BY Harriet Chikandiwa

FORMER Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko yesterday applied for his case to be referred to the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) where he wants to argue that his rights are being trampled upon because he still has presidential immunity which protects him against prosecution.

Mphoko wants the highest court to rule on whether or not he was still entitled to presidential immunity as stipulated by section 98 of the Constitution.

Mphoko’s lawyer Advocate Tawanda Zhuwarara submitted that they wanted legal clarity so that the court could deal with facts.

“Whether presidential immunity as set out in section 98 of the Constitution extends to acts and or omissions by the Vice-President (and former Vice-President) who alleges and intends to prove that such acts or omissions during the discharge of his or her duties were actuated in accordance with section 99 of the Constitution,” Zhuwarara said.

However, the State, represented by Lovack Masuku, submitted that the court has to form an opinion as to whether the request is frivolous or not.

Masuku told the court that if the facts are not disputed, no issue would have arisen in the matter and the defence of good faith can be heard in the trial court not in the ConCourt.

The State argued that Mphoko’s request for referral does not raise an issue of fundamental human rights, therefore, the issue of immunity does not exist since he is now out of office.

But Zhuwarara insisted that his client was entitled to immunity.

“Whether the defence of good faith as enunciated in section 98 (4) of the Constitution is available to a Vice-President (and former Vice-President), who alleges and intends to prove that such acts and or omissions were actuated during the discharge of their duties in accordance of section 99 of the Constitution,” Zhuwarara said. Harare regional magistrate Hosea Mujaya will make a ruling on December 16.

Opinion: Paidamoyo Muzulu

DEAR Dad

Dad, life has been a roller-coaster since you left us that day (December 7, 2017) without as much as a good-bye due to the shock asthma attack and failure to get you to hospital just in time for resuscitation. Then, dad, it was a combination of a bad road and the poor communication at the farm and we still live with the guilty that we could have done better.

Your promotion to glory just came a mere two weeks after the political seismic change, when founding Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe had been deposed in a coup that many Zimbabweans celebrated. Many saw it as a new dawn, but my trepidation over the military counselled me otherwise. It is very funny to think of it now that you dissuaded me from enrolling at Zimbabwe Military Academy as an officer cadet in 1998 because you feared I could have been rushed to the Democratic Republic of Congo then and died in a war you never understood why it was being waged.

Deep down I loved the military uniform dad and hoped I could have served my country just as much as Uncle Itayi had done during the liberation struggle and after Independence. Let us just put that aside for now and rush to fill you in about developments since then.

My three princesses have grown up fast and sometimes they reminisce about our visits to the farm. They are doing well in school and I am proud that you taught us the value of education. Sometimes when we sit in the lounge, particularly soon after schools close like this week dad, they are restless to show their results and dream of the old days when you would give them presents for doing well.

I hate to say this dad, but I guess I should confide in you that I look into the future with trepidation as things are going south very quickly. The festive season no longer has the merry, not only because you are not there, but the economy has tumbled.

Inflation for the past six months has been galloping and there seems to be no taming as the government looks clueless except for their copy and paste solutions from the Bretton Woods institutions. The last time they tried that during Bernard Chidzero’s time, you remember the chaos that followed.

Today’s misery is worse than the 1992 Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (Esap) phase or 2008 when the economy dollarised on its own. We have a new Finance minister, a don straight from Oxford dad. He has many theories about economics and is implementing a new version of Esap only that they changed names for it. These days they interchangeably use the term austerity or staff-monitored programme. If you ask me, the difference is the same. The poor are carrying the cane for the rich. I did not tell you, the minister still stays at Meikles Hotel and frequently visits his family in Switzerland. We can say he is a visiting Treasury boss or in their terminology a professor on sabbatical and taking a summer class at a foreign university.

He recently even had the audacity to remove subsidies on maize-meal and wheat. That was a callous decision dad, a kick in the teeth for the poor, considering the stagnant salaries and a ravaging drought we experienced in the 2018/19 agriculture season.

Sadza, dad, is now a prized commodity. They are teaching us to be capitalists. We can no longer share freely when visitors come or even make tea for guests as we chat.

Unfortunately, he is experimenting with people’s lives. As I write to you dad, doctors have been on industrial action for more than three months. Many people have died from preventable causes as the doctors hold out for a living wage. You can imagine when they do this to professionals such as doctors dad, most workers can actually be tossed without a second thought.

