POLICE in Gwanda, Bulilima and Mangwe districts of Matabeleland South have imposed a three-month ban on the carrying of knobkerries and catapults, among other “weapons”, citing increased crime in the province.

BY NQOBANI NDLOVU

According to the police, the prohibition order was issued in terms of section 14 (4) of the Public Order and Security Act Chapter (11:17). Failure to comply with the ban attracts a fine, a six-month jail sentence or both.

In rural Matabeleland, the carrying of knobkerries is, however, a common long practiced tradition and they can be used as walking sticks.

In Gwanda, the ban came into effect on Wednesday this week till February 11, 2020.
It was issued by the Officer Commanding Gwanda district Superintendent Rudo Chitombi.

Officer Commanding Bulilima and Mangwe district Superintendent Stephen Mutema said the ban runs till January 15 next year. It came into effect on November 10.

In a statement, Mutema said: “The regulating authority of the area believes on reasonable grounds that carrying in public whether openly or by concealment in a public place or public thoroughfare or public display of any of the following weapons or items capable of use as a weapon (A) catapults, machetes, axes, knobkerries, swords, knives or daggas, (B) any traditional weapons likely to occasion public disorder or a breach of peace.”

Matabeleland South police spokesperson Chief Inspector Philisani Ndebele said the ban on the carrying of the weapons was in response to increased assault, robbery, murder and other crimes in the province.

“We are concerned about robbery, assault, murder and other crime cases, whereby people use (these items as) weapons at the slightest provocation. The other contributing factor (to these crimes) is of people keeping large sums of money at home and become easy targets for criminals. That is the challenge we are facing,” Ndebele told Southern Eye yesterday.

On Monday, reports said a Filabusi businessman Douglas Chitengo lost US$20 660, R72 300 and $1 100, among other valuables, to four men armed with pistols who stormed his home in a pre-dawn raid.

Zimbabwe is banning the installation of new electric water heaters in a bid to save power, energy regulations published on Wednesday showed, at a time when the country is enduring rolling blackouts lasting up to 18 hours a day.

— Reuters

Power cuts have been exacerbated by low dam water levels at Zimbabwe’s biggest hydro plant following a severe drought and constant breakdowns of coal-fired generators, hitting mines, industry and households.

The government has previously said electric water heaters consume up to 400 megawatts (MW) of power a day in Zimbabwe, where daily production on Wednesday totalled 563MW, against demand of 1 200MW.

New regulations published in an official gazette said that as of Wednesday the country’s electricity supplier will no longer be allowed to connect power to premises without solar water heaters.

“No owner of the premises after the effective day of these regulations shall connect electrical geysers but may, at his or her own expense, install and use solar water heating systems,” the regulations said.

Besides electricity cuts, Zimbabweans have to contend with shortages of fuel needed to power generators.

That has forced households to start investing in solar energy, but initial installation costs are still too high for many people already grappling with the worst economic crisis in a decade.
In 2015, government officials said there were 300 000 electric heaters installed in Zimbabwe and that 40% of households’ electricity bills went towards water heating.

One of the greatest mathematician and physicists of all time Albert Einstein said, “Compound interest is the greatest wonder in the world. He who understands it earns it…he who doesn’t pays it” His assertion is based on the fact that compound interest is a fundamental component of wealth creation and by understanding just this one principle, one can make a significant difference to their financial independence over the long term.

Compounding occurs when your earnings on an investment are added to the amount you originally invested. The length of time you invest is a key factor in meeting your financial goals. The earlier you start, the easier it will be to achieve them. Many investors lose out because they wait too long to get started or invest too little. If you don’t start early, it can be difficult to catch up. It pays to start investing as soon as you can, and to take advantage of the power of compounding.

When you’re younger, saving for something that’s years away — such as retirement – may not seem important; that is exactly when you should start investing. The more time money is invested, the more time it has to grow. And one of the ways to give money a chance to grow over the long term is by investing in some form of shares.

If one begins investing at a young age history has proven that that they end up with far more than those who invest later in life. Having time on your side means having a longer time period of being able to save money to invest and a longer time period of being able to find investments that can increase in value.

Moreso, compounding returns are extremely powerful over the long run, and the earlier one gets started the greater their chance is to take advantage of this. Put more simply this is the power of the time value of money. Regular investments in an investment portfolio or a retirement account can lead to huge compounding benefits.

Investing while one is younger improves on spending habits though this benefit is generally overlooked by many, but investing early on definitely helps develop positive spending habits. Those who invest early on are much less likely to have issues with overstepping their boundaries in spending over the long run.

