Zimbawe

By Bulawayo Correspondent

POLICE in Bulawayo have imposed a 6pm to 6am curfew in some city suburbs which have been identified as Covid-19 hotspots.

Cabinet Tuesday approved a localised lockdown for three districts in the city following a surge in Covid-19 cases in the city.

Police Thursday announced they were geared towards the enforcement of the new Covid-19 prevention measures.

Districts which have been placed under localised lockdown include Nkulumane, Emakhandeni and northern suburbs.

Suburbs covered by Nkulumane district include Nkulumane, Pelandaba, Sizinda, Nketa, Emganwini and Barham Green while Emakhandeni clinical district cover Cowdray Park, Njube, Luveve, Magwegwe and Pumula suburbs.

“It is therefore important to take note that curfew for the specified areas is now between 1800 hours and 0600 hours meaning that from 6pm, we are not expecting to see anyone moving around or within those areas, but people should be within their confines or homes and public transport in the specified areas should not exceed half the maximum capacity that is according to Statutory Instrument 182/21,” said Bulawayo police provincial spokesperson, Inspector Abednico Ncube.

Ncube said business hours in the city will now be between 0800 hours and 1500 hours.

“…Meaning that at 3 pm, shops and business in Central Business District (CBD) will be closing and all applies of the rest of suburbs that have been named as Covid-19 hotspots.

“Operators from other areas in Bulawayo which is not named in the localised lockdown should not overload. We are hereby enforcing these directives,” he said.

The police spokesperson said only essential service providers will be allowed to operate in the identified suburbs.

According to the new regulations, the named suburbs should only have essential service providers moving around and the rest are asked to stay at home.

Roadblocks are being mounted to check for compliance.

“It has been noted with great concern that people are not masking up and sanitising,” said the police spokesperson.

The post Tough Covid-19 Lockdown Measures For Bulawayo appeared first on NewZimbabwe.com.

By Bulawayo Correspondent

MDC ALLIANCE has set up a Commission of Inquiry to probe infighting that has rocked the party’s Bulawayo structures.

Party provincial structures have been in disarray following the main opposition’s Bulawayo provincial congress held in April 2019.

Following the election, 12 losing provincial executive aspirants including provincial chairman aspirant and Nketa legislator Phelela Masuku appealed to the party’s national executive calling for the nullification of congress results citing rigging among other irregularities.

The appeal was however dismissed but MDC Alliance resolved to integrate all party cadres who contested and lost in a move aimed at maintaining internal unity.

Masuku and some of the losing candidates rejected the offer.

The faction is said to have joined the Douglas Mwonzora led MDC-T in protest.

Since then, the province has been divided on factional lines.

The chaos in the party has also culminated into a recent vote of no confidence in the party’s provincial chairperson James Sithole by the provincial youth assembly.

Sources told NewZimbabwe.com that following the latest vote of no confidence on Sithole by the youth assembly, the party has set up a Commission of Inquiry led by party Vice President Lynette Karenyi-Kore to investigate squabbles in the province.

“As I speak, Karenyi and her team are already in Bulawayo investigating the source of factional fighting in the province.

“The team has been interviewing a lot of people as part of its investigations,” said a party source, adding that Karenyi-Kore’s team was also expected to interview national chair, Thabitha Khumalo and one of the party’s vice presidents, Welshman Ncube.

Ncube is reportedly supporting Sithole while Khumalo is backing Sithole’s ouster.

MDC Alliance Bulawayo spokesperson Swethern Chiroodza refused to comment on the probe.

“We do not discuss internal matters with the press. Congress issues were long dealt with. So, there is nothing to say on the matter,” said Chiroodza.

Karenyi-Kore was also not reachable for comment.

The post MDC Alliance Probes Infighting Within Bulawayo Structures appeared first on NewZimbabwe.com.

By Mary Taruvinga

THE Constitutional Court has dismissed an application which had been brought by Harare lawyer Joshua Chirambwe who was seeking the nullification of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s 2018 appointment of Kumbirai Hodzi as the country’s substantive Prosecutor-General (PG).

