BY JAIROS SAUNYAMA

MDC Alliance councillor for Marondera Central, Charles Ngwena (36) and party activist Paul Chikuni (34) who allegedly freed a vendor who was arrested for selling bananas before instructing the police officers to arrest President Emmerson Mnanagwa instead for organising an anti-sanctions march, were yesterday arraigned before magistrate Patience Chirimo.

Before the court proceedings, the pair represented by human rights lawyer Tinashe Chinopfukutwa was initially charged for undermining the authority of the President, but the offence was altered to obstructing the course of justice.

They were, however, granted $100 bail and remanded to November 11 for trial.

Ngwena is a councillor for ward 4 in Marondera Central while Chikuni is a municipal police officer.

On October 23, at around midday, police officers identified as Constables Nyambisi, Mutiforo and Moyo all from ZRP Marondera Central were on patrol at Marondera Bus Terminus when they arrested Patrick Chabvata (31) who was selling bananas in a push cart.

It is alleged that while escorting Chabvata to the police station, the police officers passed by Ngwena and Chikuni who were in their Toyota Prado parked in central Marondera.

It is alleged that Ngwena shouted at the police officers in vernacular saying: “Mapurisa munopenga munosunga vanhu vanotambura endai munosunga Emmerson ari kuita ma anti-sanctions march (You police officers are insane. You are busy arresting poor people instead of arresting Emmerson who is organising anti-sanctions marches).

Chikuni allegedly disembarked from the vehicle and grabbed Chabvata’s push cart and pushed it away. The altercation attracted attention of passers-by who converged at the scene resulting in the police officers leaving, fearing for their safety.
Zihn Gozo represented the State.

BY SILAS NKALA/ STEPHEN CHADENGA

THE Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (Zipra) has said citizens should be wary of Zanu PF politicians who want to use them to access their looted wealth hidden in the West and Europe by hoodwinking impoverished masses into joining the anti-sanctions crusade.

Speaking to Southern Eye yesterday, Zipra Veterans Association spokesperson Buster Magwizi said people must not be misled that they were suffering because of sanctions.

He said citizens must apportion the blame on the same politicians who were architects of the repressive political environment and human rights violations.

“There are no sanctions in Zimbabwe. Those are targeted measures blocking the selfish politicians from accessing their looted wealth in those countries and now want to use us as their pressure groups to pile pressure on the West to remove those measures,” Magwizi said.

“We must not be seen demonstrating for the few individual politicians who have been destroying the country since 1980 and they now want us to assist them to be allowed to go and enjoy their loot.”

He said people should protest against cash shortages, and poverty wages and salaries which have been eroded by inflation.

“Just imagine that civil servants had their salaries increased recently and now they (salaries) are worthless. Prices have gone beyond reach. You can’t buy meat. Bread price has jumped up, we no longer eat bread. I do not remember when I last ate it,” Magwizi said.

“General citizens must demonstrate for the improvement of their livelihoods and pay, not for removal of sanctions. The event was a waste of time and resources.” He spoke in reference to last Friday’s countrywide anti-sanctions campaign.

Magwizi said the government must instead invest its energy in resolving economic and political problems through reforms.

He said those who attended the anti-sanctions march were lured by food handouts.

The Zipra spokesperson said President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s address to a near empty National Sports Stadium in Harare was a sign that people were now fed up with the Zanu PF leadership.

Human rights activist and political commentator Effie Ncube said the anti-sanctions march was typically a Zanu PF affair and a distraction from pressing bread and butter issues that government is failing to address.

“Most importantly, it exposed them for the weak organisation they are, an organisation that survives on corruption, patronage and rigging. It was a march on nothing and to nowhere that only succeeded in having State Security minister Owen Ncube added onto the sanctions list, a place he long deserved (to be),” he said.

“They got a reality check when the thousands of people they expected to come simply stayed at home. People now know that the problem is not sanctions as such, but corruption, maladministration and incompetence. While people might want sanctions lifted, they would rather have corruption and human rights abuses be stopped first.”

Ncube said only political and economic reforms would remove sanctions.

“Rule of law, democratic and accountable governance, free and fair elections, and abiding by the provisions of the Constitution that assure freedoms of expression, media, assembly and association is the only path to having sanctions lifted,” he said.

South Africa-based political activist and commentator Fortune Mlalazi said Mnangagwa should be diplomatic in tackling the sanctions issue.

“There is little of nothing that they achieved. They only achieved giving people chicken and chips which was not their major objective. It was one of the first times in which you will see very few people attending a national event organised by Zanu PF,” he said.

