While Zim government authorities were slumbering, politicking, vomiting financial jargon that never helped us, promoting zvihuta and 1:1 nonsense, fuelling corruption and command agriculture (only to import maize and wheat as well as soya crude oil), Zambia was busy constructing the Kazungula Bridge – an economic gateway for trucks from South Africa going to Zambia and DRC via Botswana, while bypassing Zimbabwe.

As soon as the bridge became operational, Zambia announces that; the Victoria Falls bridge can no longer be used by truckers going to DRC or Zambia. Their reasons are that they want to get rid of noise caused by trucks in their tourist town of Livingstone as it was solely designed and developed for that purpose, and that they want to maintain the lifespan of the bridge and it’s structural intergrity. The bridge can now only be used by small cars and trains carrying goods and passengers- {{our own NRZ is dead to provide this service and Zambia knows that very well, that is why they want the bridge to be exclusively used by trains for trade purposes . Those dinosaur locomotives commissioned – deal later cancelled as per some media reports will never give Zim the much needed forex. We were outwitted smartly whilst the likes of Matemadanda and cabal were busy propagandizing everything doing nothing for the development of this nation}}

Zimbabwe cannot object or oppose Zambia’s move. Its a stalemate for Zimbabwe as they will see a decline in revenue collected by ZIMRA at Beit Bridge and the Victoria Falls border posts. Trucks that preffered to use that route will now be forced to use Kazungula Bridge, which means they will go via Botswana by passing Zim. ZINARA is also bound to see its piece of toll-fees being cut down as these trucks will no longer use our aged roads that have been neglected for decades. Businesses will also feel the heat. Truckers were customers to both formal and informal traders at ports of entry and along the way.

Economics is all about outwitting your enemies or competitors. It’s about strategizing, and this is where our authorities were caught unawares by Zambia. Zambia invested its money wgere its interests were. The delays at Beitbridge, accompanied by corruption and roadblocks will make many trucking companies to avoid Zim. Zambia yaenda nechimuti rakacheka nyika.

HARARE – The United Nations Human Rights Office says it is “concerned” by a new Human Rights Watch report that says Zimbabwe’s government is using the Covid-19 pandemic as a pretext to clamp down on freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

Marta Hurtado, spokeswoman of the U.N. Human Rights Office, said the agency is encouraging President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government to engage with civil society and other stakeholders to find sustainable solutions to grievances while ensuring that people’s rights and freedoms are protected in accordance with Zimbabwe’s human rights obligations.

“We are indeed concerned at allegations that suggest that the Zimbabwean authorities may be using the Covid-19 pandemic as a pretext to clamp down on freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly and association,” Hurtado said.

“Merely calling for a peaceful protest or participating in a peaceful protest are an exercise of recognized human rights. An example of intimidation is the repeated arbitrary arrest and detention of three members of the main opposition party for taking part in a protest.”

That is an apparent reference to three female opposition activists who were arrested in May for protesting the Zimbabwe government’s failure to provide payouts during a lockdown to contain the coronavirus. They now face two more charges – all related to breaking lockdown regulations.

On Thursday, HRW released a report chronicling how 23 African governments are using the COVID-19 pandemic to clamp down on freedom of the media and of assembly.

On Friday, Cecillia Chimbiri – one of the three female opposition activists mentioned in the HRW report – welcomed the U.N. Human Rights Office’s statement on Zimbabwe. She maintains the trio’s innocence and wants the Zimbabwe government to look after its citizens during lockdowns.

“The demo was simply to say: people are hungry, what are you doing as the government of Zimbabwe, people are unemployed, Zimbabweans live hand to mouth? We are law-abiding citizens,” she told VOA.

“Speaking against the government doesn’t make us unpatriotic. We love our country that’s why we are speaking against any injustices and any inequalities that are existing. We did not commit any crime. We are not criminals. They are trying to tarnish our images, this is what this government is doing, to clampdown voices, to make sure they continue doing that (abuses).”

On Wednesday, Elasto Mugwadi, the head of the government-affiliated Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, confirmed to VOA that his organization had received complaints of abuses raised in the HRW report.

He said the complaints included “robust approach in enforcement by the police” and “generally excessive enforcement.”

