A BULAWAYO family’s attempt to extort $1,000 from a tenant they falsely accused of raping their daughter backfired yesterday when a magistrate acquitted the man.
Family demands $1,000 to withdraw rape charge
A family member allegedly caught Wellington Kambarami, 36, who is married, having sex with their daughter, Charity Tshuma, 19. The family, from Woodville suburb claimed Kambarami had raped the girl and reported him to the police.
They later withdrew the case after Kambarami signed an agreement making an undertaking to pay the family $1,000.
The family later decided to have Kambarami prosecuted after he paid $600 and failed to raise the remainder.
Kambarami yesterday told senior regional magistrate Trynos Utahwashe that he had consensual sex with Tshuma.
He produced pictures and a video to prove he was in a relationship with her.
Tshuma produced torn panties and a blouse as exhibits to prove she was raped.
Kambarami said, “We fell in love in April and during the same month we had consensual sex inside a room I was renting at the family’s house in Woodville. On April 25 while we were having sex, her brother knocked at my door and she jumped out of the room through a window,” he said.
He said Tshuma told her mother that she was raped after her brother told their parents that he had seen her jumping from the room naked through the window.
“Her parents then demanded $1,000 from me and I promised that I would pay the following week. Her mother then made a police report and I was arrested. I’ve pictures of us in positions suggesting intimacy to prove our relationship,” he said.
The Chronicle is in possession of a document signed by the parents who received $600 from Kambarami as part payment of an out of court settlement.
“The case of rape having been reported to Queens Park ZRP offices is hereby withdrawn by Charity Tshuma with the consent of her parents upon receipt of $600 as payment of an out of court settlement. Balance of $400 to be paid,” read the document which was signed by Tshuma’s parents.
Magistrate Utahwashe said he was angry because Tshuma wasted the court’s time by still insisting she did not know Kambarami even after he produced pictures.
“The courts have no time to deal with such dead cases and the State must ensure that we do not waste time deliberating on such. The evidence before the court clearly shows there was consent.
“Kambarami if convicted was going to spend about 20 years in prison for something he didn’t do,” he said.
“This girl was supposed to be honest with her parents and confess that she was sleeping with the accused,” said Utahwashe.
He found Kambarami not guilty and acquitted him.
Tshuma’s mother however could not stomach the ruling and approached the prosecutor Robin Mukura alleging that Kambarami had artificially created the pictures to buy his freedom.
Mukura was alleging that on April 25 at around 9PM, Tshuma was preparing food on the fire outside their house as there was no electricity.
“After cooking, she proceeded to her room and on her way she met Kambarami in the corridor. He got hold of her and forced her into his room,” said Mukura.
He said when they got into the room, Kambarami undressed her.
“He raped her once using a condom. Tshuma’s brother knocked and Kambarami forced Tshuma to leave the room through the window,” alleged the prosecutor. The Chronicle
A FIVE-man-gang allegedly raided an Esigodini businesswoman’s home, tied her up with with barbed wire and burnt her breast and thighs with a log while demanding $3,000 from her.
Five-man gang strips, tortures businesswoman during robbery
The robbers dragged the woman from bed where she was sleeping with her husband and stripped her naked before assaulting her.
Samukeliso Dlamini, the owner of Ziyadinga General Dealer in Esigodini, was last week rushed to hospital following the torture.
The gang got away with $1,200, a Nokia cellphone and clothes valued at $2,147.
One of the suspected robbers, Nqobizitha Ndlovu, 33, of Ntabenemnyama village under Chief Gwebu briefly appeared before Gwanda magistrate Arafat Kozanai facing robbery and assault charges.
He was not asked to plead and was remanded in custody to Thursday.
Prosecuting, Marllony Mazorodze said on July 6 this year at around midnight, Ndlovu together with four accomplices who are still at large, went to Dlamini’s house while she was sleeping with her husband, Butholezwe Nxumalo.
“The accused and his accomplices went to Ziyadinga General Dealer, Adma’s Farm in Esigodini wielding logs. Upon arrival at the shop, they went into the main house where the complainant and her husband Butholezwe Nxumalo were sleeping. They forced open the locked door and got inside the room,” said the prosecutor.
“The accused person and his colleagues then dragged the complainant from her bed and undressed her. They then started to assault her with logs all over her body demanding $3,000 from her,” he said.