Investing teaches important lessons and the earlier you are able to learn those lessons the more you can benefit. If you are a young investor you are putting yourself ahead in the world of personal finance as a whole. By growing your investments over time you will be able to afford things that others can’t. Your personal finances are bound to get tight at times throughout your life, and investing at a young age can help in those tight times.

It is important to note that saving money to invest at a young age isn’t easy, but you simply can’t afford to wait to invest when it is convenient. Don’t shy away from investing because you don’t have enough, simply start with making small investments and give them time to mature.

Investing in shares while one is young is one of the best decisions one can ever make. For those that are tech savvy C-TRADE comes in handy as it eases the way investors do business on the capital market.

Investors do not need to physically visit their respective stockbrokers. C-TRADE gives investors the flexibility to access the platform in different ways namely, online, mobile application and the unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) whichever is convenient.

This platform has the ability to reach out to the remotest parts of the country, thereby encouraging participation by all citizens. The platform also allows Zimbabweans in the diaspora to participate on the

local stock market as it has payment gateways that enable their participation.  Through these tools, retail investors can trade securities, make or receive payments, obtain statements and follow market news anytime anywhere.

Zimbabwe, November 2019 – MediPay, a Zimbabwe-based health care finance provider, has partnered with
UK-based Fintech company, SympliFi, to enable Zimbabweans to finance their health care related expenses
using their family abroad as guarantors.

MediPay provides affordable and flexible medical payment plans to patients unable to afford the upfront cost
of a medical procedure or equipment, or where medical aid does not cover the entire cost. MediPay finances
medical procedures and equipment, such as wheelchairs. Authorisation and processing can be completed
within 24 hours and payment made to the medical provider immediately.

The economic conditions in Zimbabwe have made it increasingly more difficult for people to afford access to
medical services, as more than 90% of the population is uninsured and those insured a burdened with huge
shortfalls. Recognizing these challenges, MediPay partnered with SympliFi to enable Zimbabweans in the
United Kingdom to serve as guarantors to help their family back home finance health care costs. SympliFi’s
digital service enables the diaspora to complete the guarantor process in a matter of minutes on their phone;
and most importantly, it is a fee-free service for the guarantor.
“We believe access to healthcare is a basic human right. In that spirit, our services enable access to appropriate healthcare services while removing the discrimination of upfront payments,” stated Jackson Kanhenga,Non-Executive Chair of MediPay.

“SympliFi is passionately focused on empowering the diaspora to improve the well-being of their family back
home. Access to health care can be life changing. That is why we are extremely proud to partner with MediPay
to ensure access to quality health care is available to as many Zimbabweans as possible,” said Maurice Iwunze,
co-founder of SympliFi.

To apply online for health care financing visit MediPay’s website at medipay.co.zw/loan/diaspora-plan/. To
find out more about their products contact MediPay at Tel: +263-242-339914/7, and email at credit@medipay.
co.zw. To learn more about SympliFi visit symplifi.co.uk.

About MediPay
MediPay is a duly registered Medical Finance organisation, registered with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe,
and incorporated in 2011. MediPay provides a medical credit facility for medical related expenses through a
network of Partners. MediPay provides medical payment plans to patients and medical professionals unable
to afford the upfront cost of a medical procedure or equipment, or where medical aid does not cover the entire cost of the procedure. The company has head office in Harare and is an associate to Utano Africa Limited.

About SympliFi
SympliFi is a financial technology company that empowers diaspora around the world to build prosperity in
their home country. SympliFi’s technology platform eliminates traditional borders in order to provide diaspora
impactful financial solutions for self or family back home. The company is based in London, with operations in
Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Tanzania.
Media Inquiries: For more information about SympliFi and to arrange to speak with
a spokesperson, please email contact@symplifi.co.uk

BY TATENDA CHITAGU

MASVINGO City Council says it needs US$60 million to ease perennial water shortages that will see the country’s first urban settlement increasing pumping capacity from about 30 megalitres to 60 megalitres per day to match rising demand.

Speaking at a one-day water and sanitation conference organised by Masvingo United Residents and Ratepayers Alliance (Murra) on Tuesday, council engineer Tawanda Gozo said the water pumping infrastructure was obsolete and had been overwhelmed by demand due to rural-urban migration as well as the population boom in the city, estimated to be now above 100 000 residents.

