Harare City Council has given its struggling workers a cushioning allowance and increased their salaries to see them through the economic challenges and avert a potential strike.

BY LORRAINE MUROMO

Council human resources committee chairperson Jacob Mafume confirmed the development yesterday, saying as a result, the lowest-paid worker will be getting $1 108 a month effective November 1.

“We have agreed to give a cushioning allowance of $300 per employee across the board effective from November 1 and to award $200 per employee to clear arrears from previous collective bargainings,” he said.

Mafume said the cushioning allowances will be part of the workers’ salaries even if the economic crisis is resolved.

“Once the hardship ends, we will not take back the cushioning allowances. They will be put into the salaries and depending on the finalisation of the collective bargaining process,” Mafume said.

The least-paid employee is expected to get at least $1 100 up from $300.

Council has also promised to give its workers bonuses.

“We endeavour to pay bonuses when they are due and we will instruct management to avail the money for bonuses. We are working flat out to shake every possible tree to ensure that money is found,” Mafume said

He said they will engage in continuous discussions with the workers.

“We are in continuous engagement with the unions under the platforms that we have together to produce the collective bargaining agreements,” Mafume said.

We are all aware of the inflationary environment and the hard economic times as a result of austerity measures introduced at central government level. We have been trying to catch up and find ways to alleviate the (suffering) of employees.

Chairperson of the workers council Kenias Chivuzhe applauded the move and said it was different from the previous council which was busy fighting its workers instead of solving their grievances.

When Zimbabwe was on the verge of political and economic collapse in 2007, it took the late former President Robert Mugabe and his long-time nemesis Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC, to dialogue the country’s way out of the mess.

NewsDay Comment

The late protagonists dialogued with the mediation of South African Presidents Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma and later Kgalema Motlanthe, making frequent visits to their neighbouring country to iron out the differences between Zimbabwe’s political players. As a result of South Africa’s mediation, with Sadc and the African Union as guarantors, Mugabe and Tsvangirai buried the hatchet and the results were there for all to see.

The dialogue paved way for the birth of the Government of National Unity, borne out of the Global Political Agreement that ushered in a new government with Tsvangirai as Prime Minister and the five years that followed brought economic and political change. Ten years down the line, Zimbabwe is teetering on the brink of collapse and indications are that as long as President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Nelson Chamisa continue to shadow box, the downward spiral will continue, and ordinary citizens have already started feeling the pain of the current stalemate. Now that South Africa, through its Minister of International Relations and Co-operation Naledi Pandor, has spoken on the need to end the political “antipathy” between Zimbabwe’s political rivals, Mnangagwa must be sincere, swallow his pride and shrug off hardliners in Zanu PF who are against dialogue and talk to Chamisa. While Mnangagwa and Chamisa have consistently spoken about dialogue — it has a different meaning to both of them. Citizens want them to talk to each other, period! Yet, one wonders why Mnangagwa prefers dialogue with political nonentities. Mnangagwa has not been clear whether he wants dialogue with Chamisa or not. The MDC leader has spoken on the need for a Mnangagwa engagement. Chamisa has called for dialogue with a neutral mediator, not a tough call to Mnangagwa. The President through third parties has insisted there is no need for foreign mediation as the churches and the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission are well equipped to do that.

We believe all players, internal or external, that carry sufficient political weight should be involved. That is what neighbours are there for, anyway. Mnangagwa must demonstrate true leadership in the face of a crisis by putting aside his own personal interests and consider what is good for the generality of the people. Is it not ironic that the President continues to ignore the voice of the people, which according to him is the voice of God.

Yes, he has created the Political Actors’ Dialogue (Polad) platform where he took on board all fringe opposition parties to discuss Zimbabwe’s future. But without the main opposition MDC, Polad remains a grouping of insignificant political actors and for Mnangagwa to claim he is talking to them for a solution to the crisis without Chamisa is illogical. It is meaningless to dialogue with people who have no representation in the population.

If Mugabe, whose anger and disdain of Tsvangirai was known, could take the so called “puppet of the West” as he was fond of saying to the negotiating table, why is Mnangagwa holding the country back by shutting out meaningful dialogue with the main opposition? As the country’s President, the buck stops with him. We wait for the day he picks up that call and open doors for meaningful dialogue.

DYNAMOS coach Tonderai Ndiraya admitted that Caps United have the better squad than his, but believes the Glamour Boys are more than capable of beating their city rivals when the two giants clash in the Harare derby at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday, a feat that will wreck the Green Machine’s title bid.

