SOUTHERN NEWS | Byo youths sold bottled smoke

Source: SOUTHERN NEWS | Byo youths sold bottled smoke – DailyNews Live

Jeffrey Muvundusi      27 September 2017

HARARE – Zanu PF youths in the second largest city and its hinterland are
seething with anger after President Robert Mugabe’s government claimed
last year to have made available swathes of land for housing development,
which is turning out to be a ruse.

The Southern News can report that ever since the land was made available,
no development has taken place at the site measuring about 318 hectares
amid revelations that part of the land falls under a restricted zone.

Youths here now suspect that the project was meant to hoodwink them ahead
of crucial polls next year.

Following his fallout with war veterans in 2015, Mugabe and his Zanu PF
party have turned to the restive youths and women for support.

The Zanu PF leader is currently going around the country to engage the
youths through what has been called “youth interface rallies”, which have
been attracting huge crowds.

His wife, Grace, will also be embarking on a whirlwind tour of the
provinces soon in her capacity as head of the Zanu PF women’s league.

Last year, Local Government, Public Works and National Housing minister
Saviour Kasukuwere, who doubles up as Zanu PF’s national political
commissar, unveiled 318 hectares of land for the construction of between
10 000 and 20 000 high density residential stands for youths at Umvutshwa
Farm on the outskirts of the city.

This housing project was meant to be a high density residential suburb
where plus or minus 7 000 households in the form of stands ranging from
200 square metres to 400 square metres and high rise flats were to be
accommodated.

Upon the project’s launch last year, it attracted scorn from various
stakeholders who accused the minister of abusing his role as Local
Government overseer to parcel out land on political basis.

The project is being supervised by the Urban Development Corporation
(Udcorp), which is a parastatal that falls under the Local Government
ministry.

Government later said over 5 000 youths from Matabeleland region had
registered for residential stands in Umvutshwa.

While the initiative was positive, Zanu PF youths still feel betrayed by
the minister whom they accuse of taking them for a ride.

Several youths who spoke to this paper refused to be named but expressed
their displeasure at the politicking by their boss as they have failed to
get their promised residential stands.

“This is bad politicking, why would people waste our time like that giving
us hope where there is nothing. Kasukuwere must be ashamed…,” said one
angry youth.

“That was a waste of resources, imagine trucks were hired and even the VP
(Phelekezela) Mphoko and other top government officials attended the
ground-breaking ceremony and yet all that went for nothing.

“Some of our colleagues were involved in a tragic accident as we were
coming from there which left others wheelchair bound, honestly that’s
taking us for granted,” said another angry youth.

The youths also said they were made to pay $5 each as registration fee and
$50 monthly instalments paid into a Udcorp account.

Southern News also understands that there were disagreements over the
piece of land which was selected as it belonged to a white farmer.

Bulawayo Zanu PF central youth district chair Magura Charumbira said: “We
are just waiting; we don’t even know what’s the actual position of the
government on our residential stands. They had promised us that by now the
youth suburb would be taking shape but there is nothing.”

“It is such lies by Kasukuwere that made nine out of 10 provinces deny him
but some people had other ideas,” he said.

Speaking during the ground-breaking ceremony last year Kasukuwere pledged
that the whole servicing was going to be done by end of last year.

“I promise you that this land will be serviced by end of this year. This
will be a first in Zimbabwe as it will be the first ever youth township.

“All these stands will be given to youths, no one else,” said Kasukuwere
then.

However, more than a year now, nothing seems to be taking place at the
land.

Contacted for comment Zanu PF youth secretary Kudzanayi Chipanga said he
was out of the country referring questions to Urdcop planning officer
Constance Muchoni.

“The project is still on-going. We are still in the process of designing
the land.

“What delayed us is that we wanted it to be a high density suburb but then
we realised part of the land fell on the restricted zone but it’s
something that we are working on,” Muchoni told Southern News.

She, however, dismissed claims that there have been monies that have been
paid to Udcorp.

“We haven’t started taking anyone’s money except that we asked people to
open accounts with IDBZ where they will be depositing their monies maybe
on a monthly basis, the money which they will use when the stands are
out,” she said.

Muchoni said stands were likely to be distributed next year after the
plans have been approved and servicing done among other necessities.

AAG boss fights to save property

AFFIRMATIVE Action Group (AAG) vice president, Samuel Ncube, is in trouble
after he was arrested for insulting and threatening a messenger of court
who intended to evict him from his house, which fell under the hammer over
a debt owed to a local bank.