Mazorodze told the court that Nxumalo was also assaulted on the head several times with a log when he tried to defend his wife.
The court heard that Dlamini initially refused to give in to the robbers’ demands but when they continued to torture her, she directed them to a wardrobe where they took $800.
Mazorodze said after taking the cash, Ndlovu and his gang continued demanding $3,000 from Dlamini.
“The accused persons tied the complainant’s hands and legs with barbed wire while one of the accused went outside and brought a burning log and started to burn the complainant on her breast and thighs, demanding more money.
“Due to the pain, the complainant ended up giving them additional $400. They also took some groceries, a Nokia cellphone and clothes,” the court heard.
Dlamini and her husband identified Ndlovu as they knew him, leading to his arrest.
Although the couple was hospitalised after the ordeal, it was not mentioned in court to which hospital they were taken to. The Chronicle
Zimbabwe’s media, though not publicly stating it, is smarting from the recent cabinet reshuffle. Not least because the previous minister responsible for information, Professor Jonathan Moyo, was a rather larger than life character, but also because he had taken great control of the media reform agenda or a lack of it.
Former MisInformation Minister: Jonathan Moyo
From his now muted Information and Media Panel of Inquiry (IMPI), through to his statements over and about broadcasting, media ethics and statements against criminal defamation, Moyo curried the media’s favour (and rare anger) through what can be only described with hindsight as a ‘carrot and stick’ method.
Not that the media did not appreciate the seeming open door policy that Moyo offered. It actively participated in overtures such as IMPI (and the monetary benefits attendant thereto) despite the latter’s sketchy legal mandate. Others took advantage and also applied for local commercial radio station licences which were to be duly granted to those that have been accused of being close to the Zanu Pf establishment or at least having close links to Moyo.
Key questions that emerge however relate to whether in fact Moyo’s tenure at the ministry of media, information and broadcasting services achieved much or at least addressed the structural challenges faced by Zimbabwe’s media.
A closer to the truth answer would be that the media can argue that there is the IMPI report as a clear sign of some sort of progress, at least where it proposes media policy changes. The only problem with this remains the fact that it is a report that as it was began, awaits the benevolence of the now acting minister to be implemented.
Furthermore, the continued government ambiguity over and about criminal defamation essentially means that barring a constitutional courts pending determination on the matter, the qualitative democratization of our media environment is yet to be realized.
Even media owners (print/electronic), independent television and film producers though having been promised improved functional conditions, are still waiting for that aspect of a ‘media industry’ that was much vaunted at the beginning of Moyo’s recently ended tenure in that ministry.
So if there is any immediate lesson that the media as a whole has to draw from Moyo’s tenure in that particular ministry is that it is not enough to rely on the ambivalent benevolence of a singular government official.
This should not be taken to mean that ministers or policy makers cannot be lobbied successfully on a singular basis. But that such lobbying must remain cognizant of cooptation into policy processes over which the media itself eventually has little or no control for their lack of transparency or statutory posterity.
Add to this the fact that the media must avoid bifurcation where government claims to be addressing its concerns. There should be common ground principles and values established by media stakeholders in a holistic fashion before getting head first into government reform frameworks.
So for example there is need for media stakeholders to clearly define their parameters of interaction, their anticipated roles in broader social, cultural and economic development frameworks and any other pertinent issues of their fields of specialty.
This is not an easy task and often times it is easier to wait on government but the latter has no problem of playing easily variegated interests against the other.
Essentially Zimbabwe’s media must learn to be much more honest with itself going forward. And such honesty cannot include negating its true ‘fourth estate’ role to the whims of government or just the pursuit of profit.
What is required is a balance between editorial values, profit motives (media owner editorial interference), safe and freer working conditions for journalists and respecting government from a constitutionally given but safe distance.
Where the media fails to do so, there will be other seemingly ‘distant from the center’ cases such as that of Chiredzi journalist, Patrick Chitongo, who is out on bail pending appeal on his one year jail term for publishing a newspaper without a license.
The Zimbabwean media must increasingly stand its own ground on its own terms which are informed by organically arrived at democratic values and principles that help maintain its editorial independence and serves the best democratic public interest.
Whatever its incremental gains or losses after Moyo’s ‘carrot and stick’ tenure, the media must regroup and define itself much more holistically for its own sake and for that of the country.