Mugwadi said the commission was investigating the complaints of abuses during the lockdown by the Zimbabwe government to contain coronavirus.

“While recognizing the government’s efforts to contain the pandemic, it is important to remind the authorities that any restrictions should be necessary, proportionate and time-limited, and enforced humanely without resorting to unnecessary or excessive force,” Hurtado said.

The HRW report, Covid-19 Triggers Wave of Free Speech Abuse, said the rights group was concerned about the introduction of Zimbabwe’s Public Health Order Act in March, which threatened up to 20 years in prison for fake news on public health matters.

Mutora Mission Clinic, one of the biggest health facilities in Gokwe North, does not have a single operational toilet, staff and local residents say.

The institution used to be the biggest health facility in Gokwe North before the commissioning of the Chinese-built Gokwe North district hospital in 2012.

Reports suggest that there are no functional public toilets at this Roman catholic institute as they are all either full to capacity or are in a bad state to be used.

Mutora Mission Clinic is used as maternity waiting shelter for the district and expecting mothers are seen during the day urinating in public every day. One expecting mother said:

We only use these toilets when we want to pass stool only because they are full to capacity.

Meanwhile, the sole toilet for staff members is also in bad shape. The restroom that was built after a protest by one worker has since developed some cracks. A nurse who spoke on condition of anonymity said:

We do not have a toilet at all here, the ones we have at our homes are all full or dilapidated.

Patients who spoke to this publication said they use council toilets at the bus terminus to relieve themselves. The council toilets are away from Mutora Mission Clinic. One patient only identified as Tendai said:

We are forced to use council’s public toilets since there are no toilets at the clinic. We leave the clinic and walk about 20 minutes to access these toilets.

The state of the restrooms has triggered outrage from nurses at this facility. They have since called for the Catholic authorities to address the issue. An anonymous staff member said:

We are not living comfortably here,they should renovate their houses as promised and build us some toilets. How can we educate patients on the importance of toilets when we do not have them here.

Some have turned guns at the manager of the institution, a primary care nurse called sister Juliana Ndabambi, saying she lacks the requisite qualifications and skills to run the clinic.

Mutora Mission Clinic has more than 24 workers and houses more than 150 waiting mothers at peak.

Authorities are said to have pledged to renovate the 13 dilapidated houses but no action has been taken so far.

MDC ALLIANCE has called on the army to rein in rogue elements within the security sector for terrorising civilians.

This follows reports of acts of brutality visited on civilians by soldiers in Midlands recently.

MDC Alliance Midlands spokesperson Takavafira Zhou, speaking in an interview, said the army must rein in rogue elements within its ranks.

“It is unfortunate that army personnel shot an innocent villager to death in Gweru, while there were reports of innocent civilians or villagers brutalised by the army in Mberengwa and Gokwe,” Zhou said.

Recently, Zanu PF women’s league commissar Maybe Mbowa said some soldiers had visited brutalities on the villagers.

Though Mbowa said calm has since returned to the area, she is reported to have said some soldiers in Gokwe-Nembudziya terrorised villagers for allegedly violating lockdown regulations.

Said Zhou, “Such instances do not resonate with modern day operations of a national army, mostly in cultivating harmonious civil-military relations.

“We therefore urge the army commanders to rein in some of its rogue elements in order to maintain high professional standards of the army as defenders of the territorial integrity of the country.”

Meanwhile, Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa (ACT-SA) director Obert Chinhamo said his organisation has received reports of soldiers soliciting for bribes.

“We have received reports against soldiers who are soliciting for bribes from motorists and travellers without permits.

“In other areas, soldiers are being hired by rogue mushikashikas (pirate taxis) to help them pass checkpoints for a fee,” Chinhamo said.

He added that the soldiers “normally” harass and threaten people as a strategy to force them to pay bribes.

Just like what the police has done to deploy senior police officers at checkpoints, Chinhamo said, the army should do the same.

“The department in charge of anti-corruption within the army should monitor these rogue soldiers.

“If the department does not exist, the army should consider setting it up since corruption within the army has reached sickening levels,” he said.

Source: New Zimbabwe

MDC ALLIANCE has called on the army to rein in rogue elements within the security sector for terrorising civilians.