Harare has changed; it now resembles some rural settlement and your grandchildren no longer know what showers are for. We now have wells, they can’t watch television because we have rolling power cuts lasting 18 hours a day. And cash is now a commodity that is being traded at every corner at a premium.

In all this economic and social madness dad, speculations within Zanu PF circles on succession and power are raging. Next week, they are having their annual political jamboree at Goromonzi High School. They will be talking about 2023 elections dad, when I can’t contemplate January 2020. Yes, dad, they are even seeing themselves in power in 2030 and by then my guess is most of the working poor would have been moved out of Harare not by Murambatsvina like in 2005, but by biting poverty.

For now dad, we will keep hoping, seeking inspiration, working harder like Boxer in Animal Farm. No, dad, I should have quoted your favourite, Hard Times by Charles Dickens. They are incorrigible as you would say.

Till then Chirandu, keep looking after us. I can’t email this because there is no electricity, so it’s back to the Post Office. They now call it Zimpost, so it may take ages to get to you. Your Son,

Paidamoyo Muzulu is a journalist and writes here in his personal capacity. He can be contacted on muzulu.p@gmail.com

BY Phyllis Mbanje

Health minister Obadiah Moyo is taking the heat from an audit report which exposed massive corruption at Chitungwiza Central Hospital during his term at the helm of the institution.

But Moyo yesterday dismissed the report, dated October 24, 2017 and addressed to the then Health secretary Gerald Gwinji, claiming its authors had “ulterior motives”.

Of concern in the report done at the behest of Gwinji, was the fact that the hospital had lost a lot of revenue due through opaque public private partnerships (PPPs) contracts.

“Revenue collected by the hospital declined from a monthly average of $315 740 in 2013 to $75 090 in 2017. As a result, the hospital was failing to pay its suppliers of goods and services, thus compromising service delivery,” the report read.

The report said the hospital had entered into six PPP contracts from 2013 for provision of, pharmacy, radiology, funeral pallor, hospital mortuary, catering, pathology laboratory and outsourcing of a coffee shop and kiosk.

But a review of the contract documents revealed that the hospital executive lacked legal advice in the formulation of the agreements.

The auditors noted that the hospital surrendered its premises, equipment, staff and entire operations to the PPPs in return for a percentage of the profit generated from provision of services to patients. This posed a risk of improper safeguarding of assets and compromise service delivery.

Another example of corrupt activities included a contract between the hospital and BIG Diagnostics (Pvt) Ltd which allowed the partner to evaluate the hospital equipment in radiology, but there was no provision for involvement of technical personnel from the hospital or Ministry of Health.

“This posed the risk of unfavourable and biased evaluation against the hospital. The partners evaluation concluded that there was no guarantee for the continued use of the hospital equipment,” the auditors noted.

Another issue of concern was the conversion of the hospital mortuary into a funeral parlour, resulting in storage charges being levied for dead bodies contrary to the ministry’s standard policy that provides the services for free.

As part of their recommendations, the auditors said the ministry should institute a board of investigation to evaluate the establishment and operation of the PPPs at the institution.

However, Moyo rubbished the report, saying the partnerships were beneficial and other public hospitals were actually looking into similar arrangements.

Speaking during a Health Professions Authority annual congress in Harare on Wednesday, he said those behind the leaked report had ulterior motives.

Moyo has been under pressure from the restive doctors who are agitating for his resignation blaming him for running down the country’s health system.

Devotion Column: Erasmus Makarimayi

THE grace of God has brought us to adoption as sons and daughters. We are not servants but we belong to the inner circle of liberty. Believers are not a community of miserable and helpless people. Salvation came at the price of the blood of Jesus, an investment whose dividends Christians have to know and fully partake of. Salvation means that we are saved from sin and its effects. We are redeemed, free from death. The joy of salvation permeates through us and we are not sullen and dejected. We rejoice and rejoice according to the persuasion of the new covenant.

Sometimes believers fail to express themselves joyfully fearing that God may withdraw His mercy. Naïve believers are lied to by the devil and fear instilled in them to the point that they end up in false humility, which is pride in itself. You’re bought with a price not to lose you, but keep you. Trust the Lord for your salvation, you’re safe in His hands. We’re not outcasts roaming the earth scavenging but rather we have an inheritance among the sanctified.