The dispute between dendera musician Suluman Chimbetu and Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara) is far from over, it has emerged. Recently Chimbetu accused the road administration body for failing to honour their promises.
Suluman “Sulu” Chimbetu
Sulu was appointed brand ambassador in 2013 and was reportedly promised an annual salary, a monthly housing allowance, royalties from advertisements and exemption from paying toll fees.
The musician said the only benefit he got was exemption from paying toll fees.
Zinara spokesperson Augustine Moyo dismissed the musician’s claims saying there was no contract between the two parties.
“Who appointed Sulu? Who promised him a housing allowance? Where is it written in black and white? Sulu came through a third party that was working on Zinara advertising and we as an organisation did not have direct communication with him. There is need for Sulu and his team to come out clean on this one.” said Moyo.
Moyo said discussions on finding the way forward have been hindered by the musician’s decision to vent his grievances via the media.
“I confirm we have had meetings with Sulu, his lawyer and one Mr Masocha to clear the air on this and other issues that he has raised but it now makes it difficult to sit on a round table when he and his team are running to the Press to force us to give a position,” he said.
He said they don’t make decisions based on media reports.
“In every organisation, there are processes and procedures that must be followed and if they confirm they have had meetings with Zinara why then are they rushing to you? We deal with public funds and we account for every dollar that accrues into the road fund and we are not a tuckshop where the owner makes unilateral decisions,” he said.
He said they were not responsible for funding birthday parties.
“Our core business as an organisation is to collect, administer and disburse funds to road authorities for road maintenance and not fund birthday parties,” said Moyo.
Sources said the musician was mulling legal action against Zinara.
“They failed to agree and the musician has since instructed his legal team to institute some sort of action,” said the source.
The musician’s publicist, Joe Nyamungoma, confirmed the development but could not shed more light.
“Yes, there is a misunderstanding and we are hoping to agree so that we don’t go the legal way,” he said. The Herald
TWO Pretoria-bound Zimbabwean women were reportedly abducted and burnt to death after the commuter omnibus they boarded at Musina near Beitbridge Border Post last month was intercepted by unidentified criminals who later demanded an undisclosed amount as ransom from the deceased’s husbands in South Africa.
Beitbridge border post
The deceased – named as Esther Mwinde and Olga Gwena, both from Kariba — were last seen on June 10 as they left for Pretoria where their husbands are based. The deceased’s husbands Shoroma and Simbarashe Kauso are brothers.
Their aunt, Cythia Kauso, confirmed the incident yesterday saying the family was informed about the tragedy by a woman who was in the same kombi who miraculously escaped.
The kidnappers were said to have demanded money from the deceased’s husbands on their mobile phones, but communication between the two parties broke down after the latter had raised part of the alleged ransom.
The family said when they inquired from South African police they were advised to check in a public hospital mortuary in Pretoria where they then recovered Olga’s body while the other body was burnt beyond recognition.
A family member who identified himself as Admire confirmed that he had been tasked to assist in the repatriation of the remains.
“My friend, there are so many issues that need to be sorted out that are more important than entertaining your questions,” Admire said before he cut the conversation.
South African police could not be reached for comment.
Contacted for comment, Zimbabwe’s consular-general to South Africa Henry Mukonoweshuro said: “This was not supposed to be for media consumption at the moment as we and South African authorities are still to get to the bottom of the issue. Besides, the other body has not been positively identified it needs some further tests.” NewsDay
Vicious infighting in President Robert Mugabe’s party continued on Monday with the Zanu PF provincial executive in Mashonaland West passing a vote of no confidence against interim chairperson Ziyambi Ziyambi.
Ziyambi Ziyambi
According to state media reports Ziyambi was accused of “leaking” party official secrets to ousted ex-chairman Temba Mliswa ahead of last month’s by-elections in Hurungwe West. Ziyambi was immediately replaced by his deputy Keith Guzah, (recently elected MP for the area, despite not being a registered voter).
A petition issued by the province said “In gross violation of the party structures, Ziyambi Ziyambi connived with a small cabal and leaked party secrets to Temba Mliswa and clandestinely assisted by way of passing information on our campaign strategies to him and his family.”
