Week 43

Een wekelijkse selectie artikelen uit Zimbabwaanse kranten

Coltart demands swift Govt action to tackle Bulawayo’s water crisis

Bulawayo Mayor David Coltart has announced that the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate, and Rural Resettlement has committed to fast-tracking the release of funds from the Treasury and waiving Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) procedures to address the city’s worsening water crisis. 

Bulawayo residents are enduring water-shedding schedules of up to 130 hours, with some facing even longer periods due to power cuts and other disruptions. 

Coltart’s comments came after he and the Minister of Water, Dr. Anxious Masuka, inspected three key dams—Mtshabezi, Umzingwane, and Insiza—that supply water to the city. 

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Calls for US$ salaries grow louder

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has made a fresh call for employees to be paid in United States dollars until the government is able to manage its economic fundamentals saying this was the only way workers can manage their lives in these turbulent times. 

Workers across the board have fallen victim to the economic meltdown, with those earning in local currency reeling in poverty as they witness the erosion of their disposable incomes. 

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ZPRA veterans accuse Mnangagwa of stalling property return

President Emmerson Mnangagwa is intentionally delaying the return of properties confiscated from ZPRA veterans, according to Andreas Ethan Mathibela, a faction leader of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA). 
Mathibela argues that if Mnangagwa had the authority to resolve this issue with a single decision and had the willpower to return the properties, he would have already removed the caveat preventing their transfer back to the veterans. 

He also criticised the lack of action on the issue, despite a board being established to facilitate the return of over 100 properties previously owned by ZPRA veterans.  

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Displaced farmers skeptical about Zimbabwe’s decision to compensate them

Some former commercial farmers in Zimbabwe who were kicked off their land 20-plus years ago say a government offer of compensation is woefully inadequate, and only desperate people will take the offer. 

Mthuli Ncube, Zimbabwe’s finance minister, said the government is starting to compensate white commercial farmers whose land was taken during the regime of longtime President Robert Mugabe. 

Ncube said $20 million would be shared by 94 foreign investors whose farms were seized in what Mugabe described as land reforms. 

The government has promised to pay another $3.5 billion to white Zimbabwean farmers. 

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Prolonged power cuts devastate informal businesses in Bulawayo

Bulawayo’s informal traders are struggling to stay afloat as extended power cuts leave entire suburbs without electricity for most of the day, forcing many to find alternative, costly ways to keep their operations running. 

Another resident criticised the power utility’s timing of the outages, claiming they are taking advantage of residents.  

“They give us electricity when we’re asleep and take it away when we wake up. It feels like emotional harassment. Why can’t they provide electricity from 4 p.m. so we can cook, and then cut it after 7 a.m. when people are done with morning routines? Most companies close by 4 p.m. anyway,” he argued, suggesting that some officials might have interests in gas companies, driving residents to buy more gas.  

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Senate endorses PVO Bill: This will clean up civic space,’ Ziyambi declares

The Private Voluntary Organisations (PVO) bill sailed through in the Senate this Thursday. 

This is the second time the Senate has passed the controversial bill as it awaits President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s approval into law. 

Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said, “l want to thank the Hon. Senators for this day that the Lord has made, whereupon our Parliament has passed the Private Voluntary Organisations Amendment Bill [H.B. 2A, 2024].” 

Before the passing of the PVO Bill, Ziyambi had told the Senate that the Bill before them was a very necessary measure to improve the administration, accountability, and transparency of charities in the country. 

“The legal word for charity in our country is Private Voluntary Organisation (PVO), under our law every charity that uses money collected from the public or donated from a foreign government or foreign agencies is required to be registered as a PVO, in terms of the PVO Act which the Bill before you seeks to amend. 

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Logistics and transport conference to unlock Africa’s potential

The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) has announced a stellar line-up of speakers for its upcoming regional logistics and transport conference Logistics and Transport scheduled for November 19 to 21, 2024, at the Nasrec Expo Centre in South Africa. 

The conference will run under the theme “Unlocking Sub-Saharan Africa’s Potential Transforming Transport and Logistics for a Sustainable Future”. 

