BY HENRY MHARA

WARRIORS coach Joey Antipas has trimmed his squad to 24 players, who will be in camp next week for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) Group H matches against Botswana and Zambia.

Zimbabwe begins their qualification campaign with a home match against the Zebras of Botswana on Friday next week at the National Sports Stadium.

The match, which had initially been scheduled for Barbourfields Stadium in Bulawayo, before being moved to the capital due to logistical reasons, will kick-off at 6pm.

Antipas’ men will travel to Zambia for their second group match four days later. The group also has African champions Algeria, who Zimbabwe will face later in the campaign.

Top two teams will qualify for the Afcon finals set for Cameroon in 2021.

Thirty-two men had initially been called for camp which begins on Monday next week, but Zifa yesterday said only 24 will now group for the match.

“Only 24 players will report for camp for the two matches against Botswana and Zambia. The Warriors technical team is finalising the squad,” Zifa communications manager Xolisani Gwesela said.

He also gave the itinerary for the two matches: “Players are expected to start arriving in camp on Monday for the Friday match. The team will leave for Zambia on Sunday, the 17th for the match on Tuesday.”

The association has reduced the number of players coming to camp to try and reduce costs which include travelling, accommodation and allowances.

A source in the Warriors technical team said all the high-profile names, such as Knowledge Musona have been included in a squad to be announced before the end of this week.

“All the regulars, especially those who played at the Afcon in Egypt will make up the squad,” a source, who refused to be named, said.

Besides Musona, other big names that are set to make the list are Marvellous Nakamba, Ovidy Karuru, Tino Kadewere, Khama Billiat, Knox Mutizwa, Marshall Munetsi, Teenage Hadebe, Alec Mudimu, Ronald Pfumbidzai, Devine Lunga, Thabani Kamusoko and two goalkeepers Elvis Chipezeze and Simba Chinani.

Third choice goalkeeper Martin Mapisa, who is based in Spain, is doubtful and Antipas is likely to call another goalie.

England-based Macauley Bonne of Charlton Athletic and Bolton Wonderers’ Adam Chicksen will also make the squad as they are likely to get their Zimbabwean passports this week.

“All their application papers were submitted and we are now waiting for the Registrar General’s Office to issue them the passports,” Gwesela said.

There is also hope that Bournemouth’s Jordan Zemura and Cliff Moyo will also get their passports in time for the two matches.

The major casualty could be Leicester City striker Admiral Muskwe, who is set to be dropped, alongside other players born or raised in Europe – Douglas Nyaupembe and Tivonge Rushesha, while Jonah Fabisch has already pulled out.

The local-based duo of Prince Dube and Patson Jaure are likely to be rewarded for their good performance in the African Nations Championships qualifiers with an inclusion in the Afcon squad.

By Ruvimbo Muchenje

Harare City Council nurses have defied an ultimatum to return to work, saying they would only report for duty once their demands for better working conditions have been addressed.

Council acting human capital director Mathew Marara on Tuesday declared the strike illegal and ordered the nurses to immediately return to work, failure of which disciplinary action would be taken against them.

But Zimbabwe Urban and Rural Council Nurses Workers’ Union (ZURCNWU) secretary-general Tedious Chisango yesterday told NewsDay that they would only return to work when their salaries are pegged to the interbank market rate.

“We have also clearly indicated to the council to pay us our salaries at the current interbank rate, not the peanuts we are getting. On my contract of employment I signed for a salary of US$940 not $1 200,” Chisango said.

The nurses downed tools on Monday, citing incapacitation.

“Council is wrong to refer to this dispute as a strike. We are not on strike, but we are just severely incapacitated. We do not have any means to go to work. No money for transport and no money to sustain our families. Today is November 6 (yesterday), but up to now we haven’t received any salaries for October,” he added.

Chisango also dismissed claims by council that ZURCNWU was a bogus union.

“Whoever fails to recognise our union must revisit the Labour Act Chapter 28:1 because we are legally registered in this country and we have a certificate signed by the Labour minister,” he said.

The ZURCNWU boss confirmed that dialogue between council and the employees was ongoing.

“We haven’t agreed on anything yet, but council health services director Prosper Chonzi has invited us for a meeting,” he said.

Chisango said the union met with the industrial relations manager, but failed to break the impasse.

by MOSES GAHADZA

As the world moves towards ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, key populations who include people in prison settings, remain underserved. UNAIDS considers gay men and other men who have sex with men, sex workers, transgender people, people who inject drugs and prisoners and other incarcerated people as the five main key population groups that are particularly vulnerable to HIV and frequently lack adequate access to services.

