembwa in 2017 and we were a small happy family living in Zimre Park. On January 5 2018 God blessed us with a baby boy whom we named Michael Tinodaishe Tembo. On the 6th of May 2020, once again God blessed me with a baby girl. “However on the 17th of the same month, my wife went to her parents’ place to recover after giving birth to our daughter.
“The surprising part, during delivery Mai Michael confessed that her mom wasn’t happy and she didn’t like the idea of a new baby borns to us. Moreover, surprisingly on the 25th of the same month she appeared home in the company of her mother asking to collect all her stuff .
“This came as a shock to me but I complied as it is with the Shona culture to always respect in-laws especially at a time like that. She explained that her father commanded that she returns home.
“Little did I know that I was slowly being substituted. To them I wasn’t fit enough to be their son in-law. The issue of not paying the full lobola was just an excuse,” narrated Tembo.
“I knew it wasn’t an issue of lobola but rather Faith’s long time boyfriend was showing up in the picture. Being a businessman as he is, money and power was all he could use to destroy my innocent family.
“Although she denies it to me i have proof that on the 19th of the same month they used Chibanda’s car to carry my wife from home to her parents’ place.
“It all came to light when I searched the driver’s name on Facebook and discovered that he was an employee to Chibanda, an indication that my wife and this guy were constantly communicating.
“After that, my wife changed her line and subsequently, I was now being replied by Chibanda claiming that my wife was his and that my newly born baby is also his blood…imagine, prior to the birth of the baby as an artist I had already composed a song of Thanksgiving to God appreciating him for my family and the new baby..I even gave her the name Jermaima in that song…only to be told that she is not mine but CHIBANDA’S and they even went on to change her name…
“Imagine the kind of pain that these wicked people made me go through!
“Being a responsible father, I texted my wife to get feedback on the well being of my youngsters but the response was just painful. She sent me a picture of herself together with the boyfriend in bed and asked me not to disturb them.”
Tembo said he now wants a DNA test to ascertain that he is not Jermaima’s father. He said he leaves everything to God “for he is my only hope of a better future.”
He wants to concentrate on his music career and hopes for better fortunes.
“I am working hard to defend the BHUNDU LEGACY and I will not allow the devil to bring bhundu legacy to ashes. One of my closest friends Francis Gwatidzo aka FG Commander is the closest witness to all this stuff happening around me and I thank God he is there for me and together we will bring something from nothing regardless of all these challenges.
“I have new projects to be released soon and one of the tracks entitled MUCHATO was inspired by these incidences.” he said.
Faith denied being with any boyfriend saying she was by her parents. She gave her parents the phone to confirm her whereabouts.
Her mother Tsitsi confirmed that they got Faith back from Tembo, “Yes i was sent by my husband VaMutowembwa to retrieve our daughter from the trauma she has been living in since she got married.
“I can’t even call it marriage as Eria Tembo never paid a cent as respect semunhu anemwana wevanhu” fumed Tsitsi.
Faith’s father, Pastor Mutowembwa, said Tembo used to physically abuse her, “I could not watch witnessing my daughter being butchered by stranger, day and night. It’s not an in law because that man never paid me a cent as lobola or any gesture of respect, I have my child here at my home not zvarikunyepa izvo,” he said.
Faith said her ex husband’s version of events is a lie.
“Eria is a liar, go and ask where he used to work at Amnesty International, we stayed near their offices, they know all the abuse he used to expose me to which is the reason why he was fired by them because I think you know that, that organization is for human rights.
“I can not give you Mind` s number because haa zvonetsa, hazvifarire, he is a businessman anezvinhu zvake, zvetunyaya twenhemha tusinabasa utwu haaa, I can’t give you his mobile. Plus I can’t meet Eria he can kill.me” she said. H Metro
Scores of people were arrested Friday in Zimbabwe as hundreds of military troops as well as police attempted to thwart an anti-government protest, with streets empty and many people hiding indoors.
