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Police brutality havocs MDC Alliance

Samuel Musarika
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Police brutality havocs MDC Alliance

Staff Reporter – The Zimbabwe Daily

Harare, Zimbabwe – The MDC Alliance’s Youth Assembly is crying foul over the nature of police brutality some of their members are experiencing.

Moreso, the national Youth Assembly has accused the ruling party as the one behind the brutalities.

“Yesterday, Emmerson Mnangagwa’s illegitimate regime once again illegally arrested one of our MDC Alliance Youth chairperson, Sekai ‘Muchaina’ Marashe who is our chairperson for the Midlands province.

Meanwhile, six heavily armed thugs suspected to be state agents raided MDC Alliance’s Youth deputy Treasurer General, Judith Tobaiwa’s residence where they made a break in and harassed her mother.

After failing to find Tobaiwa, the 6 poured unprintable polemic attacks on her mother before smashing windows.

It is very clear that the corrupt and illegitimate Emmerson Mnangagwa regime has now resorted to unorthodox means to quell the impending 31 July nationwide protests.

We shall not relent even in face of unjustified persecution and illegal arrests,” said Stephen Chuma, MDC Alliance’s Youth Assembly national spokesperson.

More warnings for Mnangagwa

Samuel Musarika
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More warnings for Mnangagwa

Staff Reporter – The Zimbabwe Daily

Harare, Zimbabwe – Poverty Liberation Movement (PLM), which encompasses various stakeholders including some members of the public, civil societies, and some opposition parties amongst others have warned the country’s President, Emmerson Mnangagwa against continued human rights violations.

The PLM is set to conduct a nationwide demonstration against the administration of the country’s President come July 31 2020.

“Illegal arrests and unscrupulous night antics of the regime on government critics is not going to be tolerated.

As PLM, we have noted with disgust and detest the unjust persecution of dissenting voices by state machinery ahead of the 31 July protests.

Within just a week, Emmerson Mnangagwa’s panic stricken regime besieged homes of Hon. Job Sikhala and ARTUZ president Obert Masaraure, in the wee hours of the night in a foiled bid to abduct the duo. The duo’s only crime is speaking on behalf of the suffering masses.

As PLM, we would like to state it clear that any further harassment through night shinenigans by state actors on citizens is not going to be tolerated.

Abductions and illegal arrests can never solve the poverty question but can only fuel public wrath ahead of 31 July.

As PLM, we are going to retaliate in full force at the persecution of citizens’ leaders,” read a statement issued out by the PLM.

Growing concerns over Zambian President infringing the freedom of expression

Samuel Musarika
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Growing concerns over Zambian President infringing the freedom of expression

Staff Reporter – The Zimbabwe Daily

Lusaka, Zambia – Some members of the opposition parties are blaming the country’s President, Edgar Lungu for infringing their freedom of expression.

President Lungu is being accused of intimidating some politicians and infringing the movement of people.

Although the allegations have been denied, they are now growing concerns on the way the government is infringing the freedom of expression.

United States Charge d’ Affaires to Zambia David Young, is amongst one of the concerned who has since questioned the waywardness of the government.

However, MP, Bowman Lusambo, Lusaka’s Provincial Minister has since castigated the narrative of human rights violations.

“We only have a good President in Edgar Lungu, where we have reached with Edgar Lungu is at the highest. We will continue to tell the people what Edgar Lungu has done.

For me, President Lungu has given me a status, so when I am moving to South Africa or Dubai, they give me respect,” said the Provincial Minister.

Last month, in a statement issued by the Zambian Youth Charter, the youths stated that they were concerned with the increased levels of unemployment, grand corruption and infringement of human rights, amongst other issues currently affecting the country.

Mauritius boosts food production

Samuel Musarika
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Staff Reporter – The Zimbabwe Daily

Port Louis, Mauritius – Mauritius has decided to use the COVID-19 pandemic as a way of boosting its food production.

The southern African country is aiming at reducing its food imports through an intensive production of its own food.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has underlined the crucial need to boost local food production systems and strengthen food security so as to decrease reliance on imports. 

Mauritius is bestowed with fertile soil and favourable climate conditions for agriculture and planters should avail themselves of governmental facilities and consider the cultivation of tropical plants such as avocado and breadfruit

The Covid-19 pandemic has triggered opportunities for us to strengthen food security and regain food sovereignty to help increase local food production to meet demand,” said Maneesh Gobin, Minister of Agro-Industry and Food Security.

The European Union has also pledged its support towards improving the agricultural welfare of Mauritius through funding and other initiatives that are geared towards boosting the country’s food security.

