BY TAFADZWA KACHIKO

CHIPAWO Trust’s New Horizon Theatre Company and Theatre in the Park will stage a series of plays this month, under the theme: A Time with Uncle Steve, in honour of the late legendary playwright Stephen Chifunyise.

The first play, Vicious, written and directed for UNFPA by Chifunyise will be staged on Friday and Saturday.

The play touches on various issues affecting most Zimbabwean communities — including poverty and HIV from a fresh perspective.

Chipawo manager Chipo Basopo, who features in the play, told NewsDay Life & Style that the plays were a way of honouring Chifunyise and keeping his legacy alive.

“This is to honour and keep Uncle Steve’s legacy alive. Every month Chipawo and Theatre in the Park will present at least one play from him. Vicious is a tragic and classic portrayal of the prevailing poverty where even middle-class families are drawn into poverty by the needs and suffering of their relatives who come to live with them in town or remain in the countryside where many are dying of Aids,” she said.

The cast includes Tafadzwa Munjoma, Kidman Basopo, Kundai Chipagara, Sabinah Rwatizha, Nigel Chindngungwe and Robert Chiyama.

Chifunyise’s longtime friend Robert McLaren, a renowned theatre practitioner, described Vicious as the former’s greatest play.

“Perhaps his greatest masterpiece is Vicious. In most of his plays he treated his topics not only with a deep understanding of the issues, but also a wonderful sense of humour. His themes are all essentially Zimbabwean, exploring Zimbabwe’s culture, its modern mores and topical burning issues, including the political,” he said.

Chifunyise founded Chipawo and remained its chairman until his death in August this year.

SPORTS REPORTER

FORMER FC Platinum coach Norman Mapeza notched up his first league match win as coach in the South African topflight league when his side, Chippa United edged AmaZulu 2-0 on Saturday.

The win eased pressure on the team who had not yet won this season.

Mapeza, who joined the side a few weeks ago, said he was pleased with the win which will boost his team’s confidence.

“This win will boost our performance going forward,” the former Warriors coach and captain said after the match. “We told the boys before the match that we need to go out there and try to get a positive result. The results haven’t been coming. If you look at our last two matches, the boys worked so hard; I think it was coming. We need to keep working hard.

Let’s stay humble, we are not yet out of the woods. We are going for a break now and this gives time for the injured guys to recover and hopefully after the international break they will be able to come back.”

William Twala scored both goals for the team, while Warriors defender Kelvin Moyo was instrumental in the team attaining a clean sheet.

Since his arrival Mapeza has overseen defeats to Wits, Highlands Park and log leaders Kaizer Chiefs on Wednesday night.

Chippa had not even scored a single goal under Mapeza in the league until Saturday night.

Mapeza has been under the spotlight since he dumped Zimbabwe champions FC Platinum to take up the Chippa job.

He had been warned that the club owners at Chippa do not exercise patience with coaches.

A week ago, Mapeza frankly told club stakeholders that the team lacked quality players and he could only improve things when the transfer window opens up in January.

Chippa still sit at the bottom of the table with seven points, two behind Black Leopards, who currently occupy the play-offs position.

BRITISH Prime Minister Boris Johnson has promised to fast-track his country’s National Health Services (NHS) visas to make it easier for overseas doctors and nurses to work in the UK — a move likely to throw Zimbabwe’s public health sector into unprecedented crisis in the wake of government’s protracted dispute with its doctors and nurses over remuneration and working conditions.

BY PHYLLIS MBANJE

This comes as President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration has already fired over 200 doctors for failing to report for duty over isues of incapacitation.

Although Boris’ proposal is on condition that the Tories win the general election to be held on December 12, the mere suggestion means Zimbabwe’s former coloniser is in desperate need of the health workers and could trigger a mass exodus of local doctors and nurses in the new year.

Under the scheme, the cost of a visa for health care professionals would be halved from £928 (US$1 190) to £464 (US$590), while applicants would be guaranteed a decision within two weeks.

The UK carrot comes amid a public outcry following the dismissal of over 200 doctors, with many Zimbabweans questioning the rationale behind government’s decision to lay off key medical staff at a time the majority of them had already left for greener pastures outside the country.

On Friday, the Health Services Board (HSB) confirmed that it had fired 211 doctors for refusing to end their two-month long strike over wages and better working conditions.

Describing government’s action as unjustified, Norton legislator Temba Mliswa (independent) took to Twitter, saying: “I do not see the rationale of firing doctors. They had genuine complaints and government, as the father, was supposed to deal with the matter in a less aggressive manner. At the end, it’s the health system that suffers, otherwise most of the professionals will get jobs elsewhere.”

Opposition MDC secretary-general Chalton Hwende said his party was concerned about deaths in hospitals now being directly linked to the “irrational and cruel decision” by Mnangagwa’s administration.