“Our infrastructure is now obsolete and demand has increased over the years. The pumping capacity matches about 60 000 residents at 24 megalitres per day, but at the moment the population has risen to plus 100 000 residents. The rising demand means we have to pump around 45 megalitres per day,” Gozo said.

He said the local authority carried out a feasibility study to assess the need to upgrade the pumping infrastructure and they require US$60 million to increase pumping capacity to 60 megalitres per day for the next 20 years.

“We are urgently seeking a US$60 million loan to increase our pumping capacity and ease water shortages,” Gozo said.

He also said apart from the old infrastructure, the city’s water tariff was uneconomic and frequent and long power cuts at the main water pump station, Bushmead Waterworks, cut water supply to 15 megalitres.

“Inflation has eroded our budgets for all the services, leading to difficulties in providing services. We charge rates and tariffs in the local currency, but chemicals, consumables and repairs are indexed to the foreign currency exchange rate of the day. We also did a supplementary budget, but by the time it was approved, the prices of goods had already shot up and it was eroded by inflation.

Gozo said the council also once considered turning to generators and solar to power the pump station, but the costs were not sustainable.

“We thought of generators, but they are not a viable option for our pump station due to the capital costs of running the pump which is very big. While we need three generators, each costs US$1,5 million. On top of that, each generator would consume 150 litres of diesel per hour, yet the nation is facing fuel shortages, while the cost of fuel is also high.

He said a solar plant costs US$6 million and council does not have capacity to carry out that project.

Gozo said council was engaging Zesa for exemption from load-shedding at the waterworks.

Murra director Anoziva Muguti said the conference demystified the mistrust among stakeholders.

“It is good that we managed to bring the stakeholders together and they heard it for themselves and also gave their input on how best they want their city to be run. We hope that from the recommendations which came out, we will get lasting solutions to the myriad of challenges that is facing the city and its residents,” Muguti said.

guest column:Miriam Fris/Agnes Binagwaho/

Seven countries around the world – three of them in Africa – have made faster than expected progress over the past 15 years in reducing deaths among children younger than five. These seven countries, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Nepal, Peru, Rwanda and Senegal, were selected because they have all performed unexpectedly well in improving childhood health relative to their economic growth.

There are many factors at the root of their achievements, most notably, a strong integrated and coordinated health system built on primary health care. However, one cross-cutting factor stands out that we believe allowed them all to achieve significant health gains, but which, so far, tends to be always overlooked: trust. This is clear from a report, published by the Wellcome Trust and the Gallup Institute earlier this year. It surveyed 140 000 people in 140 countries to find out how they felt about science and health.

A study on public attitudes to science and health on a global scale, the survey covered topics such as whether people trust science, scientists and information about health; the levels of understanding and interest in science and health; the benefits of science; the compatibility of religion and science; and attitudes to vaccines. There’s a remarkable overlap between countries that have achieved progress in health goals such as reducing under five mortality, and those that ranked high in the trust survey. All seven were among the highest ranked globally when it came to their populations’ belief in the importance of vaccines while six out of the seven ranked highly in their trust in hospitals and health clinics. There’s logic in this. With greater population trust in health systems, health uptake and health outcomes improve. People are more likely to understand the benefits of health services and place a high value in receiving these services. This includes trusting in vaccinations which would lead people to placing a high value on vaccinating their children. Rwanda in particular has done well in building population trust. According to the survey, the country reports the highest levels of confidence in hospitals and health clinics in the world; and the largest proportion of the population who agree that vaccines are effective. Rwanda also comes out on top in the world in terms of how much of its population believes that vaccines are important for children and in the percentage of children who are vaccinated. This is the result of the work the Rwandan government has done over the past 25 years to build a strong health system and foster an inclusive approach to health coverage, starting at a community level. These actions can serve as a model for other countries to replicate.

Crucial steps

It is 25 years since Rwanda was destroyed by the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. Since then, the country of more than 12 million people has developed a strong, decentralised health system and addressed many of the major financial and geographic barriers that vulnerable populations face in accessing healthcare services.

l Some of the steps have included:

l Prioritising programmes that leave no one out.

Building a decentralised health system: There are 15 000 villages in Rwanda. By 2018, each one had four community health workers. These community health workers are elected by their peers and are highly respected, trusted members of their communities who are spending sleepless night to keep their peers healthy. The trust that is been built between community health workers and the people they represent has provided a strong foundation in developing broader trust in health systems and in the government that created the system.

l Promoting the uptake of health services and vaccination service delivery: Community health workers, among other tasks, ensure that all pregnant women in their village attend antenatal clinics and deliver in a health facility, that every child gets vaccinated, that community members are educated about the importance of vaccines and other preventive and curative treatments.

l Offering universal access to a range of treatments: For example, HIV prevention care and treatment services, including the use of antiretroviral treatment.

