BLACK Umfolosi founding member, Sotja Moyo, has embarked on a programme to preserve his legacy and that of his Kalanga culture by grooming up-and-coming artistes so he could pass on the baton to the next generation of musicians.

BY SHARON SIBINDI

Moyo, who started his journey with Black Umfolosi in the 1980s, has been working on solo projects that have seen him producing six albums.

The latest offering, Luyalalo, is Kalanga jazz album launched early this month.

“My passion in the music industry is to leave a landmark which will be a positive legacy to the next generations. This will help them know and be proud of who they are, especially to young people from my community,” Moyo told NewsDay Life & Style.

Moyo said he has taken time to catch them young so they could take after him.

“I am currently training young people to prepare them to take over my objectives of promoting and reviving our Kalanga language through music and traditional dances,” he said.

Moyo said some artistes neglect the coming generation to an extent of passing on or retiring without sharing knowledge with them.

“So, planting a dream in the young ones, I feel is the key to keeping the dream and legacy alive. Some neglect the young generation and once they retire or pass on, they take everything with them,” he said.

He said he was setting up a recording studio to specialise in recording traditional music and dances.

Moyo recalled the golden era of his youth when he played traditional music while his colleagues were drawn by robot and pansula dances.

“It has now taken me to all continents of the world. But if I had done foreign music, it would never have been possible,” he said.

Mashonaland East Zanu PF provincial structures have reaffirmed party leader Emmerson Mnangagwa as their presidential candidate for 2023 as the ruling party gears for its annual conference slated for next month in Goromonzi.

BY JAIROS SAUNYAMA

The resolution, among others, was revealed at a provincial conference held at Goromonzi High School on Saturday, where they endorsed Mnangagwa as the presidential candidate in the next election.

Speaking on the sidelines of the conference, provincial chairperson and Transport minister Joel Biggie Matiza confirmed that the province had reaffirmed Mnangagwa’s candidacy.

“As we move towards the annual people’s conference, the province endorsed our leader, Comrade Emmerson Mnangagwa, as the sole candidate for the 2023 elections. This was one of the major resolutions passed during the provincial conference,” he said.

The reaffirming of Mnangagwa as the Zanu PF presidential election candidate puts paid to speculative reports that a section of the ruling party was pushing for Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga to take over the reins.

The Mashonaland East resolution came as Chiwenga, who led the November 2017 coup that catapulted Mnangagwa to lead the party and country, landed at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport after spending four months in a Chinese military hospital over suspected poisoning.

His return triggered mixed feeling from most Zimbabweans, who are keen to see his next move in the political arena following reports that his key allies in the security sector had been demoted and redeployed as a ploy to weaken his support base.

The resolutions were read by provincial secretary for legal affairs, Jeremiah Chiwetu, who also revealed a decision to extend the women’s quota tenure beyond 2023.

“We also resolved that government does something to arrest the issue of wanton price hikes that is taking its toll on the masses,” Matiza said.

The Zanu PF annual conference will be held at Goromonzi High School from December 10 to 15.
About 7 000 local and international delegates are expected to attend the annual jamboree.

THE Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) has intensified efforts to unlock more meetings and conferences for the country by rejoining the International Congress for Convention Association (ICCA) after a two-year sabbatical.

BY RICHARD MUPONDE

This will open doors for the ZTA as the association is crucial in the Meetings, Incentive Travel, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) industry having been the main source of meetings and conferences.

ICCA ranks countries according to the number of association meetings and conferences held at a destination.

In 2016, Zimbabwe was ranked number 12 in Africa by ICCA, South Africa emerged number one, Morocco number two and position three was shared by three countries —Rwanda, Egypt and Kenya.

In a statement, ZTA acting director of national convention bureau, Pauline Ndlovu said the reintegration would go a long away in attracting new conferences and conventions to Zimbabwe.
“The presence of Zimbabwe at Institute of Business Travel Management (IBTM) world has also given an opportunity for training in the use of the ICCA database in order to maximise benefits that can be derived from it such as securing conference leads, access to research and marketing tools as well as networking with other members of the association,” Ndlovu said.

She said the ZTA was going to partner ICCA in capacity building and marketing activities.

The ICCA African chapter regional director Esmare Steinhofel also said the reinstatement of Zimbabwe at the recently held IBTM World in Barcelona, Spain, was a step in the right direction.