BY HENRY MHARA

The two teams face off at a time Caps are desperate for maximum points to remain at the top of the log with three matches to go, while Dynamos want to finish the season in the top four.

But Dynamos’ biggest motivation will be to make sure that Makepekepe does not win the title.

Caps are two points clear at the top heading into the weekend, but might finish the campaign on third position if they lose this one.

Ndiraya made no secret of his admiration of what their biggest rival has achieved this season.
“Caps are where they are because they have better quality than us. That is the honest truth,” Ndiraya said.

“We are where we are because we have been rebuilding, we have a new team and naturally we expect to improve with time. So we have seen individual improvement from the players and also as a team.

It is that improvement which is giving us hope. Because of the quality we have we couldn’t fight with the big boys, but credit to the boys for what they have achieved this season. We have gone for almost 20 matches unbeaten, and with the quality that we have, with the youngsters in the team, that is not a mean achievement.”

Dynamos are unbeaten in their last 19 matches and they have vowed to continue with their undefeated streak until the end of the season.

“We want to add this match to our unbeaten run. We want to remain undefeated in the remaining three matches. We want to get to 23 games undefeated. But most importantly we want maximum points in the remaining matches so that we can push to get into the top four. It’s very possible, it’s very achievable.”

Dynamos are fifth on the log standings and two points away from the top four, but could also plummet drastically down the ladder to tenth if they lose this match.

“The derby is going to be a difficult match, but always exciting. We all have something to fight for, so they won’t be any friendship there. The preparations for the match have been good. Caps United are fighting for the championship, and we are pushing to get into the top four. We have done really well to get where we are and we have a great chance now to finish up there.”

THE Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) has made several arrests in connection with the massive car smuggling racket in which government may have lost millions of dollars in unpaid duty at the country’s borders.

By Rex Mphisa

Several suspects, including some Zimra officials, are believed to be on the run, but yesterday, a Zacc official confirmed a number of arrests had been made.

“We have made a number of arrests. I do not have figures off hand, but we have made some arrests and the net is closing in on several other suspects,” Zacc spokesperson John Makamure said.

More than 430 cars were this week recalled by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) for verification of the genuineness of their importation and owners were asked to bring papers related to the vehicles clearances.

Most of the cars under spotlight were imported illegally through Beitbridge and Plumtree border posts.

Cars listed on a Zimra list published in the media last week include high-powered Toyota double cabs, Toyota Fortuners, late model Isuzu double and single cabs, among numerous other late models, whose duties were never paid.

It is believed smugglers, in some cases car dealers from Harare and other towns, used some shipping agents to fraudulently import the vehicles.

Exploiting a fallible Customs and Excise system, the suspected smugglers worked in cahoots with some Zimra officials to bring in the vehicles without paying a cent.

It is understood the arrests were widespread and some could have been in Beitbridge and Plumtree, where Zacc is working with the police.

Panic gripped the border town when many Beitbridge socialites’ names appeared on the list of people invited to present documents.

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

BY MOSES MATENGA

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

Scores of people were attacked by police officers ahead of Chamisa’s Hope of the Nation Address in Harare on Wednesday.

“ED (Mnangagwa) is forgetting one thing, we all have a short time on this earth. Why turn it into hell on earth? Why? Why has he learnt nothing and forgotten nothing from the likes of Idi Amin, Stalin, Saddam Hussein and others? Why is he choosing not to be a good student of history and read pages of how dictatorship in different countries ended and how their days ended on this earth,” Chamisa said.

“Dictatorship is a problem. You will not have peace and families of dictators will not have peace. Look at all the families of dictators. Is that what he wants? You cannot be a President forever and one day, you will be an ordinary citizen either in life or in death. That is the natural end of all men.”

He said the use of police by government has effectively shut down civilian politics in Zimbabwe, accusing the Mnangagwa administration of “going to war with unarmed people they should protect”.

“They are effectively closing civilian politics in Zimbabwe. They have cut out space for civilian politics. We think we are in politics, they think they are at war. We believe in the rule of law, they believe in the rule of force. We believe we have the police, they believe they have murderers, gangs and thugs to terrorise citizens,” Chamisa said.

He said the MDC was trying to engage the Mnangagwa administration to find a lasting solution to Zimbabwe’s problems, yet all they were getting was frustration and violence.