“It exposed the divisions and cracks within Zanu PF and the coup plotters in the army. They just exposed their weakness, they were supposed to take time and organise properly.”

Information secretary Ndavaningi Mangwana on Saturday described the march as successful, saying they hoped it drove the point home to the imposers of sanctions.

Meanwhile, Gweru residents yesterday slammed government for abusing school property at a time parents were struggling to fend for their school-going children.

Government used school buses in the Midlands capital to ferry marchers on Friday last week.

“As a parent, I feel it is not right for government to use school buses to ferry people to its functions,” an Ascot suburb parent, Nomsa Ncube, said.

“As parents, we struggle to pay levies and fees to buy school property and using such property for government or political party functions is just abuse.”

Another resident, James Dube, said: “We are talking of a march that is very controversial, with people forming different political opinions over the issue. What if some hooligans just decide to burn or stone the bus, does government have resources to compensate schools given the economic meltdown obtaining in the country?”

BY SPORTS REPORTER

FORMER Zimbabwe Olympic Committee (ZOC) chief excecutive Robert Mutsauki is set to bounce back in local athletics to spearhead a development programme being funded by Olympic Solidarity.

The aim of Olympic Solidarity is to organise assistance for all National Olympic Committees (NOCs), particularly those with the greatest need.

National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe (NAAZ) president Tendai Tagara revealed that Mutsauki, who is a former boss of the national athletics body, would facilitate the programme, which has been dubbed the Development of National Sport Structure (DNSS).

DNSS, according to Tagara, is a grant given to promising member federations that can be strengthened or capacitated to enhance performance.

Tagara expressed satisfaction on Mutsauki’s appointment and said this would see the rebirth of the association.

“The National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe enters a new era after securing support from the Olympic Solidarity. They have hired an expert to lead the process, in the name of Robert Mutsauki. This is part of our preparation for the next Olympic cycle. The objective is to see how best we can strengthen the organisation’s capacity to achieve better results,” he
said.

“The process will include consultation of stakeholders and our members, sponsors, athletes and athletes commission, officials, provincial executives, directors, the uniformed forces, clubs coaches, Nash (Nash National Association of Secondary Heads), Naph (Nash National Association of Primary Heads) and academies.”

Tagara added that the process had already started and will run until December and they were looking forward to start planning for the implication by January to coincide with the next Olympic cycle of 2021 to 2024.

Mutsauki, who began his career as a sprinter for the ZRP Athletics Club in 1982, was the president of the local athletics body when Zimbabwe transformed from being a minnow into one of the continental powerhouses on the athletics scene.

In 1986, the then Amateur Athletics Association of Zimbabwe (AAAZ) recommended Mutsauki to take up a 16-month sports scholarship at the University of Mainz, Germany, where he obtained an athletics coaching diploma.

Since then, Mutsauki grew in stature both as a coach and administrator, first being appointed the chief coach of the ZRP Athletics Club, before taking up the position of assistant sports director at the University of Zimbabwe.

Mutsauki was then appointed president of the then AAAZ in 1993, a position he held until 1997, before moving to the Sports and Recreation Commission, ZOC and — until 2014 — Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa, where he served as technical director.

The veteran administrator has also managed the Zimbabwe Olympic and Commonwealth Games teams.

In 2016, he was named manager of the first Refugee Olympic Team at that year’s Rio Games in Brazil.

BY SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

MANICA DIAMONDS . . . (1)1
ZPC KARIBA . . . . . . . . . .(1)2

MANICA Diamonds failed to capitalise on their home advantage which sent them crashing out of the prestigious Chibuku Super Cup following a quarter-final match defeat by ZPC Kariba.

The defeat at Vengere Stadium yesterday dealt a major blow to the Johannes Nhumwa-coached side who were eyeing their first silverware in the top-flight league in their maiden season in the Premiership.

Manica Diamonds had a golden opportunity to take the match to a penalty shootout, but former Buffaloes player Takunda Jeffrey succumbed to pressure and missed a late penalty during regulation time.

The home side had gotten off to a brilliant start when they opened the scoring through Stanley Ngala in the 13th minutes before Goodwill Gwara levelled terms just after the hour mark.

After the teams went to the break deadlocked at one goal apiece, ZPC Kariba took the lead two minutes after the restart after James Marufu scored from the spot.

Nhumwa, who was recently named coach of the month for September, said his team’s focus was now to stay in the Premier Soccer League.

“It was a bad day in office for us today, but tough luck to my boys. We missed some good chances, but it is part of football. We are now focusing on the league as we want to end the season on a high note and possibly on a good position,” he said.

