BY SIBONGINKOSI MAPHOSA

SECESSIONIST Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP) and the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) have accused the opposition Zapu of hijacking and personalising protests over unfair recruitment of student nurses at Mpilo Central Hospital.

The nursing school reportedly recruited 90% of its students from Harare, in the process sidelining local applicants.The three groups on Monday last week staged a joint sit-in at the nursing school, demanding the authorities to address the anomaly.

MRP and BPRA were, however, left out of the closed-door meetings held by Mpilo executives and Zapu.MRP executive member Mbonisi Gumbo claimed that before the sit-in, they had agreed that none of the parties would wear party regalia, but Zapu members defied the directive.

“It is very unfortunate to note that Zapu, which calls itself a national party, to be seen competing with us (MRP), a regional party. Prior to that sit-in at Mpilo, we had a meeting with Zapu, BPRA and other civic societies strategising on how we were going to go about the sit-in,” Gumbo said.

“Zapu representative Ndodana Moyo suggested that we should not wear party regalia, but surprisingly they came to Mpilo wearing their party T-shirts, a move that we feel was wrong because we had all agreed on what they had suggested.”

Gumbo accused Zapu of trying to gain political mileage during the sit-in.“Zapu is trying to gain political mileage in wrong places and by doing so they are downplaying us as MRP; mind you, we are the ones who initiated this move. We came to Mpilo three months ago to question the issue of the recruitment of prospective nurses. Civic organisations joined us and Zapu came last, but now they want to act as if they are the ones at the forefront,” Gumbo said.

BPRA health secretary Marble Ngwenya, said Zapu should stop politicking at wrong places.“We are not happy because what is happening here right now is not what we had agreed on, right now (on Monday) Zapu is coming out of a closed-door meeting with Mpilo management, leaving us behind. That was not the strategy, Zapu has a problem,” Ngwenya said.

Contacted for comment, Zapu deputy national organising secretary, Ndodana Moyo said they had earlier visited the hospital in their civilian clothes and were turned down because they failed to identify themselves as Zapu members.

“Well, I understand MRP’s concerns, but we had a reason why we wore our party T-shirts. During our first attempt, we were turned away because we failed to identify ourselves, so the only way was to put on our party T-shirts and we did not have bad intentions,” Moyo said.

He asked the MRP to stop being cry-babies because on the day in question they brought banners that bore their party name.“MRP must desist from being cry-babies, on Monday they brought their banners which had their party name. That is a form of party regalia, so can we as Zapu question as to why they had their banners?” Moyo asked.

BY PRECIOUS CHIDA

TOP stand-up comedian Carl Joshua Ncube says there is more to Zimbabwe than President Emmerson Mnangagwa and MDC leader Nelson Chamisa who tend to dominate news headlines about the country.

The jester who has since branded himself as a professional speaker told NewsDay Life & Style on Friday, ahead of a trip to Mexico next month, that it was important for the world to understand the country from a Zimbabwean perspective.

Ncube, who will feature at the International Festival of the Bright Minds in Pueblo, said it was important for locals to tell their own story and his presentation — dubbed Tell Your Own Story or Someone Else Will — will allow people to understand that there were more interesting things beyond Mnangagwa and Chamisa.

The comedian said the festival was an opportunity to tell a different story about Zimbabwe, which has become known for power struggles.“It’s important for people to not only understand facts, but they must also be given context. Zimbabwe is not MDC or Zanu PF, neither is it Mnangagwa or Chamisa. There are so many other interesting facts about it so I want to tell the world about my beautiful country,” he said.

Running under the theme This is Epic, the fiesta invites “bright minds” from around the globe to share ideas and discuss topical issues.Ncube, who has featured at Technology, Entertainment and Design Conferences — now popularly known as TED Talks — said he felt honoured to be recognised as a speaker at such a big festival.

“When I did my second TED talk this year at TED Summit in Edinburgh, the organisers of this conference saw me and immediately made the enquiry to bring me to Mexico,” he said.
“It’s really amazing. I am so happy that my career as an international speaker is getting this kind of recognition. I am a person full of ideas and excited to share this with the world.”

Ncube said although he had been branded “crazy comedian” back home, he was happy that his ideas were appreciated so much outside Zimbabwe.Organisers of the Pueblo festival have said the festival will fuse comedy, film and debates on different topics that are affecting the international society.

“Attendees are going to watch the award-winning short-film Skin, feel the hours in space, question the validity of abortion, discover the ingenuity in children. We want you to join us and recover your ability to be amazed, to continue smiling with comedy brought all the way from Africa, and above all, to discover new definitions of what it means to be epic,” they said.

