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. 

Seven MDC supporters have been dragged to court on charges of disorderly conduct after they allegedly blocked free movement of vehicle and human traffic along Nelson Mandela during an aborted public address by their leader, Nelson Chamisa on Wednesday.

By Harriet Chikandiwa

Godfrey Karembera (42), Shoko Zindoga (42), Victor Maramba (20), Honzeri Zondai (37), Gift Ben (30), Rose Chitsungo (30), and Maria Tinago (36) appeared before Harare magistrate Victoria Mashamba, who remanded them to January 1 next year on $200 bail each.

Karembera, Maramba, Zondai and Tinago’s lawyer Tonderai Bhatasara told the court that his clients complained of assault by police.

“The accused were assaulted upon their arrest, using booted feet and baton sticks after they had inquired why they had been arrested,” Bhatasara said.

Allegations are that on Wednesday, the accused persons acting in common purpose with their accomplices who are still at large, gathered outside Harvest House, along Nelson Mandela Avenue, for an address titled Hope of the Nation Address (Hona) by Chamisa, which was unsanctioned.
It is alleged that the accused blocked the free movement of both vehicle and human traffic along Nelson Mandela Avenue and the nearby pavements. The police engaged them to clear the pavements, but they allegedly refused to co-operate.

The court heard that the accused persons started pelting police officers with stones and other missiles, while chanting “hatidi zvekupihwa order nemasascam” (we do not want to be ordered around by mentally deranged people), leading to their arrest.

Meanwhile, Chitungwiza council director of works David Duma and director of housing Hazel Sithole, who are facing charges of allocating a commercial stand worth over $30 000 to Metalhill Investments without following procedure, are set to stand trial on January 14.
Duma and Sithole appeared before Harare magistrate Victoria Mashamba, who remanded them to January 14 for trial.

The court heard that on May 6, Metalhill Investments through one of its directors, Yeukai Mukucha, applied for a commercial stand to build a service station and directed the application to the town clerk.

It is alleged that the town clerk then referred the application to Sithole for processing and due consideration in accordance with the Urban Councils Act and Chitungwiza Town Council housing policy.

After receiving the application, it is alleged that Sithole forwarded the request to Duma to plan for inspection and avail a suitable land for a service station.

It is the State’s case that Duma was supposed to invite the Department of Physical Planning in the then Ministry of Local Government, the Environmental Management Agency and the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority to assess the suitability of the site.

It is alleged that after the assessment, Duma was expected to submit a report on the findings to Sithole and write a memorandum stating whether the land was available and suitable for the construction of a service station.

The court heard that Duma did not have the land inspected for its suitability and instead of following due process, he allegedly generated a memorandum to Sithole allocating stand 10606 in St Mary’s.

The State alleges that Sithole was also supposed to advertise the stand twice in a local newspaper and invite competitive bids, but did not do so.

National Assembly Deputy Speaker Tsitsi Gezi has said the 50/50 gender representation remains elusive despite several efforts by the government to address the issue.

BY SIMBARASHE SITHOLE

Officially opening the third Zimbabwe National Gender Forum workshop in Mutare yesterday, Gezi said women’s empowerment and equal access to leadership positions was a key requirement for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“The United Nations statistical evidence referred to above, clearly shows that 50-50 gender parity is still far away from being achieved, yet women’s empowerment and equal access to leadership positions is a key requirement for achieving SDGs,” Gezi said.

“Advocacy and lobbying should continue to cultivate the adequate necessary political parties to increase women representation. I encourage all participants to make their contribution at this forum as we lay a roadmap towards 50-50 in Zimbabwe.”

The Deputy Speaker noted that the exclusion of women in developmental programmes hampered community development.

“The cost of excluding women in development programmes is well documented, women political exclusion denies communities a huge potential for growth, the world will only improve if women expand their role as political, economic, family and social leaders,” she said.

“The former United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon, once said, ‘The world will never realise 100% of its goals if 50% of its people cannot realise their full potential. When we unleash the power of women, we can secure the future for all’.”