Russia Raids 110 Homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Largest in One Day

Samuel Musarika
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Russian authorities armed with assault rifles raided 110 homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Voronezh Region on July 13, 2020, according to an official press release by the Voronezh Region Investigative Committee. This is the largest series of raids conducted in one day on Jehovah’s Witnesses in modern Russia. Preliminary reports from my colleagues indicates that at least two Witnesses were beaten.

Some Witnesses reported that when the officers stormed into their houses to conduct the searches, they would force people to the ground and press their faces to the floor. Additionally, the law enforcement officers did not wear masks or take any precautions against the spread of COVID-19.

Jarrod Lopes, spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses, states: “This month, the total number of Witnesses’ homes raided has surged to over 1,000 since 2017. For reasons passing understanding, heavily armed officers—as if being deployed for combat—are storming into the homes of peaceful Christians, many of whom are elderly. Human rights advocates and international judicial bodies continue to publicly condemn Russia for targetting Jehovah’s Witnesses. We hope Russian leaders will halt the persecution and uphold the freedom of religion and belief that is enshrined in its Constitution.”

My colleagues are still gathering information on this mass raid operation. So far, we’ve confirmed with some 60 Witness families that their homes were searched. Our confirmation process has been slow because the authorities confiscated the Witnesses’ phones.

The previous record for the highest number of searches in one day was on February 10, 2020, when the authorities raided 50 Witness homes in the Transbaikal Region. Other notable mass raids were in Sochi (35 searches, October 2019) and Nizhny Novgorod (35 searches, July 2019). Since the 2017 Supreme Court ruling to ban our activities, over 1,000 homes of our fellow worshippers have been raided (this does not yet include the raids in Voronezh).

South Africa recording 500 COVID-19 cases per hour

Samuel Musarika
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Staff Reporter – The Zimbabwe Daily

Pretoria, South Africa – South Africa is now recording an average of 500 COVID-19 cases per hour, with an average of 12 00 COVID-19 cases per day.

To date, the country has recorded 276 242 COVID-19 cases making it the 10th highest in the world. It has also recorded 4 079 COVID-19 related fatalities.

Yesterday the country’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, read out the country’s COVID-19 update.

“We are now witnessing an exponential increase in the number of COVID-19 cases which has prompted the National Corona Command Council (NCCC) to make some adjustments.

The national state of disaster has been further extended to the 15th of August 2020.

We have also noted that our trauma and ICU sections are now being overburdened by alcohol related cases as such the sale and distribution of alcohol has been suspended with immediate effect.

Furthermore, there will now be a curfew which will start on Monday from 9pm to 4am,” said Ramaphosa.

Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs as well as the chairperson of the NCCC said the decisions taken by the NCCC to curb the spread of the virus were spot on.

“The decisions taken by the NCCC are on point as they are helping in curbing the spread of the virus.

People should not act as if this virus is only supposed to be solved by the government, each and every individual has a responsibility that they should take in mitigating the spread of the virus.

Wearing of masks is now mandatory when one is in public places, let us all take the necessary precautions in avoiding this virus,” said the Minister.

Some of the country’s scientists have predicted that South Africa will reach its peak by the end of this month with between 40 000 and 50 000 COVID-19 related fatalities expected by the end of the year.

Modeling agency bemoans the effects of COVID-19

Samuel Musarika
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Staff Reporter – The Zimbabwe Daily

Harare, Zimbabwe – One of the country’s top modeling agencies, Harare Life Models, is now feeling the repercussions of COVID-19.

Due to the country’s state of emergency mode, fashion shows, beauty pageants and face to face training is no longer permitted which in turn has taken a ripple effect on the agency.

“Modeling is generally an in person activity. We are having troubles doing grooming in order to get the model ready for gigs, also because of the lockdown they are relatively no events happening such as fashion shows which means no gigs for models. So it’s really tough times,” said Batanai Santos, Creative Director of Harare Life Models.

However, the Creative Director said the modeling agency was now using online platforms as means of recruitment and conducting trainings.

“We have developed an online platform for models to submit their applications it’s at hlmodels.co.zw and in terms of training we are building courses for online consumption both on the web and also on WhatsApp.

However, we are still consulting our clients on the best ways to work with our models without putting them at risk of exposure to the Coronavirus epidemic,” said Santos.

Santos further highlighted that modeling was still economically viable, “modeling is indeed still viable, however we need to innovate, perhaps incorporate things like influencer marketing and building our models as brands so that they can get paid while endorsing products.

Moreso, with regards to the new normal, we think it’s only necessary to look at the way forward and it’s hard to tell if we will ever go back or we might be facing a new normal, what’s important is adoption and making it work.”