“This government does not care about the health and lives of poor people because the President and his ministers, together with their families, do not use our local hospitals. They fly out of the country to seek medical attention,” he told NewsDay yesterday.

Hwende said his party would be writing to international donors this week to appeal for medication, equipment and doctors’ salary subsidies to resuscitate hospitals and save lives.

A UK-based Zimbabwean medical doctor Brighton Chireka said the country should draw lessons from others like Rwanda, where President Paul Kagame recently met doctors in his country to appreciate their concerns.

Last week, Kagame met over 800 doctors in his country to discuss the challenges facing the health delivery system in Rwanda in a bid to come up with solutions.

Lawyer and politician Fadzayi Mahere echoed Chireka’s sentiments, saying the government should emulate Kagame’s example.

“While government treats doctors as slaves, calling them satanic and firing them, other African leaders are treating their medical doctors as valuable and strengthening their public health system,” Mahere tweeted.

American economist Steve Hanke accused Mnangagwa of attempting to curb protests over galloping inflation by firing doctors who participated in the protests.

“This is straight from (the late former President Robert ) Mugabe playbook. Censorship is the name of the game,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA) has said it was still hopeful that the government will reverse its decision to fire its members and open new lines of negotiation.

Said ZHDA treasurer-general Tapiwa Mungofa: “We are still hopeful that they will come to their senses and reverse this regressive decision and commence sincere negotiations. We are expecting even more doctors to be fired because almost all doctors are incapacitated. We still do not think this move is well-thought since the HSB has not indicated how they are going to resolve the crisis without doctors.”

The fired doctors have been given 30 days’ notice to vacate hospital apartments.

“Doctors are now finding other means of survival, with most planning on leaving the country, which is a sorry situation considering the impact it has on the suffering masses of our nation,” Mungofa said.

UK’s Home secretary Priti Patel said an Australian-style points-based system would allow Britain to control the numbers coming into the country while remaining open to essential professions such as nursing.

“That means the best of both worlds — attracting talent from around the world so our NHS continues to provide brilliant service while ensuring that it isn’t put under strain by opening Britain’s borders to the entire world,” she said.

— Additional reporting by Al Jazeera

BY FORTUNE MBELE

ZPC KARIBA . . . . .. 0
HIGHLANDERS . . . (1) 1

PRINCE Dube produced another priceless performance to help Highlanders boot ZPC Kariba out of the Chibuku Cup in a semi-final match played at Barbourfields Stadium in Bulawayo yesterday.

Dube came back to haunt ZPC Kariba after he was shown the red card in a league game two weeks ago at Nyamhunga Stadium in a match involving the same teams.

He scored a beauty in the 35th minute against the run of play after receiving the ball on the far right before cutting in-field and curling the ball past goalkeeper Takabva Mawaya.

The Highlanders’ gunman has scored in every match that Bosso have played in this competition so far this year.

He scored when the Bulawayo giants booted out Dynamos in the first round, as well as when they beat FC Platinum 3-0 in the quarter-final and his third in yesterday’s semi-final clash.

But it was a game that ZPC Kariba could have won in the first 20 minutes after they pressed Highlanders and got three free-kicks in good positions, but Munyaradzi Kunyarimwe failed to convert.

ZPC congested their midfield with only Tawanda Nyamandwe upfront and did not allow Highlanders to play their passing game but their movement to the final third was poor.

They, however, ended the game with 10 men after defender Ian Nekati was shown the red card eight minutes before the final whistle after elbowing substitute Godfrey Makaruse.

ZPC Kariba players protested the red card and referee of the day Hardley Ndazi tried to explain his decision to coach Godfrey Tamirepi.

Highlanders coach Hendrikus Pieter de Jongh was happy they are through to the final for the first time since the return of the tournament in 2014.

“I am happy we are going to the final. It’s not important how you play in a semi-final; what is important is getting to the final. I am happy for the club and the players. We deserved to go to the final after beating Dynamos, FC Platinum and today ZPC Kariba,” De Jongh said.

His counterpart Tamirepi felt said they were treated unfairly at BF yesterday.

“In all fairness I would say we gave a very good account of ourselves in the well-contested match and without any reservations I could say from the onset things did not favour us, but when it comes to play my boys did well,” Tamirepi said.

He added: “There was a lot of intimidation from the fans when we were attacking and they were throwing missiles which slowed down the rhythm and frustrated us. I am not happy with the way we were treated here.”