“Ziyambi has, for reasons best known to himself, continued to frustrate the party’s cell structuring programme by refusing to cooperate with the Politburo-appointed supervisory team led by Cde Josiah Hungwe, resulting in Mashonaland West being the worst province as it is now way behind in carrying out this Politburo mandate.”
Ziyambi is also accused of disregarding a decision by the provincial Women’s League to elect Angeline Muchemeyi as the new provincial chairlady.
Reads the petition in part: “This act was gross disrespect and a direct challenge to the First Lady, Dr Grace Mugabe, who is Secretary for the Women’s League.
“Ziyambi Ziyambi mounted a vigorous campaign to dissuade members of Zanu-PF from attending the much publicised Kadoma Zim-Asset inspired business and housing initiative by Macsherp, which was officiated by Dr Mugabe in the company of the two Vice Presidents, several Politburo and Central Committee members.”
He is also accused of disregarding “constructive” advice and encouraging disorder in the party. Asked how many people had signed the petition, Mr Guzah said:
“We met over the weekend and the members constituted the required quorum. We have handed the petition to Cde Ziyambi, Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko (who chairs the disciplinary committee) and all members of the National Disciplinary Committee.”
Ziyambi yesterday described as “nonsensical and baseless” the decision to boot him out, saying he was yet to receive the petition.
“I was at the forefront of removing Mliswa and for someone to say I was working with him is absurd,” he said.
“This clearly shows that these are people looking for something which is not there. As for Guzah, I used my personal money campaigning for him in Hurungwe West and also skipped my June examinations. I cannot follow this nonsense.”
Guzah responded: “He is talking garbage because he actually stole some money which I was supposed to use for campaigning.”
Minister responsible for War Veterans: Christopher Mutsvangwa
By Freddy Mutoda
It is sad that an outstanding poet, freedom fighter, musician, gender activist and farmer, Tichaona Freedom Nyamubaya passed on. May her soul rest in peace.
Minister responsible for War Veterans: Christopher Mutsvangwa
While Nyamubaya was a rare breed, a candid and outspoken critic of the abuses that female freedom fighters endured at the hands of their male counterparts, it is ironic that the abuse she fought against during the war and post-independence period continues to dog the female freedom fighters even posthumously.
Speaking in an interview with the media after the late Nyamubaya was conferred provincial hero status, the minister responsible for the welfare of war veterans, Christopher Mutsvangwa, quickly seized the opportunity and began to abuse other female freedom fighters, particularly former vice president Joice Mujuru, whose role in the liberation struggle, Mutsvangwa persistently strives to denigrate while elevating the role played by male figures such as President Robert Mugabe, who was never at the front, above the sacrifices that female combatants offered to free the country.
The motor-mouthed Mutsvangwa was quick to use the death of Nyamubaya, in a clear case of abusing the dead, to score some cheap factional political points on Mujuru.
“She was one of our outstanding female cadres who operated under (Air Marshal) Perrance Shiri’s command.
“Freedom was at the front, not some who claim to have downed helicopters,” he said in apparent reference to Mujuru.
It was hypocritical for Mutsvangwa to shower Nyamubaya with eulogies posthumously when he did not care a hoot in the ex-combatant’s hour of need after she was involved in a near fatal accident at the corner of Josiah Tongogara Avenue and Second Street when her car rammed into a tree that some believe was the one on which Mbuya Nehanda was hanged.
Clearly, Nyamubaya was in need of care, compassion, company and cash for her medical bills as she lay in that Parirenyatwa hospital bed and Mutsvangwa was nowhere near the celebrated war veteran’s side.
It was people that Nyamubaya had come to know and acquaint herself to, well after the war, the likes of Richard Mashave and Kindness Paradza and a host of journalists, who used to pay her visits during the hospital’s visiting hours to bring her goodies, love and hope.
Never on any one day did Mutsvangwa pay her a visit yet the hysterical minister of War Veterans jumped on the occasion of her death and seized the opportunity to score some cheap political points on people that Nyamubaya respected and revered as seniors during the war and in the party.
It is quite unfortunate that Mutsvangwa has used his loud mouth to portray himself as the prototypical war veteran, the embodiment of everything that the war of liberation stands for and succeeded in making himself some “Mr Zimbabwe” to whom everyone of the 13 million citizens owes some gratitude for political independence.
He reviles anyone whose contribution in the war eclipses his manufactured pedestal that now entitles him and his wife to ministerial posts.