1.9 million get polio vaccination in Angola

Samuel Musarika
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Staff Reporter – The Zimbabwe Daily

Luanda, Angola – More than 1.9 million children have been vaccinated against polio in the past week.

To date, more than 13 000 people across the country’s 18 provinces have since launched vaccination campaigns aimed at targeting children under the age of 5.

However, although progress is being made in Angola, the World Health Organization (WHO) has bemoaned the COVID-19 pandemic which has made it difficult for children to be properly vaccinated.

“In many polio infected countries, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted polio surveillance to a varying extent, sometimes significantly, resulting in an unusual degree of uncertainty regarding the current true polio epidemiology. 

Furthermore, routine immunisation has also been adversely affected by the pandemic in many countries.  There is evidence that in some polio infected countries, the pandemic may yet to have peaked.  As international travel begins to return, there is unknown risk of exportation of polio viruses. 

Moreso, there are many other challenges ahead, such as the effect of COVID-19 on community trust and support for immunization, the possibility of other epidemics such as measles, the risks to front-line workers and how these can be managed, and the risk of immunization activities being associated with COVID-19 outbreaks, either truly or spuriously,” read part of the statement issued out by WHO.

According to WHO, Angola is amongst one of the 14 African countries that are facing rare outbreaks of a circulating vaccine derived polio virus

MDC Alliance to shut down Zimbabwe

Samuel Musarika
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MDC Alliance to shut down Zimbabwe

Staff Reporter – The Zimbabwe Daily

Harare, Zimbabwe – The MDC Alliance’s national Youth Assembly spokesperson, Stephen Chuma has vowed to shut down the country come the 31st of this month.

Last week, during a webinar, Nelson Chamisa, the MDC Alliance leader promised a nationwide demo against the rule of the country’s President, Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Although the police hasn’t yet given the MDC Alliance the green light to go ahead with their nationwide demo, plans are already at an advanced level.

“31 July is certainly going to mark the end of Emmerson Mnangagwa’s short but brutal dictatorship.

In his short spell as the President albeit through stealing elections, Mnangagwa has presided over untold suffering, repression and oppression that has never been witnessed before in this land.

It was under Mnangagwa when we first witnessed senseless butchering with live ammunition of defenseless citizens by rogue soldiers.

Moreso, it is by no coincidence that the people are going to take to the streets a day before the anniversary of the 1 August military killings.

The blood of those martyrs is crying for justice and the biggest form of justice those innocent civilians can ever have is removal of the man who deployed the military on the day in question.

That man is none other than Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, the people are going to stop at nothing to make sure he is gone.

Nothing, nothing and I repeat nothing at all is going to save this man whose corrupt and murderous regime is responsible for the worst economic crisis since the lapse of the GNU.

It is only under Mnangagwa’s watch that we have witnessed a sharp increase abductions of civil society leaders, trade unionists and political activists.

From Tatenda Mombeyarara to Cecilia Chimbiri, Netsai Marova and Joanna Mamombe, the growing list of abductees is inexhaustible.

In his fake new dispensation, Mnangagwa did set a new for every wrong reason. Citizens recall with anger and aghast the shock events of January 2019 where a sizeable number was raped and killed.

For the first time post independence, we witnessed a total blackout of internet connectivity in January 2019.

It is under Mnangagwa that a new phenomenon called catch and release mushroomed to habour corrupt cabinet criminals like his clansman Obadiah Moyo.

The season of people power is ripe and time to take stalk is now, not even the abuse of COVID-19 lockdown is going to save Mnangagwa from protests.

We, the citizens have run out of patience and we just can not afford another day with Emmerson Mnangagwa as the President.

31 July must be the last straw for Mnangagwa, let us do it for ourselves and future generations,” said Chuma.

Angola feeling the brunt of COVID-19

Samuel Musarika
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Staff Reporter – The Zimbabwe Daily

Luanda, Angola – Africa’s second largest oil producer has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic which has seen a global decrease in the demand for crude.

Projects which were in the pipeline have now been delayed and exploration plans are being shelved due to the current market situation.

According to Siva Prasad, senior upstream analyst at Rystad Energy, the COVID-19 induced capital spending cuts may have thrown a wrench into the country’s plan for a bright oil and gas future.

“Angola desperately needs to accelerate its new developments to reduce its declining production and must undertake more exploration to replace its depleted reserves.

Despite the government’s efforts to make operations in the country more operator friendly, investors may quit Angola unless the government acts swiftly,” said  Prasad.

Only around 10 cargoes of Angolan crude remain to be sold for export in August, but lack of Chinese demand has seen some grades slip around 50 cents from a little over a week ago. Chinese buying of Angolan crude is amongst the lowest of any recent trading cycle.

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