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Zimbabwe must not bring its ‘cancer’ to Namibia, says former opposition chairperson

The former chairperson of a Zimbabwean main opposition party has advised his Namibian counterparts to resist the use of Ren-Form for the design, printing, packaging and distribution of the ballot in the upcoming elections. 

Luke Kahari of the now defunct main opposition, Citizens Coalition for Change, says the issue should be headline news. 

“We have engaged our opposition friends in Namibia. This must be stopped. We can’t carry the cancer from Zimbabwe into Namibia. It’s been there in Mozambique; it will be in Botswana as well. They are bringing the same nonsense to Namibia,” the Australia-based politician said on Friday. 

Kahari warned that the use of the company casts the credibility of the upcoming election into question. 

“It will be in doubt, definitely. Nobody believes Zimbabwe had a credible election. The same actors in Zimbabwe are being sent to Namibia. Did they go to tender? Who gave a Zimbabwean, an external person [Wicknell Chivayo], to supply critical things like election material? The ECN must be answerable,” he said. 

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Zimbabwe flood victims stranded four years later

Four years after devastating floods ravaged Binga, the government has yet to allocate houses to some of the affected victims, despite repeated promises of assistance. In February 2020, heavy rains caused widespread flooding in the district, displacing hundreds of villagers and leaving many stranded in treetops as the waters rose. 

The Air Force of Zimbabwe was deployed to airlift victims from the worst-hit areas, particularly low-lying regions such as Nsungwa, Chinginga, and Nsenga under Chief Sinakoma. In the wake of the disaster, the government pledged to construct two-roomed houses for affected families and provided new plots for relocation to higher ground. 

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CCC burns over US$1,2m salary arrears

Opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party owes its employees over US$1,2 million in salary arrears that accumulated over a two-year period, NewsDay can exclusively report. 

The employees, who were contracted before the opposition party split, were assigned to various roles in the party’s technical department between 2022 and 2023 and were promised salary payments upon disbursements of the political parties funds. 

Over the two years, the employees, including security officers, communications officers and those involved in organising election campaigns, were paid allowances for their duties. 

However, the CCC later split into three factions following the exit of party leader Nelson Chamisa in January this year. 

The three factions — led by Jameson Timba, Welshman Ncube and self-imposed interim secretary-general Sengezo Tshabangu — are currently embroiled in a battle to control the financial allocation under the political parties fund. 

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Chikombedzi water tales: From 3km distance to piped water

Found in the lower south of the country, Chikombedzi is the true definition of a rural area. 

With gravel roads dominating, a tarred road is undoubtedly a dream. 

Not to talk of the most basic necessity, water, which is a marvel when encountered. 

People living in this area travel long distances looking for the precious liquid. This year’s El Niño-induced drought makes it even worse for them. 

Gogo Chizheku Chivhinga (62) from Chivhinga village says the recently unveiled piped water scheme by the United States Agency for International Development in collaboration with the government and the Mwenezi Development Training Centre was a timely blessing. 

Like any elderly woman in the village, previously, she had to walk to a school 3km away to fetch water. 

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Colonial white boys in Zimbabwe: John Eppel’s autobiography is a welcome book, but a difficult read

Zimbabwean writer John Eppel’s literary career has always been defined by one peculiar trait. He publishes fictional work, in stark contrast to the majority of the country’s other white writers who have fetishised the autobiographical mode.  

During the post 2000s period, white Zimbabwean narratives of crisis which focused on the land reform programme gained an international following.  

Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle was fought primarily over the land question. In colonial Rhodesia, racist apportionment of fertile land meant that the black majority was removed from productive farmland. The land reform programme sought to correct this historical injustice. 

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Displaced farmers skeptical about Zimbabwe’s decision to compensate them

Some former commercial farmers in Zimbabwe who were kicked off their land 20-plus years ago say a government offer of compensation is woefully inadequate, and only desperate people will take the offer. 

Mthuli Ncube, Zimbabwe’s finance minister, said the government is starting to compensate white commercial farmers whose land was taken during the regime of longtime President Robert Mugabe. 

Ncube said $20 million would be shared by 94 foreign investors whose farms were seized in what Mugabe described as land reforms. 

The government has promised to pay another $3.5 billion to white Zimbabwean farmers. 

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