This follows reports of acts of brutality visited on civilians by soldiers in Midlands recently.

MDC Alliance Midlands spokesperson Takavafira Zhou, speaking in an interview, said the army must rein in rogue elements within its ranks.

“It is unfortunate that army personnel shot an innocent villager to death in Gweru, while there were reports of innocent civilians or villagers brutalised by the army in Mberengwa and Gokwe,” Zhou said.

Recently, Zanu PF women’s league commissar Maybe Mbowa said some soldiers had visited brutalities on the villagers.

Though Mbowa said calm has since returned to the area, she is reported to have said some soldiers in Gokwe-Nembudziya terrorised villagers for allegedly violating lockdown regulations.

Said Zhou, “Such instances do not resonate with modern day operations of a national army, mostly in cultivating harmonious civil-military relations.

“We therefore urge the army commanders to rein in some of its rogue elements in order to maintain high professional standards of the army as defenders of the territorial integrity of the country.”

Meanwhile, Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa (ACT-SA) director Obert Chinhamo said his organisation has received reports of soldiers soliciting for bribes.

“We have received reports against soldiers who are soliciting for bribes from motorists and travellers without permits.

“In other areas, soldiers are being hired by rogue mushikashikas (pirate taxis) to help them pass checkpoints for a fee,” Chinhamo said.

He added that the soldiers “normally” harass and threaten people as a strategy to force them to pay bribes.

Just like what the police has done to deploy senior police officers at checkpoints, Chinhamo said, the army should do the same.

“The department in charge of anti-corruption within the army should monitor these rogue soldiers.

“If the department does not exist, the army should consider setting it up since corruption within the army has reached sickening levels,” he said.

Source: New Zimbabwe

https://www.aljazeera.com/program/the-stream/2021/1/20/is-zimbabwe-criminalising-dissent

The European Union (EU) and the United States of America have both expressed concern over the Zimbabwean government’s failure to probe the disproportionate use of force by security personnel against civilians in January 2009.

In a statement posted on its Twitter handle, the EU in Zimbabwe demanded an end to impunity and the prosecution of human rights violators. It said:

Two years on, investigations are lacking and impunity continues to prevail on human rights violations perpetrated in #Zimbabwe in January 2019. #NoZIMpunity.

In a related development, the U.S. Embassy in Harare queried why Zimbabwe has not yet prosecuted and convicted the security forces accused of rape, torture, and killing civilians in January 2019. It said in a tweet:

Two years. When will Zimbabwe investigate, prosecute, and convict government security forces accused of rape, torture, and killing civilians in Jan 2019? Two years is too long to seek justice/answers/accountability.

Zimbabwe descended into anarchy characterised by the looting of businesses and barricading of roads in January 2019 after the government unilaterally hiked the price of fuel by over 150 per cent.

In response to the fuel riots, the government blocked the internet for several days and unleashed security forces on civilians resulting in the death of over 20 people and serious injuries to hundreds.

There were also allegations of some rogue members of the security services moving from door-to-door raping women who were too terrified to report the abuse for fear of victimisation.

The Zimbabwean government denied the reports insisting that “terrorists” and a “third force” were responsible for the violence.

HARARE – Police arrested Fadzayi Mahere, the spokesperson for the Movement for Democratic Change on Monday in the latest crackdown against free speech.

Mahere was detained after attending a police station by appointment following a visit by detectives a day earlier when they failed to locate her, her lawyers said.

The 35-year-old became the third person to be charged over a Twitter post last week saying a police officer had beaten and killed a child strapped to its mother’s back using a baton after a video of the alleged incident went viral.

Police said last Thursday investigations showed the baby was alive.

Freelance journalist Hopewell Chin’ono and MDC Alliance lawmaker for Zengeza West Job Sikhala were in court separately on Monday facing similar charges as Mahere: publishing or communicating false statements prejudicial to the state or alternatively undermining public confidence in law enforcement agency.

Mahere will only appear in court on Tuesday, police said, the same day that a magistrate will rule on an application brought by Chin’ono challenging his placement on remand.

Lawyers for the journalist told magistrate Lazini Ncube that the law under which he is charged – section 31 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act – was previously declared void by the Constitutional Court and therefore does not exist.