Ncube had been issued with his first eviction order in 2013, but has been
resisting eviction since then.

He lost the property after he became a guarantor to a $20 000 bank loan
issued to his colleague.

Following his colleague’s failure to pay the loan, the bank turned on
Ncube as it sought to recover the debt.

This resulted in his house in Selborne Park being auctioned with one
Emmeliah Tendai Sigauke emerging as the buyer of the property.

According to the State papers, on August 10 at around 9am, Ncube was
served with a notice of eviction from the High Court.

On August 23, the messenger of court Edson Nkawu who is now the
complainant in the case proceeded in the company of the police to Ncube’s
place of residence in order to evict him, using the High Court eviction
order.

However, the accused refused to comply with the order and started
insulting and threatening both the police and the complainant, ordering
them to leave.

The accused was later arrested and charged with contempt of court.

In an urgent appeal to the High Court against his eviction, judge justice
Kamocha turned down Ncube’s application on the basis that it was not
urgent.

“The urgency of a matter as contemplated by law is when it cannot wait.

“A matter does not become urgent just because the day of reckoning is
close. That does not make the mater urgent,” he said.

Justice Kamocha also cited that the accused had wrong advisors as the
matter has been taken to different courts.

“This matter has been going on since 2015. It has been to the
Constitutional Court, to the Appeal Court of the High Court and to the
magistrate courts, therefore, the applicant has adopted wrong
procedures… Those who gave him advice are to blame and that must affect
him as he chose them himself,” Justice Kamocha said while dismissing the
matter.

Expelled prosecutor fights for reinstatement

AN ex-prosecutor who was dismissed by former Prosecutor-General (PG)
Johannes Tomana in November 2011 for being part of the key architects of
an industrial action that crippled the justice delivery system back then,
is still fighting for his reinstatement, six years on.

Petrobs Dube was fired along with other prosecutors – Leopold Mudisi,
Dereck Charamba, Mehluli Tshuma                and Musekiwa Mbanje – for
leading a strike over better working conditions.

Dube has obtained various court orders in favour of his reinstatement and
yet none of them have ended his miseries.

In 2012, Tomana was ordered by the High Court to reinstate the dismissed
prosecutors to their posts without loss of their rights and benefits under
case number HH121-12.

Tomana appealed against the ruling under the Civil Appeal to the Supreme
Court but he lost, which meant that the earlier ruling stood.

Dube later appealed to the Labour Court against his dismissal by the Civil
Service Commission (CSC) and he won the case but was never reinstated.

As if that was not enough, in September last year Dube approached the High
Court for an order declaring him a public prosecutor in terms of the
newly-enacted National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Act.

A default judgment was passed by justice Francis Bere.

“It be and is hereby declared that the applicant is a transferred member
of the NPA as defined in terms of Section 32 (1) of the NPA Act chapter
7:20 and is in terms of Section 32 (4) entitled to all the rights and
privileges due to such employees of the authority,” ruled Bere.

In reaction, the NPA quickly filed an application for rescission of
judgment at the High Court here arguing that Dube was long dismissed.

But Dube represented by his lawyers Calderwood Bryce-Hendrie and Partners
is not giving up the fight.

He has since filed an opposition arguing that he was not disqualified
since the Labour Court had upheld his appeal against dismissal.

He has taken both the CSC and NPA to task for contempt of court arguing
they were not     entitled at law to disregard the initial court ruling in
2009 which ordered their reinstatement.

“The applicant has ignored this court order and proceeded as if the order
is not operational. It has not bothered to seek the suspension of the
order pending the determination of judgement. The applicant is guilty of
contempt of court,” Dube’s lawyers noted in the court papers.

“It is respectfully submitted that this honourable court should refuse the
applicant audience until it has complied with the order granted under case
number HC 2009/16.”

Interestingly, the dismissal of the former PG on allegations of
incompetence and misconduct arose from findings by the ConCourt that he
had disobeyed court orders in violation of the Constitution.

The dismissed ex-prosecutors are executive members of the Zimbabwe Law
Officers Association (ZILOA), which fomented a successful industrial
action in 2011.

This led to their dismissal.

After Tomana’s dismissal as PG, the NPA is now headed by Ray Goba.