We don’t live as if we’re on probation. We’re certain of God’s sure salvation. In John 6:37, Jesus assures us: “All that the Father giveth me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” God gave us to Christ and we have come to Him and He will not cast us out. The comforting and assuring thing about this is that no limit is set to the duration of this promise. The moment you get into Christ, He makes sure you are not cast out from that moment onwards and forever. In the original manuscripts it reads, “I will not, not cast out,” or “I will never, never cast out”. This means that Christ will not at first reject a believer; and that as He will not do it at first, so He will not to the last.

One major concern for believers is fear of sinning. There are people, who are so pessimistic, that even if everything is pointing to success they see themselves failing. When negativity floods your mind, please dare think positive. Reconsider to ask yourself: “In case I win instead of in case I lose?” I always emphasise and repeat that victorious Christians are Christ conscious not sin conscious.

You’re the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. 1 John 2:1-2 teaches: “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” Jesus took care of our sins and His blood always speaks mercy not vengeance.

Don’t crowd yourself with fear of backsliding. Please confess Hebrews 10:39, “But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” The devil will always threaten you that you are not thinking soberly when you assert your salvation. When he does that retort and tell him to be sober instead and get behind you.

Here’s the advance cure for backsliding. Hosea 14:4 declares, “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.” God loves you, His anger is turned away from you in Christ Jesus. It’s not our effort, good deeds or works but the finished work of Christ. Always embrace Him, He never leaves you nor forsakes you.

Please never allow Satan to steal your joy. When temptations are thrown at you, you won’t succumb. 1 Corinthians 10:13 assures you: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

Your confidence is that once in Christ, always in Christ. He will not cast you out. Don’t live in fear but live in hope and confidence. Romans 8:15 encourages: “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” No fear but security as a child.

You’re eternally in Christ. John 10:28-29 assures, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” You have eternal life. Moreover you shall not perish and you cannot be pulled out of God’s hands. Grace and peace be multiplied to you through knowledge.

All Bible quotations are from the King James Version unless otherwise stated.

Feedback: pastor@newgatechapel.org Fellowship with Pastor Makarimayi on Facebook and on www.twitter.com/PEMAKARIMAYI.

Guest Column: Fr Oskar Wermter SJ

ARE we in control of time, or is time controlling us, from hour to hour, day to day, and year to year? This is a time of waiting, of expectation and preparation for a child. Is he actually on his way? Yes, he is, but he comes in his own good time. We live in time, but time is not under our control.

At laying the dead to rest, we used to pray for the one among the mourners to follow the friend, brother or mother just buried. Who will it be? When will it be? How much time has he or she left? People do not really like to ask “morbid” questions like that. But can we avoid them? Are they not obvious?

A woman, who is expecting, is counting the months and weeks, finally the days and hours. Can she work out a “time table” that is reliable, a plan to tell her what is to come? Today everything can be manipulated, organised, managed. We talk about the wisdom of “time management”. (Or is it folly? )

So many of us go buying and selling on the “labour market”. What is it we are selling? Time! The time of our lives, unpredictable, uncertain. Ourselves actually. If we have sold our working time, we are tied down. Time no longer belongs to us. It belongs now to the one who has hired us and wants value for money.

We no longer belong to ourselves. Some of us would pay soothsayers or prophets (but real prophets are not for hire!) heaps of money if they could tell us the truth of events to come which they can’t and won’t.

Time is flowing fast like a river, a stream which does not stop. Like the Rhine, or the Zambezi, the Nile, the Amazon or Congo it ends in the sea or ocean. Like them, we cannot give the stream of our life a different direction. We are carried by our fate to an end predetermined by the Lord and Creator. Or so it would seem. This kind of “time” is called “chronos” in Greek.

But life is not monotonous. It has its surprises, its sudden turns and unexpected vistas. There is more than floods and flowing streams ever the same. There are sudden crises and challenges, as well as opportunities never thought of nor hoped for. In every life of individuals, communities, nations, there is a very special, extraordinary time, a chance given just once, but perhaps never again an opportunity you must grab now, or you will have missed it for good.

The ancestors knew this long before us. They used to say, “Chawawana batisisa mudzimu haupe kaviri” (“What you have, hold on to it, the spirits will not give twice”). In biblical Greek we call this “kairos” (see Mark 1:15; Revelation 1:3): the time is fulfilled! Christian churches in South Africa recognised this challenge during the final phase of the anti-apartheid struggle. They produced the “Kairos-Document”. It was a unique time, moment and opportunity to call out, “Now or never!” This was their “moment of grace”!