All these measures contributed to growing the population’s trust in the health system. People feel more comfortable in seeking out healthcare at health facilities and they trust the advice given to them by health professionals.

More work remains

There have been tangible benefits to this rebuilding. Life expectancy has doubled. Immunisation coverage rates also increased from less than 30% in 1995 (with five kinds of vaccines administered) to 94% in 2015, with 10 vaccines administered to boys and 11 administered to girls, including the HPV vaccine.

This is not to say that Rwanda does not have more work to do. That is also true of the other six countries that performed well in the Wellcome Global Monitor.

Education remains a critical gap. The Wellcome Global Monitor reported that the seven countries had some of the highest population proportions with little to no knowledge of science, especially among older people.

Rwanda university sets out to teach doctors medicine and management

A lack of science education is a major barrier to improving health outcomes and achieving and sustaining universal health coverage. Strong education systems that are training our scientists, clinicians and health professionals are crucial to ensuring countries have enough skilled professionals to provide high quality care to everyone.

This is a gap we are trying to fill at the University of Global Health Equity in the rural north of Rwanda: To train future clinicians to have the tools to effectively address inequities in healthcare and to build and maintain health systems that leave no one out.

guest column:Alex T Magaisa

This month, the month of November, marks two years since Zimbabwe’s former leader, the late Robert Mugabe lost power to his long-time ally and lieutenant Emmerson Mnangagwa in a coup which was orchestrated by military commanders. We shall be doing a series of papers based on thematic areas to assess the performance of the Mnangagwa regime for the past two years.

The first area of assessment is the protection of human rights. The analysis proceeds on the view that by most credible accounts, human rights were seriously imperiled under the Mugabe regime and it is a good point to assess whether there has been any improvement.

The Mnangagwa regime started with bright promises of a new era. It touted itself as a “new dispensation”, attempting to contrast and disentangle itself from the Mugabe regime. It also described itself rather ambitiously as “the Second Republic” as if to summon good omens from the propitious gods of politics.

However, there is nothing on a balance of probabilities to support the grand claims of novelty and difference from the Mugabe regime. Instead, there have been a series of continuities from the old regime over the course of the two years. The promise of a new dispensation has been nothing more than a mirage.

Failure to reform

The Mnangagwa regime had a great opportunity to demonstrate its willingness and commitment to uphold and respect human rights by swiftly repealing draconian legislation. The symbols of such repressive laws were the Public Order and Security Act (Posa) and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Aippa), both products of the Mugabe regime with Posa having longer roots in colonial legislation. It replaced the Law and Order Maintenance Act (Loma) which ironically had been inherited at independence and used by people who had been its victims during the colonial era.

However, two years after the coup, both laws are still on the statute books. The regime’s recent claims to the world that they have been repealed are patently false. As a matter of fact, Posa has been repeatedly used by the regime to ban demonstrations by members of the opposition and trade unions.

The pace of legal reforms in these areas have been slow. Furthermore, the so-called amendments are no more than a fraud. For example, in place of Posa, the regime is proposing a new law called Maintenance of Order and Peace Act, which in substance is no different. It is just like in 2002 when the Mugabe regime repealed the 1960s repressive Loma and replaced it with Posa. The net effect is that colonial-style legislation continues decades after independence.

Political rights

The continuation of repression is also evident in the area of political rights. These include the rights to demonstrate and petition, free speech and the freedom of assembly. These specific rights enable people to participate freely in a democratic society and to hold their leaders to account. However, as already pointed out, Posa and Aippa still stand in the way of the enjoyment of these rights.

Indeed, when the government invited the United Nations to assess Zimbabwe’s human rights situation, the world body sent a special rapporteur, Clément Nyaletsossi Voule. His report was damning. It demonstrated that the rights to assembly, demonstrate and free speech were heavily restricted.

More ominously the repressive use of these laws has been supported by the judiciary. When the official opposition party tried to hold demonstrations in August, the police banned them at the eleventh hour.

When the opposition party challenged the bans, the courts threw out the legal challenges effectively supporting the government ban.

