CHAPUNGU…………(0)
FC PLATINUM………(1)

DEFENDING champions FC Platinum kept alive their dream of winning the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League title for the third time in a row following a narrow 1-0 win over Chapungu at Ascot Stadium yesterday.

BY TERRY MADYAUTA

Never Tigere scored the solitary goal with a rasping free-kick on the 19th minute from just outside the box, to ensure the platinum miners collect maximum points in this nervy title run-in.

The Chapungu goalkeeper Talbert Shumba remained rooted to his spot when lightning Tigere struck.

With the win, the Zvishavane-based side moved to second position on the log with 56 points ahead of their last two assignments against Black Rhinos and Caps United. They remain two behind their title rivals and log leaders Caps, who are sit on 58 points.

FC Platinum coach Lizwe Sweswe was satisfied with his side’s performance and result.

He said: “It was a good show of character. This is one game which we needed maximum points. Well done to the boys.

“These points will take us somewhere. What is important is to win the remaining two games. If we win, I think we will defend our title and also set the tone for the champions league assignments ahead of us.”

His counterpart Weddington Chinyan’anya was disappointment by the result, which left him facing the axe.

Tendai Chikuni has already been tipped for return to the airforce side.
“It’s very unfortunate and painful that we lost despite playing very well. We have to push hard because as it stands, we are now just above the relegation. The next two games are going to be key for us.

“Today, we had our chances, but failed to convert them and our opponents had fewer chances which they utilised very well,” Chinyan’anya said.

Chapungu carved out a handful of chances, but failed to break the rock-solid FC Platinum rearguard.

At one time, FC Platinum goalminder Francis Tizayi was forced to tip the ball over the bar from Edmore Munhanenhamo’s humdinger of a freekick.

Gracious Mleya also threatened to restore parity at the resumption of second half play, but his thundering effort from close range went over the bar.

FC Platinum forward Rodwell Chinyengetere missed a sitter after failing to capitalise on a gaffe by Shumba.

Teams

Chapungu: T Shumba, C Mativenga, H Mugoniwa, B Mbavarira, M Muchingami, G Mleya, E Muzanenhamo, B Mugoni (,P Kumbula 71), D Mukamba (M Mavuto 60), B Chihowa (I Nyoni 52), P Marufu.

FC Platinum: F Tizayi, R Muduviwa, L Mhlanga, G Bello, W Stima, D Chafa, R Pavari (K Madzongwe 60), R Chinyengetere (A Eonde 85), N Tigere, G Nsiala (R Kutsanzira 69), G Mbweti.

THE Zanu PF women’s league has called on ageing party bigwigs to retire from government and pave way for younger women in a bid to revive the shrinking economy.

BY SIMBARASHE SITHOLE

Speaking at a national gender forum in Mutare on Friday last week, the ruling party’s women’s league deputy secretary, Angeline Masuku, said ageing government officials should take a cue from her and leave government service to Young Turks.

Masuku was until last year Bulawayo Metropolitan Affairs minister.

“As Zanu PF, we should learn to retire from government and give room to young women to lead. We liberated the country and young women should take over to liberate the economy,” Masuku said amid thunderous applause.

“I voluntarily retired from government in a bid to give way to young and new blood that is what many of our older women in government should do so that the country moves forward as we are road-mapping the 50/50 gender representation.”

She said women politicians do not support each other.

“Our party follows the country’s Constitution and we are going for 50/50 gender representation and we are still going to respect the proportional representation, but the main challenge in women is the pull her down syndrome. We always look down upon ourselves, yet we can, and are able to do it,” she said.

Speaking at the same event, MDC deputy president Lynette Karenyi-Kore said her party supported the 50/50 gender representation, and not the quota system.

“We are saying we were given quotas in 2013 up to now and we achieved hatred among women in the issue of proportional representation,” she said.

“If you go for primaries, males will start to say you have got 60 seats already forgetting that those seats are for the whole country, so it is a disadvantage to us.”

BUDDING Bulawayo gospel singer, Thamsanqa “Thamu” Moyo, is living proof that dreams do come true when artistes work together.

BY JOEL TSVAKWI

Having released his debut album, Memezela, last year, Moyo believes his music is trending on local radio because of his collaboration with fellow artistes to push the Bantu urban culture genre.

Bantu urban culture is a fusion of beautiful sounds that identify artistes with their culture.

He said during his short stint in South Africa, he was amazed by how artistes worked together and decided to bring the concept home.

Moyo said he was pushing for unity among emerging and seasoned artistes.

The Bantu urban culture exponent, who is working on his second album to be released early next year, explained his future plans.

“My plan is to unify artistes in our region and the country as a whole, hence this album I am working on has some collaborations with Bulawayo artistes,” he said.

“My future plans are to grow in the knowledge and beauty of music in our motherland and to be respected as an artiste and help upcoming artistes and even people with talents other than music.

“The lack of unity among music stakeholders, especially with regards to gospel music, is disturbing and this situation is counterproductive to the entire music landscape in the country.”

Moyo said the public’s lack of confidence on local productions was a hindrance.

“The corporate world does not seem to support us, especially here in Bulawayo, hence we are always behind compared to other artistes in the country,” he said.

“Some stakeholders, pushed by selfish motives, have taken control of the artistes and such artistes are reduced to (corruption) so that they can be heard or receive air play, yet support should be given to talent not some unethical preferences.”

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.