Ncube broke into the Zimbabwean comedy scene with his debut one-man show Carl Joshua Ncube’s Big Announcement, setting himself up to become the country’s finest jester. He broke onto the international scene following his move to South Africa.

NewsDay

Southern African countries have joined calls from the Zimbabwe government for the sanctions to be lifted, saying they’re damaging the region’s economy.
So why are sanctions in place and what impact are they having?

The United States and the European Union (EU) have both maintained sanctions, citing a lack of progress in democratic and human rights reforms as well as restrictions on Press freedoms.
They target both specific individuals and companies.

United States financial and travel restrictions currently apply to 85 individuals, including President Emmerson Mnangagwa.There are also 56 companies or organisations facing restrictions.

“We have sanctions against certain individuals and certain corporations… not against the country of Zimbabwe. There is nothing to stop US businesses from investing in Zimbabwe, from going to Zimbabwe,” says US assistant secretary of State on African Affairs Tibor Nagy.

Washington says the economic impact is mostly on farms and companies owned by these designated individuals.The US also imposed a ban on arms exports to Zimbabwe.
EU sanctions also target specific individuals both within the Zimbabwean government and associated with it.

Travel restrictions and a freeze on assets have been imposed, along with the sale of military hardware and equipment which might be used for internal repression.

Originally imposed during the era of the late former President Robert Mugabe, these sanctions were reviewed earlier this year and have been extended until February 2020.
The EU says these restrictions have no impact on the economy of the country.

Zimbabwe’s economy has faced deep economic crises over the past few years with periods of hyperinflation rendering the local currency worthless.Once again this year Zimbabwe has been reeling from high levels of inflation as well as severe shortages of fuel, power and water.

Recent economic data suggests Zimbabwe’s economy has recently been shrinking as measured by gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, the average economic output per person.
Are sanctions to blame?

The government of Zimbabwe has regularly blamed the dire economic performance on sanctions, and its neighbours in the southern African region are concerned about the impact Zimbabwe’s worsening economic crisis is having on the region.

But there’s little evidence to suggest that US and EU sanctions are responsible for Zimbabwe’s troubles.The US blames the crisis on what an official described as “catastrophic mismanagement” of the economy.

The EU also points to economic policies, a poorly carried out land reforms programme, drought and the HIV/Aids pandemic.Data from 1980 to 2015 shows no evidence that sanctions had a negative effect on formal employment and poverty, says Carren Pindiriri, a lecturer at the Department of Economics, University of Zimbabwe.

For its part, the Zimbabwean government argues that sanctions have cost the country billions of dollars.“You can’t say sanctions are targeted when you specify 56 of the biggest companies in Zimbabwe. What is left?” Information permanent secretary Ndavaningi Mangwana says.

When Mugabe was forced from office in 2017, two United Nations human rights experts supported calls for the lifting of sanctions.

They said the measures could not be said to be “limited” or “targeted”, as the people and companies affected represented the vast majority of the economy.

“Zimbabwe’s economy is heavily concentrated in particular sectors, and sanctions on only a few people or companies can have a devastating impact.”
— BBC

BY FREEMAN MAKOPA

AFRO-JAZZ songstress Selmor Mtukudzi has disclosed that working with celebrated South African producer and her late father’s long-time friend Steve Dyer on her new album, was a turning point to her career.

The yet-to-be titled album, a dedication to the late national hero and music superstar Oliver Mtukudzi, will be released on January 31 next year.

“It was quite an experience working with such a legend (Dyer) who has done great works for Africa. We learnt a lot. It’s high time we treat music as a business in Zimbabwe. One of the lessons learnt from him was professionalism,” she said.

“Artistes must be time conscious, passionate about their work and must respect their fans. That’s what Steve is. If he says I will pick you at 9am, five minutes before, he will be waiting.”

Selmor also described the experience as “a turning point” for the heiress to the Tuku music throne.“As much as I’ve released other works before, this is my first. It will be my first album in the driver’s seat of my father’s music legacy. In such circumstances, imagine recording with the man who changed my father’s fortunes,” she said.

She said although Tuku had produced a string of albums before the magic tag-team with Dyer, it was the latter’s magical touch on Tuku Music that redefined Tuku as a musician.

“This means a lot to me, that feeling of being in the right hands and that feeling of being in the studio that changed Tuku’s life was enough motivation,” she said.She said she learnt that good lyrics, vocals, instrument arrangement and production defined enduring music.

Dyer was behind the resuscitation of Tuku’s music career after he produced the album Tuku Music in 1999 in a move facilitated by his former manager Debbie Metcalfe.