Zimbabwean novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga, centre, and a colleague Julie Barnes hold placards as they are arrested on July 31, 2020 in Harare. (ZINYANGE AUNTONY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
Organizers said demonstrators originally planned to protest alleged government corruption but instead targeted the ruling political party, using the hashtag #ZANUPFmustgo.”
Tensions are rising in Zimbabwe as the economy implodes. Inflation is more than 700%, the second highest in the world. Now the coronavirus burdens the threadbare health system.
Police arrested scores of people who tried to hold low-key protests, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said. They included prominent author Tsitsi Dangarembga and Fadzayi Mahere, spokeswoman of the main opposition MDC Alliance party. Mahere was charged with “participating in an “unlawful gathering,” her lawyers said.
Fadzayi Mahere was charged with “participating in an “unlawful gathering,” her lawyers said.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has described the planned protest as “an insurrection to overthrow our democratically elected government.” He warned that security agents “will be vigilant and on high alert.”
Speaking at the burial Friday of a cabinet minister who died from COVID-19, Mnangagwa did not directly refer to the protest but called for unity and urged Zimbabweans to shun violence.
The normally teeming downtown capital, Harare, was deserted as soldiers and police patrolled and manned checkpoints. An army helicopter hovered over some of the capital’s poor, volatile suburbs. Security forces on Thursday drove people out of the city and forced businesses to close.
“So both the government and the people are afraid of protests more than coronavirus,” chuckled a security guard, walking along an empty road. “I have never seen these security people so effective, and the people so compliant, even during those days of the complete lockdown.”
Scores of people were arrested Friday in Zimbabwe as hundreds of military troops as well as police attempted to thwart an anti-government protest, with streets empty and many people hiding indoors. (ZINYANGE AUNTONY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
The southern African country had gradually relaxed its lockdown to allow for some commercial activity, but it continues to ban protests as part of lockdown rules.
The opposition and human rights groups have said they witnessed abuses such as arrests, detentions, beatings and the stalking of activists and ordinary people accused of violating the lockdown ahead of the planned protest.
Police and government spokespeople have dismissed the allegations, even as a prominent journalist and a politician behind the protest have spent close to two weeks in detention.
Mnangagwa’s administration accuses the U.S. government of funding the two men and other activists involved in mobilizing the protest, with a ruling party spokesman this week calling the U.S. ambassador a “thug.”
Anti-government protests in Zimbabwe in 2018 and 2019 resulted in the killing of several people, allegedly by the military.
The pandemic has brought a new layer of suffering.
In public hospitals, doctors and nurses are frequently on strike and infrastructure is so dilapidated that “unborn children and mothers are dying daily,” according to the Zimbabwe Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
The World Food Program this week projected that the number of Zimbabweans facing food insecurity could reach 8.6 million by the end of the year.
That would be “a staggering 60% of the population – owing to the combined effects of drought, economic recession and the pandemic,” the WFP said, appealing for more money to intervene.
Former Zanu PF national political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere (Picture by VOA)
By Harriet Chikandiwa
Former Local Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere has challenged ex-Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono and presented evidence that he settled his debt under the Farm Mechanisation Programme.
Former Zanu PF national political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere (Picture by VOA)
Kasukuwere was forced to absolve himself after a State-owned daily claimed that he did not pay back the loan under the programme after United Kingdom-based Zimbabwe lawyer Alex Magaisa disclosed the full list of top Zanu PF bigwigs and their cronies who benefited from the controversial scheme in 2007/8.
In a statement, the former Zanu PF national commissar blamed top party and government officials for hiding behind the finger, by claiming that the programme was not a loan in order to avoid paying back.
“It is with great disappointment that I learnt the RBZ and some former executives of the Fiscorp under which we were allocated farm equipment have professed ignorance on there being any payment on my part with respect to the items given to me,” Kasukuwere said.
“I have previously stated that I indeed made payment, and if anything was left outstanding, I would be happy to receive the relevant invoice and settle the payment. However, nothing has been done expect for public shaming of my person.”