Maybe when the leaders of the forces of liberation accepted a certain compromise at Lancaster and thereby made Independence possible, this was their “kairos” and “moment of grace”.
When a young man finally meets the woman of his life maybe that is his “kairos”, which may not come again.

If only our leaders would have the blinkers removed from their eyes and grab the opportunity (kairos) of creating a united, peaceful and blessed country! Making use of the right, the opportune moment is not an act of arrogance, pride and triumph. We are not gods, we have no divine privileges. At this “moment of grace” we accept humbly that we are poor servants of one another and of the entire nation. This is not a time to take advantage of and get rich by. This is not a time of grabbing, but of receiving a blessing for the good of even “the least of our brothers”.

And maybe our “medicine men” could also learn to jump across their own shadow and recognise that their justified interest in well-equipped hospitals can be reconciled with achieving the common good for all of us. This “moment of grace” will be the last chance to resolve current contradictions and put an end to the present hopeless stalemate. Only the humble find the way forward.

Now is the time (‘kairos’). Don’t waste it. “The spirit does not give twice”.

 Fr Oskar Wermter is social commentator and he writes in his personal capacity

Editorial Comment

PARENTS countrywide are reeling from the shocker school fees hike for next term with some schools demanding as much as $12 000.

School authorities from across the country have been wantonly increasing fees and most affected are the Form 1 pupils who are also burdened with buying new school uniforms.

For many the festive season will not be as cheerful as they will be busy scrounging to put together the amorous fees which the ministry said it has not approved.

This has not, however, stopped the schools from increasing the fees and parents for Form 1 pupils are being forced to pay in order to secure places for their children.

With an average civil servant earning less than $1 000, it defies all logic on how they are then supposed to come up with the fees in less than a month and premised on the December salary.

Although it is a fact that basic commodities have gone up, there is no justification for the figures and parents have every right to question the practice. Mission schools have also joined the bandwagon.

Private schools have also not been left out in the madness and are charging exorbitant amounts which are clearly beyond the means of many hard-working parents.

Surely demanding that a parent pay over $75 000 in school levy per term is a new level of greediness and there is no justification.

People are already seized with other financial commitments and this will only exacerbate the crisis.

Come January, many pupils will not be able to go back to their former schools and once again there will be another stampede for local day schools which are cheaper. This will compromise the quality of education and disturb the smooth flow of lessons.

Private unregistered colleges will once again thrive under such confusion.

It is shameful that the government has not taken decisive steps to halt this madness and restore order within schools. It is clear that cases of corruption and maladministration will crop up.

The education sector has received its fair share of issues from teachers’ incapacitation and this round of fees increase will further drive the quality into the doldrums.

Our plea to the education minister is to take concrete steps in addressing this matter as an emergency. Parents have a right to enjoy the festive seasons without worrying about school fees.

It would be sad if students drop out of school completely, undoing years of building up the country’s education system which is still highly recognised in the region and beyond.

BY Richard Muponde

TWO passengers died on the spot while 48 others escaped with injuries when a speeding bus overturned at the corner of Robert Mugabe and Chiremba roads in Harare yesterday morning.

Reports said the bus, belonging to Abdul and Sons, was travelling from Epworth to the central business district when the accident happened.

The injured were rescued by passers-by and motorists before the arrival of the fire brigade and ambulance services.

National police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed the accident.

“We confirm that two people died on the spot while 48 others were injured when an Abdul and Sons bus coming from Epworth failed to negotiate a curve allegedly due to speeding and collided with an Inter Africa bus coming from Mabvuku, leading in it overturning at the intersection of Robert Mugabe and Chiremba roads,” Nyathi said.

Witnesses said the bus driver did not stop at a rail crossing before failing to negotiate a sharp curve, resulting in the collision with another bus.

“The bus was speeding and overtaking private cars. It even overtook me and we spoke about it hinting that the driver won’t go far without being involved in an accident. Moments later, when I arrived at the intersection, I was shocked to see the bus lying on its side. We had to help retrieve the injured from the mangled bus,” Tatenda Munhuwani, a motorist from Cranborne, said.

A resident of Epworth, Marian Usayihwevhu, who missed the bus as she arrived moments after it took off from the loading point said the driver was known for speeding.