When a junior doctors’ union leader, Peter Magombeyi, led his members demanding better working conditions, he was abducted and held incommunicado for nearly a week. The young doctor was only released after relentless pressure from fellow doctors, including senior consultants who joined the protests.

Leaders of the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe have been arrested on spurious charges for daring to stand up for their members’ rights. Even their lawyer, Douglas Coltart has also been abused and arrested in the course of representing his clients.

More recently, the courts have also backed government bans on attempts by civil servants’ unions to demonstrate for decent wages. With government being the political referee on the rights issue, dissenting voices have very limited scope and space.

Deployment of the military

Two events illustrate the perilous nature of human rights in Zimbabwe. The first was the killing of civilians by members of the military and police on August 1, 2018 during election-related protests. The second episode was the protests in mid-January 2019 when soldiers were also deployed on the streets of Harare. Human rights organisations such as Human Rights Watch reported that 17 people were killed after security forces used live ammunition against protesters. In both cases, the government took the drastic step of deploying soldiers ostensibly to assist the police to quell demonstrations..

A commission of inquiry established by Mnangagwa to investigate the events of August 1, 2019 found that the military and police were responsible for the killing of civilians.

However, no action has been taken to hold the perpetrators to account. When the State does not prosecute or punish offenders, it encourages them to do the same in future. It promotes impunity. Given the length of time that has passed since the Kgalema Motlanthe Commission presented its report (December 2018), there is no appetite to implement its recommendations, notwithstanding the regime’s claims to the contrary.

After the expensive show of the Motlanthe Commission, which was established to pull wool over the eyes of a shocked international community, the regime did not even bother to investigate the killing of civilians during the January protests. These two episodes demonstrated the worst excesses of State power and the fact that the regime which had promised much was in reality unreformed and unrepentant.

De facto amnesty

Under the Mugabe regime offenders got protection from prosecution through general amnesties and presidential pardons. More often than not, the protection was through the Attorney-General’s deliberate failure to prosecute offenders. In this regard, very little has changed. Failure to prosecute offenders is tantamount to giving a general amnesty without declaring one.

It’s a de facto amnesty extended to offenders. It makes them beholden to the regime, while also giving them an incentive to re-offend knowing very well that they will not be held accountable for their misdeeds. It’s not surprising that after the killing of civilians in August 2018, they did not hesitate to kill again in January 2019.

It has to be said that the regularity with which soldiers have been deployed by the regime is another signal of its inclination towards repressive instruments. Authoritarian regimes tend to resort to coercion when they are unable to have their will through consent. The frequent resort to the military is consistent with repressive regime’s proclivity towards coercion as an instrument of control.

Property rights

When the regime started, Mnangagwa pledged a new era in which property rights would be protected. He was keen to distinguish himself from his predecessor who had earned a reputation for disregarding property rights through the controversial fast-track land reform programme that he led from 2000. While making it clear that he would not reverse the land reform, he pleaded to compensate the dispossessed white farmers and carry out a land audit to ensure fairness and effective use of land.

However, two years down the line the land audit remains a pipe dream. Vast tracts of land remain unused or under-utilised in the hands of absentee landlords who hold multiple farms individually or though family members and associates. Underutilising land has added to the woes caused by drought resulting in poor levels of production. A country that used to feed itself and others is still begging for food.

Neighbours who have also experienced droughts including Zambia and South Africa are selling food to Zimbabwe, a sign that some of the food shortages are man-made.

There has been some effort at setting aside money to compensate the white farmers, but it is only a modest sum; more an act of symbolism than substantive compensation. The regime may have hoped that this symbolism would find recognition among the Western Powers and buy it some favours in the re-engagement drive. It was not a bad idea but it got drowned in the maelstrom of the killings of civilians and clampdown in political rights.

The ghost of farm invasions

More recently however there have been cases of further dispossession of land. Earlier when a coffee farmer in Manicaland was affected by an invasion the government intervened following an outcry over the invasion. The intervention came in favour of the white farmer. This week, another white farmer was evicted from his farm in Chinhoyi. In this case, the government has not intervened. What has changed?

Perhaps the government was desperate for inclusion and re-engagement when it intervened in the coffee farmer’s case. Prospects of successful re-engagement existed. It’s failure to intervene over the Chinhoyi farmer comes in the wake of increasingly frosty relations with the West exacerbated by the clash over sanctions and a diplomatic row with the US. It’s possible that the government does not care anymore the same way it did at the time of the coffee farmer’s situation.