“ICCA is ready to conduct MICE capacity-building workshops together with the Zimbabwe National Convention Bureau to give industry a boost towards knowledge of the sector,” Steinhofel said.
Chairperson of the Durban International Convention Centre, Lindiwe Rakharebe said the African chapter would be stronger with more members

“We are looking forward to having Zimbabwe take part in the upcoming 2020 ICCA events in South Africa, Innbruck and China,” Rakharebe said.

The association’s meeting industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in tourism and is contributing millions of dollars to the global economy. IBTM remains one of the top MICE events to gain visibility to new destination seekers and decision-makers in the business tourism industry
This year’s IBTM was focusing, among other areas, on technology and sustainability in MICE tourism and how players can maximise upcoming technologies to make their business events stand out.

BY VENERANDA LANGA

THE Public Service and Social Welfare ministry will spend $1,20 billion instead of a required $11 billion between now and March 2020 to feed seven million food insecure people in the country, Parliament heard on Tuesday.

Acting Labour secretary Clifford Matora appeared before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Public Service to speak on the 2020 budget where he revealed that vulnerability levels in the country had risen.

This month the USAid factsheet said that approximately 2,3 million people in rural Zimbabwe faced hunger, while the World Food Programme also estimated that two million urbanites were food insecure.

“The ministry wanted an $11 billion budget for food mitigation – the reasons being the current price escalations, and the requirements are $9 billion in order to stretch up to March 2020,” Matora said.

“Government has also made a decision that transportation of the gain should now be a government expense instead of the vulnerable people being made to pay for transport so the $9 billion figure include transport,” he said.

Chief accountant in the ministry Edson Goronga added: “Vulnerability levels in the country have increased because of drought and issues to do with the Transitional Stabilisation Programme so we need more mitigation in terms of food programmes so that people do not die of hunger because in certain areas where people need food aid we are unable to cater for them.”

Government will also pump in $2 million for children living on the streets who will be taken to a centre far from Harare, which the Public Service ministry officials said due to its distance it would then be difficult for them to wantonly return to the capital city.

“For children in difficult circumstances, we were allocated only $13 million out of an ideal budget of $80 million. They will get $200 per child per month, but we are not likely to assist as many children as required because there are about 1,8 million children that need assistance and not every one of them is in institutions,” Goronga said.

For the Basic Education Assistance Module (Beam), government is currently assisting 415 900 children across the country, but the ministry officials told Parliament that the thrust is to scale up the programme to assist 1,2 million orphaned and vulnerable students.

“Government had $90 million arrears for Beam which accumulated since 2016, but these have been cleared. The last batch of $9 million will be paid this week. As a ministry, we also managed to clear $11 million under assisted medical orders owed to general and district hospitals, so we are now operating on a clean slate,” Matora said.

For pauper burials, a $2 million budget was availed when the ministry needed $5 million.

BY Richard Muponde

THE opposition MDC has accused President Emmerson Mnangagwa of setting up a “vicious” crack team comprising members of the Police Support Unit, army and the Central Intelligence Organisation to suppress demonstrations.

The team is allegedly being trained at a local army barracks.

It is alleged to be behind the vicious attack on MDC supporters, passers-by and bystanders on Wednesday when MDC president Nelson Chamisa was about to give his Hope of the Nation Address.

Since taking over from the late former President Robert Mugabe in a November 2017 coup, Mnangagwa’s administration has been brutally quelling demonstrations by the opposition, civic groups and civil servants.

Six civilians were killed by soldiers on August 1 last year after they took to the streets protesting over the delay by the Zimbabwe Election Commission in announcing presidential results.

In January this year, civil society organisations said 17 civilians lost their lives following protests against the fuel price hikes by Mnangagwa and the ensuing brutal crackdown by the State security apparatus.

Wednesday’s bashing of civilians received condemnation from Chamisa and the Unites States, among others.

MDC chairperson Tabitha Khumalo yesterday said they had been made aware by their party’s intelligence that Mnangagwa had set up a crack team to deal with opposition demonstrations and gatherings.

She said the crackdown all but confirmed her party’s fear that Zimbabwe was now under military rule.

“It only confirms what we have been saying all along that we are now being ruled by the military.
All government units have been militarised and they are escalating their brutality, which confirms that they stole the election because why brutalise the people you claim voted for you?” Khumalo asked rhetorically.