The Woman’s Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ) chairperson Siphathisiwe Moyo handed a petition on 50/50 gender representation to the Deputy Speaker, which was signed by 1 000 women across the country.

Zimbabwe Gender Commission chief executive Virginia Muwanigwa said consultations revealed that there were many gender-related barriers that stood in the way of women empowerment.

“The systematic and gender-related barriers were noted as follows; negative perception of the leadership capabilities of women, including by other women; socialisation of women to not seek public offices; tolerance of political violence; lack of resources to conduct aggressive political campaigns; discriminatory policies and practices within political parties relegating women to public relations seats and political parties’ use of women as voters rather than as serious contenders for power,” Muwanigwa said.

The national gender forum, which is being held under the theme Consolidating the Strategies: Laying the Roadmap for Getting 50:50, ends today.

TWO men drowned in a dam in Juru, Mashonaland East, after they had made a $200 bet to swim in a race across the water body last week.

BY JAIROS SAUNYAMA

The bodies of Marshall Dhlamini (25) and Benjamin Dick (25) all of Mushinje Farm were retrieved by the police sub-aqua unit.

Mashonaland East acting provincial police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Misheck Denhere yesterday confirmed the incident.

“I confirm receiving a case involving two men who drowned in a dam in Juru. We urge the public not to attempt swimming in dams and crossing flooded rivers to avoid such incidences. Moreover, as the rainy seasons starts, people should (not) attempt crossing flooded streams and rivers,” he said.

On November 12, at around 5pm, the deceased persons teamed up with their colleagues Tatenda Chigwida, Vitalis Matambo and Owen Rawani to Musinje Dam to bath.

It is reported that upon arrival, Dhlamini challenged Dick for a swimming race across the dam with the winner taking home $200.

Dick accepted the challenge and the two embarked on the race across the dam.

It is reported that while swimming back the duo got exhausted at the centre of the dam and drowned.

Their colleagues rushed home and alerted the farm owner who reported the matter to the police.

The police sub aqua unit was called and retrieved the bodies before conveying them to Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals mortuary for post-mortem.

EcoCash says most of its critical services are now stable and back to normal, with customers now able to carry out transactions on the platform without facing challenges following glitches stemming from a recent systems upgrade.

By Staff Reporter

Cassava Smartech Zimbabwe chief executive officer Eddie Chibi said services such as send money, airtime recharge (for self and for others), banking services, merchant payments (using merchant codes), cash-in and cash-out, customer balance enquiries, payroll, mobile business wallet services, remittances and agents service were now quite stable and working well.

He said that their teams will continue to work flat out with their experts on the ground to iron out any outstanding issues such as online merchant payments, the EcoCash application and clearing any customer experience issues.

“We are very grateful to our customers for their support and patience at this time, and commit to do everything in our power to deliver the world class service that the public and our customers have come to expect and to enjoy,” Chibi said.

EcoCash carried out a planned major upgrade of its platform at the weekend to enhance security, system availability and greater capacity along with improved user experience.

CAPS United coach Darlington Dodo says he is happy to meet bitter rivals Dynamos at a time they are in good form after an unbeaten run stretching 19 games, setting up a potentially explosive derby on Sunday.

BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA

The city rivals clash in the Harare derby at the National Sports Stadium in a match significant for both sides.

Caps are bidding for the championship and lead the league table with 55 points, two ahead of nearest challengers Chicken Inn and FC Platinum with only three rounds of matches left in the campaign, while Dynamos, on fifth place with 44 points are fighting for a top four finish.

“Derbies are always difficult and it will not be easy facing Dynamos. But I am happy we are facing them at a time they are enjoying good form. It makes it interesting, it even motivates us. But looking at the boys at training, there is great desire, there is hunger and enthusiasm. We really want to win this one and we are going for maximum points and nothing less,” Dodo said.

The Caps coach, whose side squandered a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 against Yadah at the weekend, a major reversal to their championship bid, said he has had a frank discussion with his players after the drawn games which to them felt like defeats.

“After the match we had a frank discussion about the match as a team. Everyone accepted they had failed as a team and that there were some individuals who didn’t apply themselves. We have since corrected what we did wrong and are looking forward to the match against Dynamos.”