“A Constitutional Court judgment exists in the case of Constantine Chimakure and others (CCZ6 of 2014), ruling that the offence he is facing is unconstitutional,” defence lawyer Harrison Nkomo argued.

“Section 31 (a)(iii) is not part of our law. The arrest is arbitrary and has no foundation at law. He cannot be tried on a law that does not exist.”

He said if the purported law is void, it is a nullity and the State case must fall.

The prosecution led by Nancy Chandakaona insisted that it will stand by its arguments that an offence was committed.

“Freedom of expression is not absolute and has its limitations in section 61 sub-section 5 of the Constitution,” Chandakaona argued.

“The media’s role is appreciated for informing the public but there should be guaranteed protection from harm in that dispensation. His statement was published on social media and it undermines public confidence in the police.”

Chin’ono was first arrested in July on charges of inciting violent anti-government protests. He was arrested again in November on charges of obstructing justice.

Sikhala appeared before magistrate Ngoni Nduna represented by Nkomo, Jeremiah Bamu and Paida Saurombe while Constance Ngombengombe prosecuted.

The defence team raised concerns that Chin’ono, who declared that he was in contact with two people who later tested positive for Covid-19, had been placed in the same cell as Sikhala potentially exposing him to Covid-19.

Sikhala, the lawyers said, had also been interrogated in Office 93 at the Criminal Investigations Department’s Law and Order office at Harare Central Police Station without it being disinfected.

“This was callous and police must be ordered to give a detailed report why they did so,” Bamu said.

The matter could not proceed after prison officers said they were facing traffic challenges and needed to move all prisoners at the court at the same time.

Nduna postponed the hearing to Tuesday.

HARARE – MDC Alliance vice-chairperson Job Sikhala was arrested Saturday and charged with publishing falsehoods and promoting public violence – the same charges laid against journalist Hopewell Chin’ono after the two allegedly claimed on social media that a police officer had fatally assaulted a baby strapped to its mother’s back in Harare.

Sikhala, a lawyer and parliamentarian, was detained outside the Rotten Row Magistrates’ Court after jointly representing Chin’ono, who had appeared briefly before a magistrate following his arrest Friday.

The two are charged under Section 31 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act which deals with “publishing or communicating false statements prejudicial to the State.”

Except, legal experts and human rights defenders argue the statute was struck down by the Constitutional Court in 2014 in a matter brought by two Zimbabwe Independent newspaper journalists.

The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), whose attorneys are representing Sikhala, said the MDC Alliance lawmaker is also accused of “undermining public confidence in law enforcement agency.”

“The charges arise from statements made on social media platforms (Facebook and Twitter) by Sikhala on the famous incident involving ‘a certain mother, child and a cop’ that took place in Harare,” the rights advocacy group said in a statement.

Sikhala and Chin’ono remain in custody. They will appear in court on Monday.

The two are said to have made the baby death claims after a viral video that showed an angry mother manhandling a police officer, with onlookers shouting “Auraya mwana (he’s killed the baby).”

But prosecutors argued during Chin’ono’s arraignment that “investigations conducted by the police established that the alleged nine-month-old baby is alive and was never assaulted by a ZRP officer with a baton contrary to the accused person’s statement.”

Legal analysts, however, were quick to scoff at the charges, accusing President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government of stifling freedom of speech while perpetuating human rights violations.

“While you get excited over the United States’ woes, your regime is busy detaining people based on non-existent laws,” said lawyer Alex Magaisa, a lecturer at the University of Kent in the United Kingdom.

He was responding to a statement posted on Twitter by Zimbabwe’s foreign minister Sibusiso Moyo pointing out “U.S. fallibilities” after a violent mob loyal to lame-duck President Donald Trump overran the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday seeking to stop the confirmation of Joe Biden as the country’s next president.

“Minister Sibusiso Moyo, what is the justification of detaining Job Sikhala and Hopewell on charges based on provisions that were voided by the Constitutional Court? That’s arbitrary rule,” Magaisa charged.

A ZRP officer hit a baby with a button stick and the baby died on the spot. This behavior is unacceptable.

The authorities have too long considered themselves above the law through their recklessness and ill-treatment of the masses.

I pray for the mother to find peace and justice to thunder on the police officer