However, Information permanent secretary Ndavaningi Mangwana dismissed the claims as “nonsense”.

“There’s no truth in this at all. Absolute nonsense,” he said.

Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi also refuted the allegations.

“We are not aware of the allegations being made,” he said.

Chamisa has warned Mnangagwa against his continued use of force on unarmed civilians, saying the Zanu PF leader was behaving like a dictator and had not learnt from history how tyrants end.

He said Mnangagwa was slowly sliding into the league of other dictators in the world by closing down civilian politics and faces sad ending to his two-year rule.

The US government, through its assistant secretary for the department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs, Tibor Nagy, said there was growing concern over the Mnangagwa administration’s continued disregard of the people’s freedoms as enshrined in the Constitution.

BY NUNURAI JENA

CONTROVERSY continues to follow former President Robert Mugabe to his grave, with his neighbours now being forced to relocate their cattle kraals to pave way for the construction of a protective precast wall at his rural Zvimba home.

Mugabe died and was buried at his rural Zvimba home in September.

When NewsDay Weekender visited the Mugabes’ homestead at Kutama a few days ago, about 200 workers were busy on site building the brick protective wall around the homestead where Mugabe’s remains are interred.

The controversial protective wall came at a cost for some villagers as they were forced to relocate their cattle kraals to pave way for construction of the wall by Chinese contractors.

A villager, Gibson Mareya, said they were summoned to the site by former First Lady Grace Mugabe early this month and told that their cattle kraals would be relocated to near Kutama Police Base.
They were allegedly told that there was no room for negotiations, but should simply follow instructions.

Mareya said no one objected save for Mugabe’s relative, Josphine Jarijari, who gave a brief history of the cattle relocation history.

“There was no room for negotiations. We were told what to do and everyone agreed. Grace told us that she would pay the cost of relocation. But a Mugabe relative, Ambuya Jarijari, initially refused, briefing the meeting that this is the second relocation after the first was done during the expansion of Mugabe’s rural home,” Mareya said.

Efforts to get a comment from Grace were fruitless. But Mugabe’s nephew, Dominic Matibiri, said the wall was meant to prevent intruders who might want to tamper with Mugabe’s remains.

“Since we buried our father there, a precast wall is a security measure to prevent his enemies from tampering around with his remains, considering that he was no longer a Zanu PF member,” Matibiri said without elaborating.

He said besides the security wall, they would also install CCTVs.

By Richard Muponde

THE European Union (EU) has stuck to its guns that President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government should expeditiously implement economic and political reforms, including fighting corruption, as prerequisites to the bloc’s re-engagement with Zimbabwe.

In 2002, the EU imposed restrictive measures against the late former President Robert Mugabe’s government for gross violations of human rights, but most of the targeted measures have since been suspended.

Relations started thawing after Mnangagwa rose to power through a November 2017 coup when he begged the European block for re-engagement, leading into their first meeting in August.

On Thursday, the two parties held a second edition of the re-engagement meetings in which the EU impressed on the government delegation that Harare had to be serious with reforms.

In a joint statement released after the meeting, the EU noted that economic and political reforms, including the fight against corruption, was the panacea to solving the problems devilling Zimbabweans.

“The EU noted the economic and political reforms agenda, including fighting corruption. The two sides agreed on the importance of reforms and their benefit to Zimbabwean people,” the statement read.

EU and Zimbabwe also acknowledged the commitment to national dialogue, but government remained adamant that dialogue would only be held under the Political Actors Dialogue platform, shutting doors to possible direct talks between Mnangagwa and MDC leader Nelson Chamisa.

“The Zimbabwean side underlined the call by His Excellency the President for all political parties to join the Political Actors’ Dialogue as unity of purpose among Zimbabweans and political parties was central to developing a mutual vision for Zimbabwe’s path into the future,” the statement further read.

The meeting came barely two days after South Africa urged Chamisa and Mnangagwa to talk to solve the economic and political crisis in the country.

South African International Relations and Co-operation minister Naledi Pandor said Zimbabwe had political and economic crises caused by the antipathy between its political leaders.

Pandor said Zimbabwe had no capacity to solve the economic crisis, which has driven her citizens to flood the neighbouring country in search for greener pastures, without solving the underlying political problems.