Mutsvangwa has often used State newspapers, and now funeral wakes, to take potshots at Mujuru, who for reasons of not wanting to argue with imbeciles, has chosen to ignore his rantings about the February 17, 1974 helicopter downing that Mutsvangwa might not have been aware of since he was still reading law at the then University of Rhodesia.
Despite Mutsvangwa’s distortion of history and his spirited efforts to trivialise the role played by female combatants, particularly the role played by (Joice) Mujuru in liberating this country, stubborn historical facts would always show that February 17, 1974 was a big day in the lives of comrades Teurai Ropa Nhongo and Mhembwe who survived Rhodesian forces air strikes although Cde Mhembwe got injured thus could not escape into Zambia where the then 19-year-old Teurai Ropa found sanctuary after downing the chopper.
The story about this gallant female combatant was reported on international media in June 1974 and Zambian newspapers carried it, after the youthful Teurai Ropa and Rugare Gumbo had addressed a press conference where she narrated her ordeal.
The Herald, after independence, interviewed Mhembwe and excepts of that interview are available in the paper’s library and corroborate the facts surrounding the downing of the chopper by Mujuru and how Mhembwe got injured, surrendered his AK 47 folding butt, medical kit and ammunition to the youthful Mujuru before he vanished into some Mozambican village where his sister was married.
These are historical facts that were corroborated by real ex-combatants way before Mujuru became vice president yet some delusional, position-obsessed charlatan wants to use their access to the media to distort historical facts for political expediency and gamesmanship.
Mutsvangwa has always come across as someone who is unstable and bitter whenever he is not rewarded with a government post and has often used his undiplomatic, crass and uncouth language to attract attention and eventually earn political office.
He has, at some fora, accused Mugabe of having a deep-seated revulsion of war veterans and his argument has been that after independence, most of the people who came to work in his office and occupied powerful positions in his government and Cabinet were always non-war veterans.
He gives the example of people he says were ‘invited’ from the University of Rhodesia to form the core of Mugabe’s administration like Misheck Sibanda, Olivia Muchena and others.
Mutsvangwa argues that the only war veterans then (2012), which were part of the Mugabe administration’s inner circle, apart from Mujuru, were those who stood behind him during public addresses.
His bitterness, sense of entitlement and over inflated ego combine to give him some superiority complex whence he believes, because he participated in the war of liberation, he has a pass to distort that war’s history and create some legends about the war to minister to his own vanity and to show that his contribution in the war of liberation is unparalleled and that anyone whose contribution he does not know or approve did nothing as far as that war is concerned.
He comes across as a dangerous breed of Zanu PF politicians — those who are always looking back, fixated in celebrating victories scored in a 1970s war when the country has pressing challenges that need modern day politicians and technocrats who understand 21st century geopolitics, not some political dinosaurs who are rooted in celebrating past glories when citizens are crying for solutions to today’s problems.
While we celebrate the lives of our gallant sons and daughters, like we do the life of Nyamubaya, the most important lesson we draw from her is that each and every day calls for new heroes, those that are able to stand up to current challenges and that yester-year protagonists like Mutsvangwa can only become relevant today if they resist the temptation of over celebrating yesterday’s victories to the extent of thinking they brought heaven on earth to this country thus there is no need to move forward and adapt to the changing environment and new socio, political and economic realities.
It is important that we celebrate the life of Nyamubaya today, but let it be known to Mutsvangwa that any attempt at denigrating the role played by her colleagues in the liberation struggle, particularly the thousands of female fighters, using the occasion of her demise is the ultimate disrespect for the values for which she fought for and sacrificed her entire life to advance.
This country does not need delusional and shrill-tongued politicians like Mutsvangwa, it needs pragmatists like Nyamubaya, people who know that the fact they were relevant yesterday does not necessarily mean they are useful today and that to be useful today, they have to be relevant tomorrow. Daily News
Last year saw Annie Grace Mutambu taking part at the show and she later went on to represent the country at Miss Africa continent in Johannesburg, South Africa where she landed in the top six.
By Sharon Muguwu
HARARE – Miss World Zimbabwe (Miss Zimbabwe) Annie-Grace Farai Mutambu wants robbers who attacked her and seized her laptop and mobile phone to rot in prison.