Kasukuwere said he signed a purchase agreement with Fiscorp on November 19, 2008 which indicated he was to pay $3 390 533 275.
“Understanding the need for this equipment and my dedication to my farming operations, I made the payment the very next day, November 20 2008, through a CFX electronic funds transfer of the sum of $3 390 533 275.”
He said he would not tolerate a smear campaign.
“As previously mentioned, I am happy to pay for any other equipment I may have received if an invoice is availed and proof of who took delivery and signed for the receipt is brought to my attention,” Kasukuwere said. News Day
Acting MDC-T secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora was dealt a blow by the police after they turned down his request to hold an extraordinary congress on Thursday.
Acting MDC-T secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora
In a letter to Mwonzora, the police said due to the spike in COVID-19 cases, especially local transmissions, it had been found necessary to tighten lockdown regulations.
“Be kindly advised that due to COVID-19 cases that are on the increase especially local transmissions,” Chief Staff Officer Commissioner Isaac Tayengwa said in a letter dated July 21.
“It has been found necessary to tighten lockdown regulations to prevent the spread of the pandemic across the country. To this end, you are advised not to go ahead with your congress.”
Mwonzora has been “holding” provincial congresses to get nominations for him to take over as MDC-T president.
He clashed with party interim leader Thokozani Khupe last week when he overrode a decision by the party’s national standing committee to kick-start the nomination process against resolutions suspending the process. News Day
NetOne has allegedly spent over $20 million RTGS in legal costs alone as they pursue their warfare to chuck Muchenje out, a close source has revealed.
Lazarus Muchenje
The costs have been incurred from March this year with court challenges presently either in the supreme, high or magistrate courts, all to achieve one thing – Muchenje’s ouster.
This has reflected badly as poor corporate governance where all involved parties must have simply closed their doors, aired their differences and find each other or should have just calculated an exit package for Muchenje to calm the storm.
It has become apparent that Muchenje is no longer wanted at NetOne and must go at all costs, even after dropping the charges against him.
Sources close to the developments however state that Muchenje is guilty of frustrating the return of ZTE at NetOne, a lucrative deal which its handlers will not rest till he is gone.
The biggest question that motivated this article, however, is to what end are these handlers willing to go and how much more will they spend to see Muchenje gone?
More importantly, whose money is paying for these costs?
NetOne is a public company and Zimbabweans have a say in how they are spending our money.
Just between May and July at least five urgent chamber applications were done as the legal warfares soared.
A matter they could just have settled in the absence of public eye.
The matter has destroyed NetOne’s reputation, tried to soil the judge’s name, damaged Muchenje’s character, forced 5 board members to resign, got 3 board members arrested, caused 3 executives to be fired 7 employees arrested, and more names will be on the list if they continue on this treacherous path.
NetOne has engaged five different law firms with Advocate Eric Matinenga dealing specifically with the High Court challenges on illegal and unlawful dismissal of Muchenje while word on the street state that his minimum charges per appearance is nothing short of USD$3 000.
He is allegedly appeared more than four times which is a minimum of USD$12 000 or ZWL$1 200 000 RTGS in local currency.
Justice Chinhengo was also appointed to deal with Labour and disciplinary issues since March 2, 2020 to date.
He is the one representing NetOne on the case of refusal to give Board minutes to the police as well as procurement documents.
NetOne board members in happy times..
To date the police officers have been denied this information, because NetOne board challenged the cause instead of simply being transparent.
Another Law firm Kuhuni and Associates is also acting at the High Court over illegal disciplinary hearing with huge costs of continuous appearance which we are yet to independently ascertain.
They are also appearing at the magistrate courts for Criminal charges against the CEO.
Gill Godlonton and Gerrans were hired as well for the High Court over illegal disciplinary and termination of employment.
Another law firm Mhishi and Nkomo are appearing at the magistrate courts for criminal charges, which are not dropped at court.