SUCCESS LIFE: Jonah Nyoni

Everyone wants to be successful, but not everyone wants to put in the effort. This article looks at the behaviours of the majority and the minority. If you want success don’t follow what the masses are doing. Success is basically the opposite of what the majority do. The masses have rituals that lead to poverty and on the other hand successful people have rituals that lead to riches and significance. If success was easy most people would be successful, but that is not the case.

Design and desire

The majority of people think they must get a life they deserve. The few successful people know that they get a life they design. Everyone has a desire, wish and want, but life is not like that, you get what you fight for.

Acceptance and creation

A majority of the people accept what life offers them. Successful people don’t accept life as is, but they create the kind of a life they want. Most people accept an average, mediocre and low life. Successful people are aggressive and don’t accept poverty.

Fate and faith

Most of the people think that everything happens by fate. On the other hand the few and successful know that everything happens by faith. Fate says life happens to me. Faith says I create my own life because God created me with that power.

Control

The successful minority have control over their lives. The overwhelming majority feel and think they are controlled by life and by their bosses.

Locus and focus

The majority of people focus on what they don’t have or external forces. Such people have an external locus. The few successful focus on what they can do with their innate abilities, endowments, abilities and what they have. They have internal locus. The majority are hunting for external possibilities. The few successful ones are tapping from their internal resources.

Intentionality and accidental

Few people do things internationally. The majority think success is by accident or life happens to them.

Job-mindset and work-mindset

The majority are job-minded. The few are purpose-minded. People that are job-minded feel the government should provide jobs. A proper government must create an opportunity for people to be entrepreneurial. Everyone might not have a job, but everyone has something to do; work. Work on your craft even though there are less jobs.

TV and Library

The majority have big TVs and a small or no library. The majority watch too much TV. The successful few have mastered how to be watched on TV. A select few have a big library and they hunt for ideas. The majority hardly read a single quality book per year. The successful minority read books all times.

Pay and play

The majority party and play. The successful minority are eyeing for the next bounce of the ball. All people must both pay and play, but must know when to do it. People must learn to pay first and play later. We always choose between pain and pleasure. Pain is always the process to refine your passion and purpose. Learn from hard and painful moments. Get time to cry, but don’t cry forever. Take time to list all lessons in hard times. Tony Robbins says, when we win we party, but when we lose we ponder. Learn to make the best out of hard times.

Jonah Nyoni is an author, success coach and certified leadership/business trainer. He is the author of Inspiration for Success and Success Within Reach.

By RICHARD MUPONDE

The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) has arrested 10 Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) officers and agents based at Beitbridge Border Post over alleged smuggling of 433 vehicles into the country.

Four supervisors are still under investigation, of which one of them has since been suspended after being implicated in the scam.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Zacc confirmed the arrest of the officials, who are likely to appear in court today.

“A team of Zacc officers on the above-mentioned operation have achieved the following. About 10 Zimra officers and agents have been arrested and they are likely to appear at Beitbridge Magistrates’ Court probably by end of this week. Four supervisors are also implicated in the smuggling scam and one supervisor was suspended and the other three are still at work. There are three companies which were contracted by Zimra to clear vehicles and goods, (and they) were also arrested and are likely to appear in court as soon as possible,” Zacc said.

According to a section of the Customs and Excise Act, any person who smuggles any goods shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding level 14 or three times the duty-paid value of the goods, whichever is the greater.

The offence also attracts imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years or both.

Offenders are also liable to paying costs of investigations, where smuggled goods were discovered by the use of any mechanical scanning device.

A fortnight ago, Zimra recalled 433 vehicles after it was detected that they were smuggled and did not pay customs and excise duty.

Zimra officials, allegedly working hand in glove with some unscrupulous shipping agents or third parties, are believed to be behind the scheme, whose epicentre was at Beitbridge, the country and region’s busiest port.

The scheme, run by various syndicates, was exposed after some vehicles were intercepted by the department and other government agencies.

Other ports might have been involved in the scam, which exposes how porous the customs and excise systems could be.

The government recently enacted another legislation that provides for the forfeiture of any goods or assets deemed to have been acquired from proceeds of crime.

At Beitbridge, some shipping agents known to have been beneficiaries of this smuggling ring have built massive houses and drive expensive vehicles.

Zimra spokesperson Francis Chimanda asked for questions to be emailed to him, but had not responded at the time of going to print last night.