Annie-Grace Mutambu
She said life has become a nightmare she cannot wake up from since the June 28 day when she escaped an apparent kidnap attempt on the Friday night during which she was assaulted and robbed by six men in Harare’s Craneborne suburb.
“I will only get closure when they are put behind bars,” the 19-year-old Miss Zimbabwe told the Daily News on Sunday.
“When I saw them in court, I got more scared. I am still traumatised.”
Police have arrested four people over the robbery of the beauty queen and they appeared at a Harare Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
Two of the robbers are still at large. The six thugs, who were driving a red Volkswagon Golf, pounced as Mutambu and her sister were walking home from a cousin’s house around 8pm.
The robbery caused shock and revulsion, and triggered a Miss Zimbabwe Trust crisis meeting.
“I am still paranoid about my surroundings,” she said.
“When the attack took place, I thought we were going to die, but I gathered strength and started fighting them off.”
She said she is still traumatised by the experience.
The robbery shone a light on the country’s soaring crime rate.
The robbers were apprehended after the cell phone they had stolen was tracked to Chitungwiza.
A second born child in a family of three, she replaced axed-Miss Zimbabwe Emily Kachote, 25, who was stripped of her crown for her purported appearance in leaked nude photographs.
Kachote, however, denies ever posing nude. The Miss Zim Trust had said she had been dethroned for violating rules and regulations governing the pageant.
The new Miss Zimbabwe said her newly-acquired title has complicated her social life.
“The friendships are weird now,” she told the Daily News on Sunday.
“Some people who were close friends have drifted away; I guess they were not true friends.
“Some who were not so close are now closer to me.
“So, yes, in a way the title has changed the way people address me.
“Neighbours just stare as well.” A product of Dominican Convent Schools, she is currently studying with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
She only got into modelling last year, after encouragement from friends.
“I have always had people tell me that I should try modelling and I did in 2014 for the Zimbabwe Fashion Week,” she said
“I then decided to pursue it with Miss Zimbabwe and here I am.
“My greatest challenges when I started were feeling intimidated by other models, especially the more experienced ones.
“But being a Christian, I prayed about it and worked on my confidence.
“I’m a member of the Roman Catholic church.”
She said her biggest inspiration was her mother, Ellen Mutambu, as she single-handedly raised her and her siblings.
“My father is still alive but he is not in the picture,” she said.
“She inspires me a lot as she sent us to school, bought the house that we live in and has been providing everything for us by herself.
“I hope that people will stop looking down upon single mothers as many of them have taken it upon themselves to look after their families.”
She says her mother wanted her to pursue education and was not too supportive of her modelling venture.
“When I started modelling, my mother was not very supportive,” she said.
“She believes that education comes first and for one to digress, she is not impressed.
“I used to play tennis professionally until 2012, but she disapproved.
“I was in the Mashonaland East B Team but I stopped as my mother wanted me to pursue education first. And when I was in form three, I quit.”
Miss Zim wants robbers to rot in jailSTUNNING: Miss World Zimbabwe Annie-Grace Mutambu says she is still traumatised by the robbery she suffered last month. Daily News
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s sole fixed telecommunications company, TelOne, is planning to partner mobile network operator, NetOne, as part of efforts to offer mobile platform services.
Chipo Mtasa, TelOne’s managing director
TelOne, which has been unable to utilise its mobile telecommunications licence granted in 2011 due to financial constraints, hopes to ride on the back of the country’s second largest mobile network operator with a subscriber base of 3,3 million.
Chipo Mtasa, TelOne’s managing director, on Thursday told businessdaily on the sidelines of the company’s organised infrastructure sharing symposium that their current focus was to ensure that they are open to partnerships with all mobile network operators were opportunities are available.
“We want to see how we can collaborate a bit more with our mobile sister company NetOne. Even if we wanted to activate it (mobile phone licence) it might require some significant investment. At the moment what we are looking at is optimising current investments and also raise further funding in areas where they are opportunities,” she said.
Mtasa noted that TelOne was currently doing a lot of fibre network projects and establishing WiFi hotspots which are now almost 100 across the country.
“We are also looking at bringing the fibre to the home (FTTH) in various households. We have deployed fibre in various residential areas in Harare, Zvishavane and Ngezi among others. We want to explore this fibre to the home project countrywide,” Mtasa said.