Caps, though will be without top forward John Zhuwawo who is suspended for accumulating three yellow cards in previous matches. Zhuwawo is the club’s top scorer with 10 goals, but Dodo will not run out of options as he has Newman Sianchali to look up to. Sianchali, who scored a double in the victory over ZPC Kariba, missed the drawn game against Yadah due to injury, but bounces back for the Harare derby. First choice goalkeeper Tonderai Mateyaunga, who was substituted after 29 minutes, when he sustained an injury, has started training, but will have to pass a late fitness test.

They face a Dynamos side that last tasted defeat way back in June. The Glamour Boys are unbeaten in their last 19 matches, but 14 of those matches ended in draws while they won just five, the Glamour Boys have undergone a transformation since the arrival of Tonderai Ndiraya.

The Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) has come under the spotlight after it emerged the company’s acting chief executive (CEO) Saston Muzenda has disregarded its disciplinary committee and dismissed seven workers who were exonerated of any wrongdoing.

BY MOSES MATENGA

This came as panic has gripped the parastatal after it allegedly engaged a private human resources firm to recruit dozens of tollgate cashiers, an indication that a massive bloodbath was looming at the company.

The Zimbabwe Revenue and Allied Workers Trade Union general-secretary Lovemore Ngwarati said the union has been left with no option, but to engage the Ministry of Labour to protect the workers from “clear abuse of office” by management.

“I realised that the workers have been found not guilty, even after appeal. I hear the CEO has instructed that they be dismissed, despite a recommendation to reinstate them by the disciplinary committee. We are left with no option but to go to the Labour ministry,” Ngwarati said.

A source said Muzenda had instructed that the workers be dismissed despite winning an appeal against dismissal.

“He has given instruction and tomorrow (today) or Monday they will get letters of dismissal and that is a ploy to maintain their plan and their numbers. They won their cases, there was an appeal and the workers won. What simply needs to be done is to have them reinstated,” the source said.
He said the Zinara boss’ action was clear abuse of office because he had no legal basis to fire the workers who won their cases. “Legally it is criminal, even if you use their own code. It is a criminal issue,” Gwarati added.

Muzenda was not immediately available for comment.

Zinara and its workers are embroiled in serious fights that have triggered mass resignations amid suspicion that Transport minister Joel Biggie Matiza was pushing, through the Zinara board, recruitment of workers mainly from Mashonaland East province to solidify his control and secure his position in both the province and constituency.

It is also alleged that Matiza was working in cahoots with the Zinara board chairman Michael Madanha and his Zanu PF deputy in Mashonaland East in the execution of the plan.

Matiza and Madanha have denied the allegations, describing what is happening at Zinara as a “necessary” cleansing exercise.

Mobile Operator Telecel Zimbabwe will this week launch the Sizzling Summer Bundles Promotion. The promotion will run till end of January 2020.

The promotion aims to reward loyal Telecel subscribers who subscribe to the headline data and social media bundles that include MegaBoost, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram.

To qualify, Telecel subscribers have to buy either Daily, Weekly or Monthly data bundles by dialling *470# or MegaBoost, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram bundles on *480#. Once the customer buys a bundle, they automatically earn points and stand a chance to win. The more points one accumulates, the more chances of them winning.

Weekly prizes include cash, Zesa Tokens, LTE devices and Wi-Fi routers, with the grand prize of $10 000 cash to be won at the end of the promotion.

Chief Executive Officer, Angeline Vere said the promotion is Telecel’s way of thanking and rewarding customers for their continued support throughout the year, especially with the current difficult economic conditions obtaining.

“We would like to reward our customers for being so loyal and true to us by giving them a chance to win whenever they purchase any of these selected bundles,” she added.

Mrs Vere also took the opportunity to encourage Telecel subscribers to continue recharging in order to get the very popular MegaBonus which gives a bonus on every dollar of airtime purchased. Following recent upgrades, Telecel subscribers are able to purchase their airtime via Telecash by simply dialling *888# and following easy and simple prompts.