Taxi operators, police headed for clash

TAXI owners are set to clash with traffic police, with the transport
operators threatening to petition police over a alleged rampant
corruption.

In a petition gleaned by the Southern News yesterday, and yet to be
submitted to officer commanding police district (Dispol) Byo Traffic chief
superintendent Fungai Dengu the taxi operators said it was time they took
the bull by its horns, claiming the police were demanding bribes from them
on a daily basis.

“We are forced to pay spot fines by the police on daily basis, a
development which is pushing us out of business,” reads part of the
petition.

“It’s a well-known fact that there is no hard cash but the traffic cops
insist on demanding cash of not less than $10 per day. Failure to pay that
spot fine our vehicles are impounded and kept at Drill Hall where they
will be attracting a charge of $20 storage per day.

“Sometimes if we fail to pay the spot fines we lose our licences which are
taken by traffic officers,” reads part of the petition adding that their
woes were different from those of Kombi drivers who are only required to
pay a minimum of $3 per day to operate freely.

In the petition, the drivers also accused the police of double standards.

“We have unregistered pirate taxis operating freely without number plates
or any legal document in the city, they operate freely because most of
them are owned by the police,” they alleged.

The taxi drivers who spoke to Southern News singled out officers from
Mpopoma’s Traffic West and Nkulumane Traffic as the major culprits.

The visibly-angry taxi drivers, however, refused to be named for fear of
victimisation.

“At the moment, we cannot say out our names because we might be targeted
by these officers. But we are working on forming our association, similar
to the one by commuter omnibus operators, I think that’s when we will be
able to choose faces who will represent us even in giving comments to the
media,” said one taxi driver.

However, Dengu was not available by the time of going to press.

Zanu PF militia gets refresher courses ahead of elections

ZANU PF has started retraining its notorious youth militia – popularly
known as Green Bombers – under the National Youth Service (NYS) programme,
as the nation hurtles towards 2018 elections.

In the past, the dreaded Green Bombers have been a major tool used by the
ruling President Robert Mugabe-led Zanu PF to intimidate and mobilise
people to vote for the party.

This comes as 93-year-old Mugabe has called for the return of the NYS
programme.

His calls, however, received fierce criticism from many Zimbabweans who
view the programme as beneficial to Zanu PF and not the country.

The Southern News has it on good authority that at least 60 youths from
Bulawayo have since commenced refresher training – involving drills and
orientation – at the Jairos Jiri Centre in the city.

Former Zanu PF provincial youth chair, Khumbulani Mpofu, who is now one of
the training officers yesterday admitted that the training were underway.

“As you know that NYS is always an on-going programme, it’s nothing new,”
he told Southern News.

“What we have been doing at Jairos Jiri is that we have invited our ward
officers in Bulawayo and they are the ones who are going through the
training. In fact, they are officers within our Youth ministry, so
basically they are completing some key lessons which they omitted during
their intensive first NYS training,” Mpofu said.

Quizzed about the move being part of Zanu PF’s election strategy in which
the youths are highly likely to be deployed as storm troopers, Mpofu said:
“That’s not the case, the problem is the image of the programme has been
tarnished but this is all about discipline. It’s not partisan at all. Even
if you come and check the curriculum you will understand what I am talking
about.”

He said the programme will run for nearly three weeks, with Youth
minister, Patrick Zhuwawo, expected to officiate at the graduation.

Sources who spoke to this paper said the training was on the back of a
circular issued recently by the Youth ministry ordering commencement of
the programme.

The programme is reportedly going under the moniker ini newe tinebasa/mina
lawe silomsebenzi.

This paper also understands that an order of uniforms for trainees has
already been placed and was expected anytime this week.

The programme was introduced in 2000 by the late Zanu PF national
commissar, Border Gezi, with the first camp established at Mt Darwin in
2001.

It has churned out thousands of graduates throughout the country.

According to the United States Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
for 2010, the NYS – suspended in 2007 due to lack of funding – provided
militia training to approximately 80 000 youths at more than 150 camps.

The youths took part and became integral members of Mugabe’s violent
policies, including taking part in land invasions.

Mugabe has on numerous occasions defended NYS, saying the training
programme is necessary to instil national pride, discipline and moral
uprightness among the youths.

Analysts have said the reintroduction of NYS was going to eat into the
fiscus of an already struggling government which is struggling to pay
civil servants on time.