This comes as government last week gave telecommunications companies a 90-day ultimatum to conclude and launch an infrastructure sharing framework, a top government official has said.
Supa Mandiwanzira, Information and Communication Technology minister on Thursday said the telecommunications sector players must come up with a framework on infrastructure sharing before government can adopt it as a policy.
“We cannot continue consulting, consulting and consulting. We are not reinventing the wheel. This is a concept that has been tried and tested elsewhere including developed markets and it is working,” he said.
“So we don’t have to scratch our heads too much about a concept that the entire global industry has adopted and is already working,” Mandiwanzira told a TelOne-organised infrastructure sharing workshop.
Research has shown that companies can save up to more than 30 percent of capital costs if they adopt infrastructure sharing.
“It’s a no brainer. You don’t have to spend too much money studying, talking to each other, seminars and conferences about a subject that is so clear. We would like you to conclude as quickly as possible, in the next 90 days I would like to be invited as the ICT minister to launch the signing ceremony on infrastructure sharing among the players in the industry,” he said.
Mandiwanzira noted that if industry players were not ready, government — as the biggest player — would organise its companies to start implementing the measure.
“Unfortunately we have not been well organised but we have some ideas to organise ourselves. We own NetOne, we own TelOne, we own PowerTel and we own quiet a significant fraction of Africomm. We believe we can only get our own companies, and that is a single directive by the way, we will create havoc to those who say infrastructure sharing is not necessary,” he said.
Currently Zimbabwe’s telecommunications operators individually invest and own infrastructure, giving established ones a competitive advantage.
The country has no standing regulation that promotes infrastructure sharing among telecommunications industry players. Daily News
Zimbabwe’s ex-ambassador to Australia has said she is pleased with the $133 000 she won in a defamation case against Reason Wafawarova who reported that she stripped in front of embassy staff.
Jacqueline Zwambila
Australia’s Supreme Court on Friday ordered Wafawarova to pay Jacqueline Zwambila $118 000 in general damages and $14 847 in aggravated damages after he falsely claimed she had lost her temper and stripped to her underwear in front of three embassy officials.
Wafawarova was also ordered to pay Zwambila’s costs of the proceedings to date on a party-party basis.
A Canberra judge struck out the defence offered by the freelance journalist, who argued his report was true and in the public interest.
The Herald published the claims made about the ambassador, in November 2010, saying she had disrobed in front of three staff during a heated argument.
Some regard stripping naked as a traditional protest to shame an opponent, and the allegation would be seen by them to suggest that Zwambila was uncultured.
Zwambila, whose term as ambassador ended in December 2013 and is now seeking asylum in Australia, said the judgment was “a victory for all women politicians in Zimbabwe victimised with impunity by ruling party perpetrators with the sole purpose of denigrating the dignity of women in a country where there is no regard for the rule of law and no regard for the consequences.”
“It was never about the money but about the principle of the matter when something is wrong it is wrong,” Zwambila said.
“The fact that I could only find recourse in Australian courts and not my own country tells you that something is seriously wrong.
“This victory is for all of us women in opposition politics.”
Zwambila added that this disregard for the rule of law is evidenced on the Zimbabwe Canberra Embassy website which brazenly continues to display their defamatory media statement against her in total disregard of the supreme law of the host country Australia, hiding behind diplomatic immunity.
Court papers say Wafawarova was motivated out of malice as an “agent of the President Robert Mugabe regime, which opposes (Zwambila) and her party’’.
The ambassador was a member of Morgan Tsvangirai’s opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, and was appointed in 2009 under a power-sharing deal with Mugabe’s Zanu PF party.
Zwambila first demanded an apology and a retraction, and then took legal action when the newspaper and Wafawarova ignored her requests.
Represented by Canberra law firm Ben Aulich and Associates, she sought damages for “the particular shame she suffered, as a Zimbabwean national aware of her country’s cultural values and sexual mores, at being portrayed as she was’’.
“The plaintiff has been greatly injured in her credit, reputation, and profession as a diplomat, and has been brought into public scandal, odium, and contempt,’’ says a statement of claim filed in court.
Wafawarova tried to defend his reporting, arguing the allegations were true, an opinion, fair comment and in the public interest.
He also argued the circumstances of publication meant Zwambila was unlikely to sustain any harm. Daily News