Teams

ZPC Kariba: T Mawaya, I Nekati (red card 82′), M Kunyarimwe, B Mutukure, J Marufu, B Juru (T Chiunye 72′), D Chakupe (T Ranthokoane 61′), C Muleya, T Nyamandwe, J Gwara (K Nasama 61′), T Chamboko

Highlanders: A Sibanda, M Phiri, M Ndlovu, A Mbeba, P Muduhwa, N Masuku, T Makanda (B Sibanda 90+1′), B Banda, P Dube, A Silla, D Khumalo (G Makaruse 80′)

Unidentified merrymakers get grilled meat at the Braai Fest at Old Hararians Sports Club in Harare on Saturday

BY WINSTONE ANTONIO

MEAT and beer lovers were in for a treat when the popular Castle Lager National Braai Fest returned on Friday and Saturday at its ceremonial home, Old Hararians Sports Club in Harare.

The popular and strictly no-under-18 fest funded by Delta Beverages through their Castle Lager brand was cancelled last year, following an outbreak of cholera.

Making its return over two days, the fest had a false start on Friday with the really heavy, but very welcome rains forcing the cancellation of performances by dancehall chanter Killer T, urban groover Ex-Q and some wheel spinners.

But there were smiles all around on Saturday as the skies cleared and the partying went into full swing.

Thousands turned out on the final day, with entertainment galore from the dancehall president Winky D, Freeman, urban groover Ex-Q and Hip- hop sensation Takura adding to the fireworks.

Winky D showed why he remains the reference point among local artistes before sound glitches cut short his performance in the middle of his MuGarden hit song, a duet with local pop sensation Gemma Griffiths.

This drew angry protests from the fans unhappy with the sound engineers and bringing the show to a premature end.

In a country struggling for positives and any sought of relief, the braai fest brought some joy to thousands of merrymakers.

But going forward, the few glitches need to be ironed out, such as the long queues which resulted in commotion and disorder as revellers got impatient.

It also appears that bouncers who have become a menace at several live concerts, were facilitating entry to anyone who would pay them in cash.

They attempted the swindle on this reporter before whisking him in after one of them recognised him.

At the inaugural braaifest, over 12 000kg of meat were consumed in one day, while a staggering 15 000kg was gobbled in 2017. 2019 is likely to set a new record, with proceeds being channelled towards charity.

SINCE August this year 105 people have died in machete wars, while hundreds others were injured by Zanu PF-linked terror groups that have terrorised the country’s gold-rich sites committing heinous crimes claiming immunity because of their government and ruling party links, NewsDay has learnt.

By Brenna Matendere

In its October report titled Who will protect citizens from their ‘supposed’ protectors? the Zimbabwe Peace Project said the majority of the machete hit squads, infamously known as MaShurugwi and the Al-Shabaab, come from President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s home province of Midlands.

The latter is based in Kwekwe while the former originates from Wonderer Mine in Shurugwi.

“Artisanal mining terror groups continued wreaking havoc in Mashonaland West province, especially in Kadoma with machete attacks being reported almost every day.”

The report revealed that 105 murder cases were caused by the machete shock troops while over 200 people were butchered and left nursing wounds.

“Mining gangs are fighting a brutal war against each other and citizens are often caught in the crossfire or in some instances targeted by these gangs. Between the months of August and October a total of 105 murder cases have been recorded in mining areas surrounding Kadoma while 221 cases of assault have been recorded,” says the report.

Senior government officials have been implicated as behind the machete violence menace with Mnangagwa’s top lieutenant and State Security minister Owen Ncube being fingered in the bloody wars.

Ncube is famous in the artisanal mining circles and at the just-ended Zimbabwe Miners Federation annual conference in Gweru, Ncube was received with a thunderous ovation by the small-scale miners when he entered the venue at Gweru Convention Centre. Director of ceremonies, Joseph Nhara, had a torrid time trying to bring the miners to order as they shouted Ncube’s nicknames – “Third Bomber,” “Mudha” and “Touch Bomba”.

ZPP bemoaned that artisanal miners who are involved in machete wars are never arrested as they are reportedly protected by their god-fathers.

“These figures (of murder cases and injuries from the machete wars) indicate that there is a marked increase in lawlessness in the area (Mashonaland West) and innocent citizens are also suffering at the hands of mining gangs. This is further exacerbated by the fact that the gangs seem to be enjoying impunity as most of them continue without being arrested,” reads the ZPP report.

At the ZMF conference, Mnangagwa pledged to end the machete wars, saying they were soiling his administration’s image.

MOST Zimbabweans feel the new currency which will start circulating today will not change anything as long as government has not implemented economic and political reforms to generate market confidence.

BY EVERSON MUSHAVA

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) is today introducing $5 and $2 notes, as well as the $2 bond coin as part of measures to ease cash shortages and bring back the local currency, which was scrapped in 2009 and replaced by a multi-currency regime.

The new notes look exactly the same as the old bond notes with added security features, while the $2 bond coin looks like the $1 bond coin already in circulation.