Now, as MOSES MAGADZA reports, Namibia, with support from UNAIDS, UNODC and I-TECH, is training nurses to initiate HIV treatment for people in prison settings, among the last frontiers in the global response to the epidemic.

WINDHOEK- The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) in Namibia is supporting the training of nurses from the Namibian Correctional Service (NCS) to initiate inmates on antiretroviral treatment (ART) as global efforts to take health care services closer to the people gain momentum.

On Monday, approximately 30 nurses from NCS facilities throughout the country met in Windhoek for a five-day training on how to initiate inmates living with HIV on ART and manage them. UNAIDS funded the training while the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Ministry of Health and Social Services and the International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH) provided technical support.

Speaking at the start of the training, the newly-appointed Country Director for UNAIDS Namibia, Alti Zwandor, an epidemiologist, said Namibia had done remarkably well in one of 10 global targets agreed by world leaders at the High-Level Meeting in 2016 related to Ending AIDS by 2030, but there was scope for more to be done.

Progress but…

“Namibia met the 90-90-90 targets three years ahead of schedule. That is the good news. The bad news is that Namibia is unlikely to reach the target of reducing new HIV infections by 75% by 2020. That is why this training of nurses working in prison settings is very important,” Zwandor said.

The world has set ambitious targets to ensure that by 2020, 90% of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status, 90% of all people with diagnosed HIV infection will receive sustained antiretroviral therapy and 90% of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression.

Other targets seek to reduce new HIV infections by 75%, ensure that there is social protection for all people, particularly the vulnerable, and ensure that 30% of all resources for responding to HIV are channeled through Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) by the year 2020.

While noting that treatment was an important tool for prevention, she said globally, the prevalence of HIV among people in prison settings was much higher than in the general population.

Plight of key populations

“People who are incarcerated have a prevalence of five times more than the general population. Key populations that include people who inject drugs, sex workers, transgender people, gay people and men who have sex with other men tend to be over-represented in prison populations,” Zwandor said.

She said certain environmental, social, cultural, human rights and biological factors exacerbate the vulnerability of people in prison settings to HIV infection.

“This could be due to risky behavior such as sharing needles and syringes, unprotected sex, sexual violence and lack of access to comprehensive HIV prevention and harm reduction services,” she said.

UNAIDS advocates for a minimum package of services for people in prison that includes but is not limited to: access to HIV testing; availability of ART programmes; access to condoms; opioid substitution therapy; and provision of sterile injecting equipment.

It calls, also, for the availability of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) and Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PREP) services.

Yawning gaps

At the Melbourne AIDS Conference in 2014, UNAIDS released a report now popularly known as the Gap Report, which identifies yawning gaps in the global response to HIV and AIDS.

Notably, the report identifies 12 key population groups including prisoners, who are deemed central to ending the global HIV epidemic.

The identified key population groups comprise people who have increased risk of HIV infection, who lack access to services and experience a plethora of human rights violations.

The report recommends concerted efforts and attention to providing services and increasing access to those population groups lest the target to end AIDS by the year 2030 remains a pipe dream.

Similarly, another UNAIDS global report made available on the 28th of October 2019, notes that despite the relative ease of access to HIV- related services for all people, prison populations remain underserved.

A recent review of country reports to UNAIDS in the last three years, showed that many prisoners are lacking basic HIV services.

The review found that very few countries reported programme data on the provision of HIV services in prisons with only one in three countries providing condoms, 24 countries providing opioid substitution therapy while three countries provided sterile injecting equipment in prisons.

With regards to HIV testing and treatment, the report found that 74 countries reported programme data on antiretroviral therapy coverage while 83 countries reported HIV testing in prisons.

Building capacity

On why UNAIDS had supported the nurse-initiated antiretroviral programme in Namibia, Zwandor said the last five years had demonstrated the need for Member States to rapidly expand and scale up access to HIV prevention and treatment services to everyone including key populations.

“If we are going to depend on just medical doctors, we might as well forget about our dreams of ending AIDS. We are at a point where if nurses are well-trained ,there is no reason why they cannot initiate and manage a stable person on ART. Complicated cases can be referred to medical doctors but if we are going to roll out and take services closer to the people, we must involve nurses,” she said.

She argued that bringing nurses on board to initiate patients on ART treatment would increase the pool of skilled health professionals while improving the quality of care that people living with HIV get.

She explained that the nurse-initiated antiretroviral programmes was not unique to Namibia but had been tried and tested elsewhere.