His counterpart Godfrey Tamirepi was happy after storming into the last four of the tournament.

“It was a good result for us. We are going to continue to fight in this tournament and see what will happen. The boys played according to the game plan, especially after losing 1-0 here a few weeks back,” he said.

sport reporter

LONDON — Zimbabwe-born British heavyweight boxer Derek Chisora battered his way back to the fringe of world heavyweight title contention with a relentless brutalising of Davd Price.

The salvo lasted for three rounds and two minutes, long enough to sink Price to his unfulfilled career knees. Albeit not the single massive blow which he has been undergoing at key moments earlier in his career.

Price had weathered a series of massive right hands from the start and it took a double whammy to put him down in the fourth, an uppercut and a hook.

Still he was able to drag that huge frame upright but referee Howard Foster was alarmed. Even as he asked Price if he was alright to continue —and doubting the nodding response — Price’s cornermen threw in the towel.

The end of the road, perhaps, for Price but a corner turned for Chisora.

His manager and former heavyweight champion David Haye said: “There is a now good chance of Dereck getting a world title shot next year as one of two of the belts fall vacant.”

Chisora made his entrance as usual with his face concealed by a red, white and blue Union flag under a white hood to match his embossed robe.

Price, of course, was in red.

Chisora, befitting his new pseudonym, went on the attack from the start, clearly winning the first even though he charged into three or four meaty punches from Price late in the round.

Chisora was warned twice for low blows, one so low it might have performed a cartilage operation on Price’s knee.

No doubt to the surprise of Chisora and most of the audience, Price absorbed a succession of huge rights in the third, any one of which might have put him down and perhaps out in the past.

More of the same in the fourth proved too much, too heavy, too redolent of serious harm.

Price finally went down from a pair of rights — uppercut and hook. Gamely he rose to his fight and referee Foster was debating whether to call a halt when the white towel came fluttering across the ring. — Daily Mail

sport reporter

YOKOHAMA — The Springboks will play England in the Rugby World Cup final after Handre Pollard scored 14 points to steer Rassie Erasmus’ team to a hard-fought 19-16 victory over Wales in Yokohama on Sunday.

Pollard nervelessly kicked the decisive penalty with four minutes to go, as the tense game threatened to go to extra time with the scores locked at 16-16.

“We’re in the final of the World Cup… but that’s only half way there. We’d love to win the World Cup,” South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus said.

“We play a classy England team in the final now, but we’re there. We’ve got a chance now and we might go all the way. You never know.”

It was a true battle of the boot as the 1995 and 2007 World Cup champions ground out a victory that consigned Wales to their third tournament semi-final defeat after previous losses in 2011 and 1987.

“It wasn’t our day, but I’m still proud to pull this jersey on and represent all the people in this stadium,” said Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones, who was close to tears.

The two teams played out a dreadful first half of rugby dominated by turgid set-piece, crash balls and aerial combat as both sides kicked the leather off the ball.

There was none of the verve shown by England in their gripping 19-7 victory over New Zealand on Saturday, but the slowed rhythm suited the Springboks and their giant pack of forwards, reprising the tactics they also employed in their 26-3 quarter-final victory over Japan.

Bok scrumhalf Faf de Klerk showed a spark of flamboyance at the very start of the game, darting down the shortside from a scrum and chipping ahead, George North just doing enough to cover on the bounce.

But any glimmer of bright, attacking rugby quickly faded amid a first quarter mired by never-ending scrum resets and poor kicking.

When Justin Tipuric failed to roll away, Pollard stepped up and made no mistake with a simple first penalty, quickly neutralised by Dan Biggar when Willie Le Roux strayed offside, before the Bok flyhalf got his second after a Welsh scrum wheeled.

Aerial ping-pong resumed, Wales scrumhalf Gareth Davies eventually spilling a ball to hand the Boks advantage, as the first “Mexican Wave” rippled around the stadium on 25 minutes to rival the action on the pitch.

Wales came pouring in at the side of a driving maul and Pollard made no mistake with his third penalty.

Welsh woes continued as tighthead prop Tomas Francis, the most used player by Gatland since the last World Cup with 41 Tests played, injured his shoulder in a tackle on Duane Vermeulen from the restart.

One of Gareth Davies’ many box kicks almost came to fruition as Biggar fielded and offloaded to North, but the rare sortie into Bok territory was ended by a smart tap-tackle by the ubiquitous de Klerk.

North, clutching a leg, followed Francis off the pitch as Biggar kicked his second penalty after Aaron Wainwright was taken out off the ball to make it 9-6 at half-time, both teams shuffling off the pitch in front of a subdued arena.