“Where on earth have you seen a government that makes a purchase order of arms of war when we are not at war?” Chamisa asked rhetorically.

“Where have you seen a government that purchases baton sticks and teargas canisters to fight its people while not investing in modern technology?”

He said further saddening to him was the beating up of defenceless women, girls and the elderly by the police.

“There is no perfect definition of a banana republic than what we are seeing now. Why fight the people, why fight the women, why fight the elderly, why fight unarmed civilians?” the opposition leader asked.

“The way forward is to end this tyranny. It can’t be business as usual. Citizens must stand against dictatorship. Government is turning against the people. The obligation is upon the people to call their servants to order.”

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa is under immense pressure to act and stop the wanton attacks on unarmed civilians.

BY MOSES MATENGA

This came as the government and the European Union have started “high level” talks in the Mnangagwa’s re-engagement exercise.

There has been worldwide condemnation following the brutal assault by the police in Harare of scores of people ahead of the Hope of the Nation Address by opposition MDC leader Nelson Chamisa on Wednesday.

United States 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.

“We are concerned by the police’s unprovoked use of force against peaceably assembled Zimbabweans and call on the Government of Zimbabwe to cease such violence against its own population,” he said.

“We note that the passage respect of freedom of assembly and other rights. We urge the Government of Zimbabwe to respect its 2013 Constitution of permitting non-violent public gatherings.”

Political analyst Alexander Rusero said Zimbabwe had reached boiling point and the situation in the country, particularly violence against civilians by the police, was creating a bad image for Mnangagwa. Rusero said urgent action was needed to stop the beatings.

“It is the final blow to ED’s efforts, if ever they were genuine, to posture as a reformist and someone who has significantly departed from the brutal (late former President Robert) Mugabe script,” he said.

“You can’t unleash a police contingent at that magnitude to harmless, unarmed civilians, worse off women and the elderly. Two years after Mugabe’s ouster was an opportune moment to have a sigh of relief as a country and beginning the process of healing and nation building. Unfortunately, ED has squandered that opportunity to be embraced as the compassionate, reformist and civil leader.

It has but confirmed South Africa’s sentiments that Zimbabwe is highly inflicted by toxic politics.”

The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition said it was engaging Sadc countries and the international community to urgently call for inclusive dialogue among the country’s political protagonists to end the crisis in the country.

Sadc executive secretary Stergomena Tax, speaking after meeting an MDC delegation on Wednesday, said: “I reiterated continued Sadc support to Zimbabwe and called upon all players (internal and external) to co-operate and put the interests of Zimbabweans first.”

Meanwhile, on government’s “high-level” talks with the European Union, Information permanent secretary Ndavaningi Mangwana confirmed that the talks had begun, saying a communiqué will be released after the engagements.

“The engagement started today (yesterday) and that is all I can say. It is just re-engagement at ministerial level,” he said.

Pressed on details on who they were meeting exactly from the EU, Mangwana said: “Like I said, a communiqué will be released.”

Relations between the EU and Zimbabwe have not been rosy and the latest developments may present an opportunity for the two parties to mend their differences.

The EU confirmed the talks on its official Twitter account, saying the talks, dubbed the second edition of the formal political dialogue, include issues on investment, human rights, rule of law and good governance.

Government yesterday resolved to rename a number of streets and buildings in Harare, Bulawayo and several other cities and towns in the country after President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the late former army commander Solomon Mujuru as well as the late former First Lady Sally Mugabe.

BY MOSES MATENGA

However, the late former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s name was not considered despite moves by the City of Harare to have him honoured by having a street named after him.

Also snubbed was Dumiso Dabengwa in the roads-renaming exercise.

Speaking at a post-Cabinet media briefing last night, acting Information minister Mangaliso Ndlovu said Enterprise Road would be renamed Emmerson Mnangagwa Road.

Mnangagwa will also have roads named after him in Kwekwe, Bindura, Gweru, Masvingo, Mutare, Chinhoyi and Chegutu.

“It’s only the sitting President who has a road or building named after him when he is alive,” Ndlovu said.

Selous Avenue in Harare has been renamed John Landa Nkomo Avenue after the late Vice-President, while Cameron Street will be renamed after his predecessor, Joseph Msika.