“It is a global initiative that the World Health Organization (WHO) encourages. It falls within the global guidelines for managing people
living with HIV,” she said.

Stressing that population and location are important considerations in the quest for universal access to comprehensive and equitable health care, Zwandor said capacity development and empowerment of every cadre in health was imperative given the widespread shortage of specialized human resources for health in many developing countries.

She was optimistic that the ongoing training of nurses would increase the number of skilled professionals to manage people living with HIV in correctional settings.

“It will make it possible for people who test positive for HIV to be started on ART immediately. We know that the earlier we initiate people on treatment, the better the outcome.”

Right direction

Idel Billah, a medical doctor and the Deputy Director of Clinical Services at I–TECH, also hailed the training as a giant leap in the right direction, saying it would “phenomenally increase” the number of people who can provide expert care to people living with HIV in prison settings.

“The training will boost human and organizational capacity for the NCS to respond to HIV. We are trying to task-shift the job of looking after people living with HIV from medical doctors to nurses.

There are many facilities with inmates living with HIV but not enough medical doctors. It would be good for NCS to have people able to look after such inmates,”
he said.

The trained nurses are expected to support inmates on counselling, HIV testing, initiation on treatment, adhering to treatment and managing complications that might arise.

-Moses Magadza is Communications Officer for the UNODC Regional
Office for Southern Africa.z

BY TAFADZWA MHLANGA

Resources group RioZim Limited reported an 8% fall in gold output as rolling power cuts hit production at its Dalny Mine despite paying for uninterrupted power supply in United States dollars to the power utility.

It reported a gold output of to 962kg for the six months to June from 1 050kg over the same period last year.Net profit at $38,2 million was up on $406 000 in the prior period.
Revenue grew to $136,7 million, a 207% increase from $44,3 million previously despite the decreased gold production.

In the period under review, the gold price firmed up to an average of US$1 346 per ounce from US$1 298/oz in the same period last year.The southern African nation is in the throes of power outages that last for up to 20 hours daily and have decimated the manufacturing and mining sectors.

Power utility Zesa asked miners to pay for power in foreign currency in return for uninterrupted supplies, but has failed to stick to the agreement.

“As a direct result of these power cuts, the group recorded a decrease in production by 8% to 962kg from 1 050kg achieved in the comparative period in 2018. Power supply deficit remains a key risk in the second half of 2019. Even though the company is paying for uninterrupted power supply in United States dollars, the group has continued to experience intermittent load-shedding,” chairman Saleem Beebeejaun said.

He said the miner would continue to pursue its power projects: the 178MW [megawatts} solar plant and the Sengwa Thermal Power Station, to guarantee stable power supply for its operations and tackle the country’s power deficit.

“The company continues to vigorously pursue its power projects to guarantee stable power supply not only to its operations, but also to assist in improving the electricity deficit in the country,” Beebeejaun said.

At Cam and Motor Mine, output was 7% higher at 489kg from 458kg previously. Dalny Mine experienced acute power cuts and it afforded to run up to four to six hours of plant per day as production fell 7% to 215kg from 232kg last year.

Renco Mine experienced some plant breakdowns, which reduced production by 28% from 360kg to 259kg.The Express Nickel Refinery remained under care and maintenance.
Output at Murowa Diamonds rose 16% to 390 000 carats from 343 000 carats previously.Its chrome claims in Darwendale are subject to legal battles before the courts.

BY PHILLIP CHIDAVAENZI

DANCEHALL artiste Enzo Ishall’s latest single, Highest Score — which dropped late on Monday has been trending on YouTube clocking nearly 40 000 views in less than 48 hours.
Produced by Passion Java Records (PJR), the video is littered with preacher Passion Java’s fingerprints, with its extra-terrestrial feel and themed around a hell-like experience as the persona seeks to evade devil-like creatures seeking to devour him.

Enzo Ishall explained that the theme of the video song, done mainly in Jamaican Patois, was centred on God’s protection over his life.

“God will protect me from all evil no matter how hard these demons will try to destroy me… I will get the highest score,” he said in an Instagram post.

“This video shows how demons are fighting me in my dreams and in real life, but I no longer fear, I have gathered up all the strength I need.”

The video — which has an international flair courtesy of its classy visuals — is likely to be a point of conjecture following the musician’s departure from Chillspot Records, from where he was lured by Java.

The development torched a storm with punters arguing it would mark the end of Enzo Ishall’s blossoming music career in its infancy.

Java is on record saying he was not investing into Zimbabwe’s unprofitable music industry, but was simply giving promising artistes a helping hand.