But the images don’t help the regime’s cause. To be seen condoning dispossession in this day and age, something that should have been part of the past is self-defeating. There is so much unused land in Zimbabwe that it makes no sense whatsoever to take over a productive farm.

It’s a gross failure of leadership that a country which is importing food at high cost is busy dispossessing productive farmers when there is an abundance of under-utilised land across the country. This is why it is true that while drought is a natural phenomenon, famine is a man-made calamity.

Spurious charges and detentions

The Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act became the favoured piece of legislation to persecute political rivals during the Mugabe regime. One of the more notorious offences was insulting the president. Many were detained under the presidential insults provisions. Two years after Mugabe fell, the law is still in use, reminding people to tread with caution.

Another common charge is attempting to subvert a constitutionally elected government, a statutory relation to treason. Prominent politicians and political activists were detained for allegedly breaching these provisions under the Mugabe regime.

In the two years that Mnangagwa has been in power, there has been a flurry of arrests and detentions for breaching these provisions. The prosecutions invariably collapse and sink into the quick-sands of the justice system, but not before political opponents and activists have been immobilized and sufficiently harassed.

A more insidious phenomenon is the spate of abductions and torture of political activists. The regime has blamed a “Third Force” for these abductions, which ironically exposes it as weak and lacking control of the country’s security situation.

This year alone, a number of political activists and civil society campaigners have been abducted and tortured. No one has been held accountable. This has extended to comedians and musicians who are regarded as promoting an anti-government narrative. This spreads fear among the citizens, causing them to recoil and avoid challenging or criticising the government.

Real threat or paranoia?

The state of insecurity among citizens is reflected by Mnangagwa’s own fears for his own safety. His security arrangements have become visibly enhanced ever since he took power.

Indeed, it seems he has a bigger human fortress than his predecessor ever had. Perhaps it is a circumstance of the manner in which he ascended to the presidency which created many enemies and unhappy people.

Oddly enough, while there was an alleged assassination attempt at a political rally in Bulawayo last year, there has not been a single arrest or public prosecution of offenders. This leaves a yawning gap as to what is going on within the upper echelons of power. It seems more likely that there is mistrust among members of the establishment.

Conclusion

For years, Zimbabwe’s reputation regarding human rights has been abysmal. The fall of Mugabe was seen by some as a landmark moment which would represent a break with the past. These were misplaced hopes. It should have been clear that a coup would not represent serious change.

The authors of the coup were motivated by a desire to wrest power from a rival faction and to protect their interests. It was not intended for major transformation.

The coup would also strengthen the militarisation of the State ,which was already in motion long before Mugabe was forced out. A militarised State relies upon coercion and it is not amenable to the protection of human rights.

When Zimbabweans marched freely before Mugabe’s removal, one question that a few of us asked was how long the honeymoon between the military and the citizens would last. As it turned out, it was very brief. It has been a terribly unhappy marriage; a fallacious union built on the blessings of men in fatigues; an unholy union which has left citizens utterly flummoxed and traumatized.

In the next piece we will look at the regime’s performance in respect of the economy.

WaMagaisa
wamagaisa@me.com

BY BLESSED MHLANGA

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has declared G40 an enemy of the State, warning any Zanu PF members interacting with its members would be dealt with.

Addressing journalists after a Zanu PF politburo meeting last night, party spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo said Mnangagwa warned Zanu PF members against getting into bed with G40, the faction that allegedly engineered his ouster from power in 2017 at the height of factional politics.

“He challenged the politburo leadership to be more visible at the grassroots and associate with programmes of government, always giving people a message of hope, those hobnobbing with G40 elements stand warned,” he said.

Zanu PF youth league has accused leaders appointed by Mnangagwa into government and party structures of sabotaging him and failing to attend important meetings because they belonged to G40.

Moyo, however, said the warning by Mnangagwa was targeting all Zanu PF members.

“He never classified at what level. Anybody, doesn’t matter at what level if they are hobnobbing with G40 then they stand warned,” he said.

“G40 is not a threat to Zanu PF. It’s a threat to the country including the MDC. It’s a threat to security and security affects everyone.”

The politburo also agreed to make two constitutional changes which include making the war veterans a wing of the party and also restore the district co-ordinating committees into the party constitution.

“These amendments are subject to the ratification of the central committee although the politburo has made a resolution on them,” Moyo said.

Zanu PF also discussed its December conference which will be held in Goromonzi next month with Mnangagwa demanding it should be a success.

“The President told the meeting that the culture of the second republic was servant leadership and there was no room for armchair leaders.”