The late Mujuru, a decorated former army commander who died in a mysterious inferno at his Beatrice farm in 2011, had Kirkman Road named after him, while Charter Road will be named after the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

Livingstone Avenue will be renamed OR Tambo, after South Africa’s anti-apartheid hero and African National Congress stalwart Oliver Tambo.

Harare Central Hospital was renamed Sally Mugabe Hospital.

In Bulawayo, 6th Avenue will now be named after Mnangagwa, while Collenbrander Avenue is going to be renamed Lookout Masuku.

In Mutare, Aerodrome Road will be named after the late national hero Kumbirai Kangai, while Jelf Road is going to renamed Edgar Tekere Road.

In Gutu, Gutu District Office will take the new name Maud Muzenda, after the late wife to the late former Vice-President Simon Muzenda.

ZANU PF has reportedly set in motion plans to purge MDC chairpersons of parliamentary portfolio committees using its majority in the august House, setting the stage for another bruising fight between the country’s two main parties amid concern over the shrinking democratic space.

BY VENERANDA LANGA

The precursor, chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Environment, Concillia Chinanzvavana, was on Wednesday voted out of her position by Zanu PF members during a post-budget meeting.

The ruling party’s MP for Zaka North, Robson of new legislation has had no impact on the actions of the government of Zimbabwe’s Mavenyengwa, then took over as chair for the meeting.

There were also foiled attempts to remove Health Portfolio Committee chairperson Ruth Labode from her post.

MDC chief whip Prosper Mutseyami yesterday confirmed the plot to remove opposition committee chairpersons.

Observers said the removal of MDC chairpersons was aimed at protecting Zanu PF cronies, among them President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ally Kudakwashe Tagwireyi of Sakunda Holdings, who has to face grilling by the Tendai Biti-led Public Accounts Committee (PAC) over US$3 billion payments for the Command Agriculture programme that the company and/or government failed to account for.

On Friday last week, Zanu PF MPs, who are members of Biti’s committee walked out of a hearing to question Sakunda executives.

The payments were made without Parliament’s approval and there was now suspicion that the ploy to remove MDC chairpersons is meant to weaken Parliamentary Portfolio Committees in order to protect corrupt Zanu PF lackeys.

Last week, Zanu PF MPs also boycotted the PAC committee, which is still dealing with the Command Agriculture issue.

Last year, the Mines Portfolio Committee, then chaired by independent legislator Temba Mliswa, was disbanded after Zanu PF MPs caused disorder and took advantage of the Norton legislator’s temper to cause chaos, resulting in near fist fights.

Speaker of the National Assembly, Jacob Mudenda had no option, but to disband the committee.

Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi yesterday remained adamant that the MDC, which has been boycotting sittings of Parliament whenever Mnangagwa is in the House, should not expect to chair post-budget committee meetings when they were not present during Finance minister Mthuli Ncube’s 2020 budget presentation on Thursday last week.

“They did not come for the budget presentation and so how do they want to chair something that they were not in agreement with? They said they do not agree with the budget and they boycotted it and so that is the issue here,” Ziyambi said.

“It is the same as the issue I recently stated that why do they want to ask a minister who was appointed by the President a question in Parliament when they do not recognise the President? The budget is an Executive paper and that is why it comes before Parliament for approval and so why do they want to chair post budget meetings when they boycotted the budget?

“If they want to boycott they should go home for good, rather than boycotting the budget and then coming later to chair and claim sitting allowances.”

Mutseyami narrated the Wednesday melee where Chinanzvavana was ousted by Zanu PF MPs.
“We seem to have a serious problem which is also well-co-ordinated and is coming from the Zanu PF side, whereby they are pushing to remove chairpersons of committees chaired by the MDC,” Mutseyami said.

“The MDC is entitled to chair eight parliamentary portfolio committees and now Zanu PF legislators are trying to use their numbers to vote our chairpersons out. On Wednesday during the sitting of the Environment Portfolio Committee, they clandestinely voted out the chairperson Chinanzvavana (MDC) and made their party member Robson Mavenyengwa (Zaka North MP) to chair,” he said.

Mutseyami said the Zanu PF legislators took advantage of the absence of their opposition counterparts who had attended the Hope of the Nation Address by their party president Nelson Chamisa, to oust Chinanzvavana.

He added that the Zanu PF MPs in the Health Portfolio Committee then attempted to overthrow Labode, but were outnumbered by the MDC.