In his application, Chirambwe had argued that Hodzi failed public interviews in the full glare of the public and as such, was not fit to occupy the top office.

Hodzi was part of several candidates who took part in public interviews in 2018 when the country sought a substantive PG following the departure of advocate Ray Goba.

Some of the candidates who participated in the interviews were Calvin Mantsebo, Tinomudaishe Chinyoka, Misheck Hogwe, Jessie Majome, Justice Maphios Cheda, Wendy Chingeya, Florence Ziyambi, Edios Marondedza and Noria Mashumba.

Mantsebo, Chinyoka and Hogwe, emerged in the top three.

In challenging Hodzi’s eventual appointment, Chirambwe accused Mnangagwa of creating another list of candidates, but court ruled the lawyer failed to support his claims.

Reads the judgement of the bench chaired by Justice Paddington Garwe.

“Having considered the facts of this matter and the law, I reach the conclusion that the applicant has not established that there was such a failure by the President to fulfil the constitutional obligation imposed upon him by the Constitution in appointing the fifth respondent as the Prosecutor-General of Zimbabwe,” said Garwe.

“I am of the further view that this application, largely predicated as it is on hearsay evidence, could not have been expected by the applicant to succeed.

“Unsubstantiated allegations of impropriety, based on the same hearsay, have been made against the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, the Judicial Service Commission and the Chief Justice. Consequently, the application falls to be dismissed with an order of costs on the ordinary scale.”

Chirambwe had argued that the commissioners scored Hodzi badly.

“At the end of the day, he sat at the bottom of the pile. He was clearly and effectively out of the reckoning,” Chirambwe said.

The post Mnangagwa Wins Hodzi Appointment Battle appeared first on NewZimbabwe.com.

By Costa Nkomo

ZANU PF acting political commissar Patrick Chinamasa says the ruling party was not ready yet to surrender what he said was an unbreakable bond with the country’s military.

He was addressing the media at the party headquarters in Harare Thursday.

“Always be mindful that there is this unbreakable continuity between the liberation struggle and Zanu PF…between the armies of liberation ZIPRA and ZANLA, and the national army of independence.

“Thus, any notion which seeks to break this bond should be rejected outrightly,” he said.

Chinamasa was referring to the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA), the then military wing of the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) and the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) which was the military wing of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU).

Both the liberation combatant forces merged at independence to form the Zimbabwe National Army while the political liberation movements also merged in 1987 to form Zanu PF.

The relationship between Zanu PF and the military has been condemned by the opposition after commanders within the armed forces have in the past brazenly thrown spanners in the wake of the main MDC party’s election campaigns.

The national constitution also says the country’s military should be apolitical.

But Chinamasa, who once served as the country’s justice minister, said there was nothing amiss with the ruling party’s cosy relationship with the military.

“The relationship speaks for itself,” Chinamasa said, adding, “I don’t need to explain.”

“Who are the commanders of the army? Who is the Commander of Zimbabwe Defence Forces? Comrade Valerio Sibanda, who was he? A leading general in ZIPRA.

“Who is the Commander of Zimbabwe National Army? Comrade Edzai Chimonyo. A leading commander in ZANLA. Now that culture of defending the sovereignty of this country will continue.

“It comes from the liberation struggle, and it will be perpetuated into the future. That is the link.”

Zimbabwe’s military, then under current Vice President Constantino Chiwenga who was its commander, blocked the now late former opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai from assuming office even when there were claims the once popular politician had defeated then incumbent Robert Mugabe in the 2008 elections.

The same military would return 2017 to stage a coup against Mugabe whom it replaced with the now incumbent Emmerson Mnangagwa.

The post Chinamasa Says Zanu PF Won’t Surrender Bond With Military appeared first on NewZimbabwe.com.

Thandeka Moyo-Ndlovu & Mkhululi Ncube, Chronicle Reporters POLICE in Bulawayo yesterday imposed a 6PM to 6AM curfew in the city in line with the localised lockdown measures meant to curb the spread of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic. Businesses in the city centre and Covid-19 hotspot suburbs will now operate from 8AM and close at 3PM […]

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