But Garikai Mbudaya, a Warren Park resident, said although the new notes would increase liquidity, it would likely increase inflation like it used to happen during the hyperinflationary era under former RBZ governor Gideon Gono.

“This will not change anything much because as long as there is no confidence in the government, there will be hardly any change in the market,” Mbudaya said.

“The biggest losers will, however, be the EcoCash agents who had been selling money at a premium. The new currency will push the premium down a bit, but not for long.”

Commenting on the similarity of the new notes to the bond notes already in circulation, Mbudaya said that was the manifestation of the confusion in President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government.

He said whether by design or accident, the similarities on the new and old currency would not help inspire confidence, describing the new money as a packet of hot air to replace a bottle of the same.

Joseph Mlambo, a Bikita resident, said the currency being introduced today would hardly change anything as far as the country’s economic situation is concerned.

“The new currency, which will not have market confidence, is not what the economy needs, therefore, it cannot be a solution,” the 23-year-old Mlambo said.

“Since the currency will be almost identical to the bonds that are already in circulation, it won’t induce a mental difference to the currency users. So this implies that the currency will as well suffer from the ongoing wave of inflation.”

A resident of Harare’s Epworth satellite town, Vivian Mwayera, said she does not care whether the country introduces new money today or tomorrow, she only wants Mnangagwa to fix the economy.

“We are suffering. We will not eat the new money. We want the President to address the economy first and then introduce the new money. We were good under the US dollar regime than now,” Mwayera said.

Political analyst Ernest Mudzengi said Zimbabwe does not need a new currency, but economic and political reforms to boost confidence.

“We need the economy to produce, agriculture and manufacturing sectors must produce so that we can export. Printing of money will not help, it is not a panacea, and we need economic and political reforms and address the issue of confidence. Things like the land issue of land should be addressed once and for all,” he said.

Mudzengi said the similarities and differences of the new money would be inconsequential.

An economist, who refused to be named because his company does not allow him to speak to the media, said: “The new currency will not survive simply because it is not backed by anything, apart from policies from an untrusted government. It will not survive. The denomination is too small for the prices in the country. The biggest note is $5 and yet bread costs $15.”

Last week, speakers at the Institute of Chartered Accountants summer school held in Harare, accused government of fuelling economic instability through inconsistent currency reforms and too many regulations that do not inspire confidence.

Tafadzwa Bandama, the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries chief economist, said the plethora of legislation rolled out by the government was causing confusion in the economy.

MMC Capital executive director Itai Chirume weighed in, saying money creation by the government poisoned the investment environment in the country.

In 2016, the RBZ introduced bond notes whose value was at par with the US dollar until October last year when the currency reforms started.

Since then, the government has issued a number of statutory instruments as it navigates the transition from a multi-currency system to the mono-currency regime.

These new policies have, however, failed to take the country out of the economic woods.

TECHNOLOGY is fuelling child sexual abuse because most of the violence against children is being committed online, a Judicial Services Commission (JSC) official said on Friday.

By Harriet Chikandiwa

Speaking at the launch of the multi-sectorial management of sexual abuse and violence in Harare, JSC secretary Walter Chikwana said benefits derived from technological advancement tend to be outweighed by negative vices such as online sexual abuse.

“Benefits generated by technological advancement tend to be blighted by abuse of that technology in promoting sexual abuse and violence. Numerous cases of sexual and gender-based violence particularly against children are committed online. This realisation again prompted us to include online safety issues in the revised protocol,” Chikwana said.

He paid tribute to donor organisations, among them the European Union, United Nations Population Fund, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, United Nations Children’s Fund and Irish Aid which are helping in the fight against child sexual abuse and gender-based violence (GBV).

Chikwana lamented underfunding of the JSC which was affecting the justice delivery system.
“The budget allocated for the operation aimed at alleviating the plight of survivors and the prosecution and trial of sexual abuse and violence offenders remains inadequate in our view,” he said.

“Stakeholders should prioritise the core mandate aspects and consider allocating more resources to key operators such as renovation of the Victim Friendly Courts equipment such as television monitors, recording machines and anatomically correct dolls.”

Chikwana further said sexual abuse and GBV remained a threat, not only in Zimbabwe, but worldwide and there was need to have more victim-friendly courts.

Acting Chief Magistrate and chairperson of the victim friendly system, Munamato Mutevedzi advised men to visit the victim-friendly units because a significant number of them were suffering in silence after being sexually abused at home by their spouses.

“The number of male adults who have been assisted under the victim-friendly system remains negligible yet this facility is also available to us in situations where we are subject to gender-based violence,” he said.

“At times it is acceptable that a significant number of us are exposed to gender-based violence and sexual abuse. Men generally feel ashamed to report cases of sexual abuse.”