“I engaged the Clerk of Parliament, Kennedy Chokuda about the issue and his response was that the issue is now beyond him as it is political. We are, therefore, trying to find a political solution, but unfortunately, the Zanu PF chief whip Pupurai Togarepi is out of the country,” Mutseyami said.

Chokuda, however, said he had not yet received formal communication about the issue.
“I have not yet received an administrative report about the issue (removal of Chinanzvavana). I can only act if there is a report,” he said.

But Mutseyami said if the matter is not urgently resolved, it would cripple the operations of parliamentary committees.

“They tried to also remove Labode in the Health Portfolio Committee, but they could not sustain it as the MDC MPs outnumbered them. The fact that MDC MPs could not attend the budget because they had attended a funeral is not an issue because nothing happens during budget presentation except that it is just a statement presented as a book,” he said.

“After the budget is presented MPs then go to post budget seminar which we attended and contributed widely. As the MDC, we have the capacity to study and contribute to meaningful debate on the budget and so it is not an issue. We did not boycott the budget and we cannot boycott our own institution — Parliament.”

Chinanzvavana said her ouster was unprocedural and unconstitutional.

“There was drama in the committee and they (Zanu PF MPs) said they were removing me from chairing the committee until the budget debate has been concluded. They said my crime was that I was not around when Ncube presented the budget,” she said.

“There were only three MDC MPs against 15 Zanu PF MPs in the committee and they outnumbered us. However, it is unconstitutional and the Parliament Standing Rules and Orders do not allow such action.”

The age of keeping records on paper is slowly reaching towards its termination. Amazon, Google, Facebook and Microsoft- the 4 tech giants alone have over 1.2 Petabytes of data. However, the age of digitalisation has brought a very major concern of security to light. Despite these 4 giants having so much control, even they have succumbed to exploits due to various factors. Being on the internet is cause for alarm for many folks. You want reasonable prices, good and stable speed and a general sense of security. To find out the best one for you, especially if you’re a fan of 4K movies, check out this list of the best internet providers for streaming. 

These data breaches have affected millions, sometimes billions, of people which resulted in their private ending up in the hands of hackers. So today, we’re looking at the 5 biggest data breaches in history.

1. Yahoo Data Breach of 2013

The Yahoo data breach ended up disrupting the data and private information of about 3 billion people and it is still the largest data breach to this day. The breach occurred in 2013 when Yahoo reported that 1 billion accounts in their database were compromised by hackers. Despite advising users to change passwords and upgrading their encryption strategies, Yahoo was targeted again. By 2017, Yahoo reported that all 3 billion of their accounts were victims of data breaches. Although some information such as credit card information and passwords were not leaked, names, phone numbers and dates of births were.

1. Facebook’s Breach of 540 million people

Facebook has been in the spotlight quite a lot recently for exploiting the right to privacy of its users. But there was another major case that raised many red flags. More than 540 million people’s data about their activities on Facebook was up for grabs and publicly displayed on the Amazon Cloud Computing service. The 540 million people’s data likes, comments and much more was up for just about anyone to see on Amazon’s Cloud services.

Many countries that previously did not have strict cyber security laws have begun cracking down on them. Zimbabwe too has completed its Cyber Security and Data Protection Bill, read more about it here.

1. Marriott International

In 2018, Marriott International announced that hackers had stolen private data of about 500 million of its users. In 2014, Marriott set out to acquire Starwood hotels and it was in that time when hackers were able to get into the systems of Marriott International. These thieves were not discovered until 2018- during which many of Marriott’s customers had already been exposed. Marriott has said that over 100 million people’s information such as credit card numbers and passport numbers was stolen.

1. The MySpace hack in 2013

MySpace was once a very popular social media website. But it too was targeted and cut open by hackers in 2013. Information such as email addresses, the name of the owner, birthdays of 360 million people was compromised. MySpace did not report this incident until later in 2016 however, many people had already been victims by then. MySpace is not nearly as popular as it was back in the day and merely has a footprint in the current social media platforms. But, it still was a victim of a major hack that affected millions.

1. MyFitnessPal breach of 2018

MyFitnessPal is a very popular diet and fitness exercise app that is owned by Under Armour. It has hundreds of millions of people registered on it and is used and advertised by many celebrities as well. However, it too was exposed to a very major data breach that affected the accounts of over 144 million people. MyFitnessPal used SHA-1 encryption algorithms which has not been considered secure since 2015. And early in 2019, the information off of MyFitnessPal was found being sold on the dark web.