He said when he first met Enzo Ishall the musician could not even afford to pay for a trip into the city centre.

“It was tough. And I spoke to DJ Levels and said we should help the young man… I have used more than $10 000 on Enzo. We have a video coming out shortly called the Highest Score. That’s the best ever song that Enzo has ever sung,” he said.

“We used over R1,2 million. I flew over 20 people from Zimbabwe. I flew people from Cape Town to Johannesburg. We booked over 18 hotel rooms and fed people for four days. We signed an agreement and paid a big company to shoot the video. It’s more than a song. It’s a movie in itself.”

Enzo Ishall hit the limelight a few years ago with monster tracks such as Kanjiva, 50 Magate and Smart Inotangira Kutsoka.

BY FREEMAN MAKOPA

AFRO-FUSION songbird Sasha “Amadhuve” Chiedzo is the latest local artiste to perform at the Mafikizolo Back in Town concert scheduled for November 8 in Harare.

Sasha was yesterday over the moon after her name was included on the list of local artistes set to share the stage with the top South African duet.

She told NewsDay Life& Style that this was a stepping stone in her career and expressed hope that it would mark the beginning of greater things for her.

“I feel greatly honoured to be given a chance to play alongside one of Africa’s finest, especially after having played alongside Jah Prayzah just a few days ago at the braai out,” she said.

“For me, this is the stepping stone that every upcoming artiste wishes to lay their feet on. For me, this marks the beginning of greater things to come and I have now firmly set my eyes on the regional and international market.”

Sasha said she believed that having her music likened to Mbuya Madhuve — her late aunt — and the late Chiwoniso Maraire could have influenced the organisers of the show to rope her in.

“Most people think that I fit into the gap left by auntie, Mbuya Madhuve. Others say I remind them of Chiwoniso Maraire. Others feel I am a Stella Chiweshe in the making. So it is this deep root in Zimbabwean traditional music that made the organisers rope me into the show,” she said.

“It’s an honour to be playing alongside Selmor Mtukudzi, Andy Muridzo, Diamond Musica, Tocky Vibes this Friday at the HICC.”

A product of Progress Chipfumo’s Sound of Motherland outfit, Sasha said there was a possibility of striking a collaboration with the South African outfit as her management works on a possible deal.

“The possibility of me doing a song with Mafikizolo is very much there as my management is already working on that and if all goes according to plan, by Christmas of next year you will be dancing to the tune,” she said.

Sasha said although she has been dominated by best performing artistes who are no push-overs, she has learnt the tricks of the game.

“My greatest secret is that I don’t consider myself a female artiste. I am just an artiste and this allows me to venture into venues that only males play at and also I easily fit into those venues (frequented) by female artistes,” she said.

BY FIDELITY MHLANGA

THE Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe (ICAZ) is set to unveil hyperinflation reporting (IAS29) implementation guidelines next week that will provide an index to use following the suspension of key data publication by Treasury.

Finance minister Mthuli Ncube in August scrapped the release of annualised inflation rate data until February next year.Consequently, the accounting profession is in a dilemma as to which index to use for hyperinflation reporting standard.

Already, the Public Accountants and Auditors Board has announced a broad market consensus to apply Financial Reporting in Hyperinflationary Economies Standard (IAS 29), in Zimbabwe.
The IAS 29 lists factors that indicate an economy is in a hyperinflationary cycle. One of the indicators of hyperinflation arises when cumulative inflation over a three-year period approaches, or is in excess of 100%.

When applying IAS 29, financial statements will have a two-fold balance sheet with one reflecting historical cost and the other one indicating an inflation-adjusted cost.

But to calculate the inflation-adjusted figure, accountants need an index that reflects the situation obtaining on the ground without misleading the market.

A balance sheet is a statement of the assets, liabilities, and capital of a business or other organisation at a particular point in time, detailing the balance of income and expenditure over the preceding period.

“Basically, the index is key because we hyper inflate the 2018 figures with a certain factor or index to make it comparable to 2019,” one chartered accountant said.At last week’s workshop, accountants discussed the pros and cons of using general price index and exchange rate as their key index.

They highlighted that using price index was noble as it was linked to inflation and also reflected change in general purchasing power.However, the deferment of year-on-year inflation figures was pointed out as a negative to the idea of employing general price index.

Using the exchange rate was also viewed as an alternative due to the fact that data is available day-on-day and as well, prices in Zimbabwe tend to move in line with the exchange rate.

“The implementation guideline which summarises what was presented at the workshop will be coming out next week,” ICAZ chief executive Gloria Zvaravanhu told NewsDay Business.