Biggar levelled the scores with his third penalty early in the second period, before Damian de Allende finally broke the try-scoring deadlock.

The Bok centre shrugged off a weak challenge by Biggar and fended off Owen Watkin and Tomos Williams for a fine individual five-pointer that Pollard converted.

With 20 minutes to play Wales spurned a shot at goal to go for deep lineout. The maul was thwarted, but the Welsh went through multiple phases and were eventually awarded another penalty in front of the posts, electing to go for the scrum.

The bold decision, made to gasps from the crowd, paid off as Ross Moriarty managed to get the ball to Tomos Williams, who fed Jonathan Davies, the centre’s instantaneous pass finding Josh Adams, who crossed in the corner for his sixth try of this World Cup.

Halfpenny hit the conversion to put the scores level and with Wales suddenly in the ascendancy.

But Rhys Patchell and Pollard both missed with ambitious drop-goal attempts before the latter kicked his crucial fourth penalty to eliminate Wales and set up a final against England on Saturday.
—AFP

BY CHARLES LAITON

THE late former President Robert Mugabe has been posthumously sucked into the Ndanga chieftainship wrangle after the ex-President in 2017 installed Wilson Makono as Zaka district’s Chief Ndanga, defying advice from clan members.

Mugabe was dethroned exactly eight months after confirming Makono’s appointment as Chief Ndanga.

Clan head, Abias Chigwagwa said before Makono’s installation he petitioned Mugabe and then Local Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere after the local district administrator erroneously handpicked Makono for the chieftainship, but his pleas were ignored.

“Before and after his (Makono) appointment by the (then) President (Mugabe) himself as chief, based on the erroneous belief that due process of law had been followed; I tried to stop his installation and seek his removal from the position of chief by petitioning the President, writing to the (then) minister (Kasukuwere), as well as to the provincial assembly of chiefs to no avail,” Chigwagwa said in his affidavit.

After his advice was ignored, Chigwagwa then referred the matter to the High Court which recently gave current Local Government minister July Moyo, the provincial assembly of chiefs and national chiefs council a 30-day ultimatum to resolve the Ndanga chieftainship wrangle.

Justice Clement Phiri’s order came after Moyo, Masvingo provincial assembly of chiefs and the representatives of the national chiefs council failed to turn up in court despite being served with court papers.

“The respondents (Minister of Local Government Public Works and National Housing, provincial assembly of chiefs and the national council of chiefs) are hereby compelled to facilitate dispute resolution to the Ndanga chieftainship clan in terms of section 283 (a) (i) and (ii) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, 2013 within a month of service of this order upon them,” Justice Phiri said.

In his founding affidavit, Chigwagwa submitted that he was the clan leader and responsible for submitting details of the suitable candidate for the chieftainship.

“The district administrator, however, chose and forwarded Wilson Makono’s name as the potential chief-to-be, acting on his own and not as submitted by myself, yet I am the head of the clan and family tree record keeper,” Chigwagwa said.

“In addition, the process done by the DA in appointing Wilson Makono as chief was improper since my family, as the custodian of the Ndanga chieftainship process, was not consulted or given an opportunity to have a say at the meeting.”

Chigwagwa added that Makono was not a member of the Ndanga clan and had no right to assume the chieftainship.

by sport reporter

MUNICH — Robert Lewandowski (pictured) became the first Bundesliga player to score in his club’s first nine matches of the season as Bayern Munich went top of the table with a 2-1 win over Union Berlin.

The Poland striker scored his 19th goal of the season early in the second half to double Bayern’s advantage, after Benjamin Pavard’s first-half opener.

Sebastian Polter pulled a goal back for Union Berlin, but Bayern held on.

Elsewhere, Borussia Dortmund went third after a goalless draw with Schalk Bayern’s win moves them one point above Freiburg, who moved up to second after beating RB Leipzig 2-1. Borussia Monchengladbach and Wolfsburg can return to the top two places if they win their games on Sunday.

This year, no other player has scored more goals for their club than Lewandowski, with this latest strike taking his tally for 2019 to 37 in as many appearances. That is more than Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappe.

The winner against Union Berlin beats the previous Bundesliga scoring record set by current Arsenal forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who scored in each of the first eight games of the 2015-16 season.

In total, the 31-year-old has scored 19 goals in his 14 appearances in all competitions this campaign, including in each of Bayern’s past 13 games. His only blank came in the 2-0 defeat by Dortmund in the German Super Cup back on August 3.

He even scored a hat-trick for Poland in a Euro 2020 qualifier against Latvia earlier this month.
—BBC Sport