All these five law firms were selected by whatever methodology and are all charging NetOne continuously during these cat and mouse games that they could have solved internally and save revenue for the organisation.
It is now obvious that the board will never be able to implement whatever moves they want so long as Muchenje is there, meaning both parties are now holding NetOne at ransom.
Currently NetOne does not have a CEO, CTO, COO and Chief finance officer meaning the company basically has no direction, yet the lawsuit appetite is so huge , begging the question who else might be gaining through these fights.
It is alleged that the NetOne board has employed lawyers to work with ZACC and the Public Prosecutors and yet NetOne should not be involved as this is now a state case with State paid lawyers.
How was this decision made to help state with legal aid?
With regards to High Court cases HC 1524/20 and HC3611/20 where CEO sued the directors in their personal capacities, NetOne lawyers were used as well to represent them and likely the mobile network paid for the costs.
This is pure abuse of office which must be investigated.
Two Supreme Court appeals were lodged by NetOne One in the case of HC1524/20 and the other one is case HC3611/20, although these were withdrawn, these are matters the lawyers already dealt with and billed.
NetOne is a public company, Zimbabweans own NetOne, noone else must feel important or has more rights.
Lazarus Muchenje, handlers and the board members have no such right over NetOne. They are certainly not acting within the interest of the organisation.
Its not their company and this massive leakage needs to stop now.
Millions of public funds are going down the drain on a showdown that is purely unnecessary and the end of this cat and mouse game must see all the involved parties forced to pay for these costs.
NetOne currently has poor network connectivity and service availability yet all efforts are being put in nothing but warfares. Millions are already being wasted and the involved parties are willing to go all the way down.
Whose money is being wasted on all these nonsensical arguments?
Its time Zimbabweans demand their money back at NetOne and stop this heavy leakage!!!
The young generation is just watching by yet our resources are being plundered and we have abetted these leakages by our silences and allowed the involved players to think that they are mandated to destroy our legacy in their quest to fight personal differences.
Muchenje’s package is probably less than $10 million RTGS worth, he has a right to move on as well, in the interest of NetOne he must bargain his worth and allow the organisation to move on.
At a certain point and time , these parties must be asked to pay us back our money, NetOne is a public company and must never be run like a private company with personal interests over national interests. News Day
Outspoken opposition politician and lawyer Job Sikhala
By Nyashadzashe Ndoro
Opposition MDC Alliance Vice Chairman and Zengeza West MP, Job Sikhala has vowed to bring the country into a season of mass protest “until we have achieved and obtained our results.”
Outspoken opposition MDC MP and lawyer Job Sikhala
Zimbabwe witnessed peaceful protests on Friday, the demonstrations that were convened by jailed opposition Transform Zimbabwe leader Jacob Ngarivhume meant to fight corruption in President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s under-fire administration.
Ngarivhume was arrested last week by the police and charged with inciting violence.
Across major cities and towns, state security details mainly soldiers and the police flooded the streets, enforcing a total lockdown, a move widely seen by many as meant to crush protests.
Sikhala sent a three minute audio congratulating protesters and vowed to give them direction on Monday and to make sure that demonstrations continue until the aim is achieved.
“They thought we were going to express ourselves according to their prescription.
“Today we have shown, we great Zimbabweans, that we are people who can’t be taken for granted. We are more sophisticated than the oppressor.
“We have two clear plans when we have been calling for this action on the 31st of July. The first one was that if citizens are able to express themselves on the streets so be it.
“Second one was an expectation that the state will unleash its massive military arsenal against the citizens then the citizens will successfully retreat into their homes.
“We are going to give a review of the situation this weekend. We are going to give you a way forward by Monday. We can not retreat and it must remain protracted until we have achieved and obtained our results,” Sikhala said.
Also, Monday last week, investigative journalist Hopewell Chin’ono who exposed alleged government corruption involving Mnangagwa’s son, Collins in the supply of coronavirus supplies, was arrested and charged with inciting citizens to “participate in public violence.” Nehanda Radio