What makes the hyperinflation reporting adoption complex is that some chartered accountants are battling to comprehend the standard as it was never part of their syllabus during training insiders say.

Zimbabwe is listed on countries with projected three-year cumulative inflation rates exceeding 100% by the International Practices Task Force of the Centre for Audit Quality that monitors the status of “highly inflationary” countries.

The task force’s criteria for identifying such countries are similar to those for identifying “hyperinflationary economies” under IAS 29.

This is not the first time Zimbabwe has adopted hyperinflation reporting standard. In 2008 it resorted to the same before abandoning it after the adoption of the multi-currency system.
The Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency stopped publicising the inflation data then due to non-availability of price information.

BY FORTUNE MBELE

HIGHLANDERS coach Hendrikus Pieter de Jongh is confident that his team will reach the final of the Chibuku Super Cup ahead of their semi-final clash with bogey side ZPC Kariba at Barbourfields Stadium on Sunday.

ZPC Kariba will be the home side at Barbourfields Stadium.The draw for the semi-final was held in Harare on Monday and the venues were announced yesterday by the Premier Soccer League (PSL).

Like in the quarter-final where Highlanders were away to FC Platinum at their traditional home ground Emagumeni, the Bulawayo giants will also be away to ZPC Kariba on Sunday.
Ngezi Platinum Stars await the winner of the quarter-final tie between Harare City and Triangle at Rufaro Stadium today for the semi-final to be played on Saturday at Baobab Stadium, in a match they will be the away team in their own home ground.

According to the competition rules and regulations, it is the responsibility of the PSL secretariat to supervise general preparations and decide the competition format, fix the dates and venues of the matches and determine the match schedule and kick off times for the matches.

Following the draw that was held in Harare on Monday, De Jongh was quoted on the club’s official website saying the draw was fair and he was interested in knowing the venue.

“I think we are in a very good mood, the mood is good, the spirit of the players is high and this week we are looking forward to good training and good focus. We will work hard and hope we can go to the final. (It is a) very fair draw — against (ZPC) Kariba. It is now important to know very soon where the match will be played, which place, which stadium for preparation,” he said.

The Bulawayo giants were away for the first round of the competition against Dynamos at Rufaro in Harare, where they booted their perennial rivals out of the competition following a 1-0 win through a goal by Prince Dube.

In the quarter-finals, they were paired against FC Platinum, whom they beat 3-0 at BF on October 27 with Dube on target once more and the other goals coming from Denzel Khumalo and Tinashe Makanda.

De Jongh is wary of ZPC Kariba.“ZPC Kariba are a good team with good players. The last time we played them two weeks ago, we drew, which was a good game, especially in the second half. It’s not going to be an easy game,” he said.

“ZPC Kariba are on position four on the log, and eyeing the title or position two. However, this is a cup game, a cup game is different and it can produce any result.”

By Richard Muponde/ Harriet Chikandiwa

The trial of former Health minister David Parirenyatwa on charges of criminal abuse of office failed to continue yesterday after trial magistrate Elijah Makomo did not avail himself.
This is the second time that the trial has failed to take off due to Makomo’s absence.

Makomo’s whereabouts are unknown as the State and defence counsel said they had failed to get hold of him.The court, which was yesterday presided over by magistrate Hosea Mujaya, had to briefly adjourn for the pair to call Makomo with the help of the clerk of court, but they found no joy.Prosecutor Brian Vito later advised Mujaya that they could not locate Makomo and did not even know his whereabouts.

“We have not been in a position to get hold of magistrate Makomo. He advised us that he was in a meeting. In the circumstances, we request the court that the matter be postponed to November 19. May I also seek the court’s indulgence to liaise with magistrate Makomo and secure his attendance,” Vito submitted.

Mujaya accepted the prosecutor’s request and postponed the matter, before he advised that he would help try to secure Makomo’s attendance.He, however, indicated that it was not the duty of the court but an administrative matter.

Parirenyatwa, who was accompanied to court by his wife and son, is out of custody on $500 bail.The State claims that on June 4, 2018, the former minister ordered NatPharm board chairman George Washaya to terminate Flora Nancy Sifeku’s contract as managing director, saying that he required her services at the ministry’s headquarters in Harare.

He also allegedly directed Washaya to appoint Newman Madzikwa as acting managing director of NatPharm with effect from June 1, 2018.The board complied and the two were given six-month contracts with effect from June to November 30, 2018.

The prosecution said the two ended up receiving salaries at the same time and thus prejudicing the company of $30 000.