Walk the talk, Kasukuwere challenged

RESIDENTS have challenged Local Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere to
fulfil his promise to reverse the appointment of non-Ndebele-speaking
members as commissioners to the Lupane Local Board (LLB).

Recently, Kasukuwere appointed Lupane State University vice chancellor
Pardon Kuipa and Lupane district administrator Enert Sithole as LLB
caretakers after the dismissal of Leonard Moyo and Addie Mpofu on charges
of maladministration.

After having been petitioned by the Lupane Rural Communities Empowerment
Trust (Rucet) over the issue, Kasukuwere later admitted that the
appointments were an oversight.

The Lupane residents argue that Ndebele-speaking locals must be appointed
to the board as they would have a full appreciation of the community’s
culture, tradition and values, as compared to “outsiders”.

Rucet coordinator, Vumani Ndlovu, said Kasukuwere must go beyond admitting
his error and immediately take action.

“…we believe he must show that he is genuine by taking action to correct
the error.  We feel an admission of error alone is not enough,” he said.

“I don’t think reversal of an appointment has to take forever, he is the
master, he has those powers,” he said, further noting that while
Kasukuwere had the powers, there was need for a wide consultation prior to
new appointments.

“Lupane has strong, professional and experienced minds that can drive the
development agenda of            the town and we are prepared to give the
minister a list of such people.”

Kasukuwere was, however, unreachable for comment as his mobile went
unanswered yesterday.

This comes as Bulawayo-based lobby group Mthwakazi Republic Party last
year teamed up with Lupane residents and    chased away a non-Ndebele
headmistress who had been appointed at Mlamuli Secondary School.

Before that, another school head in the Makuzeze Mangwe District had also
been chased away for the same reason, as villagers felt it was one of the
major reasons why the Matabeleland region was recording poor pass rates.

Intwasa Arts Festival is here!

FOR the first time in history, Intwasa Arts Festival will today begin its
three-day arts extravaganza in style with a street carnival.

The carnival which for years has been a reserve for the capital is
descending on the second largest city courtesy of the Intwasa partnership
with the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) and the tourism industry.

As part of the partnership, Intwasa will run concurrently with the
Sanganai/Hlanganani Tourism Expo which also kicks off today.

The carnival also coincides with the World Tourism Day which is celebrated
on September 27.

Intwasa Arts Festival marketing officer Nkululeko Nkala said it was all
systems go though he conceded that this year’s edition would match
previous ones largely due to a shoestring budget coupled with the biting
economic challenges.

“We are running the first ever carnival, it’s a memorable experience.

“For the first time we have international acts and we also partnered with
ministry of Tourism and ZTA as new partners but basically we retained most
of previous programming,” he said.

Nkala said the carnival will kick off from four different points which
include Coghlan Primary School, OK Mart, Railways Station and Stanley
Square.

All the four groups will converge at Inxwala grounds where a procession
will then use JM Nkomo Street all the way to City Hall where Vice
President Phelekezela Mphoko is expected officiate.

Nkala was, however, quick to say the Bulawayo carnival could not be
compared to the recent Harare one.

“The performances for the carnival will be done by acts from Harare as
well as locals including churches, schools and universities but the Harare
one was well marketed as there were budgets to that effect and besides
Bulawayo is not Harare, here you need an extra push to make things
happen,” Nkala said.

Intwasa which was reduced from its usual five days to three days due to
financial challenges is running under the theme “Immortalise” from today
till Friday.

“The theme Immortalise means that we are simply keeping the old memories
alive and creating new ones to last forever, despite the economic
hardships.

“The plan is that Intwasa never dies,” he said.

Speaking of the financial challenges, Nkala said: “We only released the
programme a day before because of financial challenges. And that’s what we
could do, we have been dealt a heavy blow under the circumstances and this
is not necessarily a reflection of the dream we had.”

He also said the economic challenges have cast a negative toll on the
programming.

“Obviously, with a higher budget you get more but with the resources we
got, we tried to get the best in the trade. The artists are perfect.

“The advertising was poor and we couldn’t advertise without the product,”
said the Intwasa Arts Festival marketing officer.

Meanwhile, the City Hall car park is expected to be a beehive as usual
with both music and traditional dance performances by Bulawayo’s top
groups.

The events to look forward to include the classy “Women, Wine and Words”
supported by the British Council, Urban Music Concert, Intwasa Poetry
Slam, Comedy night, Bayethe Bulawayo Concert and various book launches.

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