BY SIMBARASHE SITHOLE

THEY call him the “Crochet Master” in Mvurwi and outlying areas, where his hair crocheting style is highly rated.But Misheck Marezva (pictured) is your everyday, next-door kind of guy — popular, skilful and yet unassuming. Others know him as Elder Mwendaz a praise name derived from his Mhofu, Mwendamberi totem.

Having developed interest in crocheting way back in 1993 as a primary school pupil in Harare, it has become his source of income, and he is proud of the work he does — making sure he crowns his female customers’ hair into some fine coiffure.

Marezva said while he makes a decent living through his hair dressing skill, he also does some subsistence farming. “I developed an interest in handling the crochet hook when I was 11 in 1993 while doing Grade 5 at Warren Park 1 Primary School,” he said.

“I am fending for my family and my parents through that although l have also beefed it up with subsistence farming, but the capital came from hair dressing.”The hair stylist revealed that his mother was his first source of inspiration.

“My mother was good at crocheting doilies which she sold, and l liked it so much that I developed an interest,” he recalled.Marezva discounted claims that crocheting was a largely female profession, saying most women hairdressers focused on weave braiding.

“This is not a feminine profession as such, because most women do weaves. What I am doing is, in fact, mainly done by men in Zimbabwe,” he said.He admitted that he was popular with especially female customers because he had a “firmer touch” that gives a hairstyle at the major longer shelf life.

But he was also quick to add that he has invested in his hairdressing skill and that was the major drawcard for customers.Marezva said although he did not receive any professional training in hairdressing, he received a little training from his mother, Juliet Marezva. And spending a lot of time in the saloon in early childhood also developed his fascination with hair, and the many elaborate things that could be done with it.

“There was no formal training as such, but I was trained by my mother at a tender age and I would also spend most of my time in saloons observing hair dressers doing it and l captured it. The hair stylist explained some of the “rituals” that accompany hair-dressing, with different head shapes determining the type of style that would be a perfect fit, some of which he “downloads” from the internet.

Marezva, however, said he was not dictatorial, but there had to be agreement with the customer on the appropriate hairstyle.“I consider people’s heads and come up with a suitable style. At times l refer to the internet so as to match contemporary hair styles, but we do it through consensus with the client,” he said. He added that while he was able to do almost every kind of hairstyle requested by the customer, his specialties lay in the basket, marijuana leaf and choga styles. The father of three said he normally works on between three and four clients per day and his wife is also a paying client.

BY MTHANDAZO NYONI

THE African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement is a reality and Zimbabwe should move swiftly and start preparing for it now, lest it losses out to other continental powerhouses, industry officials have warned.

To date, 27 countries, including Zimbabwe, have ratified AfCFTA meant to create strong economic integration on the continent by forming a single continental market.

It is also one of the largest free trade areas since the formation of the World Trade Organisation, given Africa’s population of 1,2 billion people, which is expected to grow to 2,5 billion by 2050. The AfCFTA agreement also has the potential to foster industrialisation and deepen regional value chains.

Speaking during the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) trade and investment conference in Bulawayo last week, industry officials said there was need for all economic players in the country to gear up for AfCFTA.

“It has been written and all of us we are able to read and interpret. This thing is kicking in come July 2020. There is no reverse and if you look at what other countries are doing, African countries, countries that used to come and learn from Zimbabwe, they are moving and they are sprinting while we are watching,” ZNCC president Tamuka Macheka said.

“We are better off pulling our socks now and start running. Otherwise we will be left behind and it’s only a few months to go before that happens,” he said.

Bulawayo City Council financial director Kimpton Ndimande urged businesses operating in the local authority to be pro-active.

“You call for a meeting, they don’t come. I think we need to address the issue of attitude in Bulawayo,” he said, citing their recent snubbing of the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (Zupco) scheme.

An official from Trade and Development Bank, Morciad Chaparira said Zimbabwe should identify products needed by African countries and start producing them in preparation for the AfCFTA.
“We need to know what the world needs and start producing those,” he said.

Other delegates felt Zimbabwe should just focus on products and services where it has a comparative advantage in.Industry and Commerce deputy minister Raj Modi told businesses that government had started implementing the Zimbabwe national industrial development policy.

“As you may be aware, government recently launched the Zimbabwe national industrial development policy (2019-2023) (ZNIDP) under the theme Towards Investment, Innovation and Export-Led Industrialisation,” he said.

Modi said the ZNIDP seeks to leverage on the momentum gained during the implementation of the industrial development policy (2012-2016).“The policy is now being implemented to ensure that we achieve growth and competitiveness in the industrial sector,” he said.

Modi added that the policy was aimed towards transforming Zimbabwe into an upper middle economy by 2030 and will respond to regional, continental and global developments.

“The structural economic transformation towards industry is critical for the sustained economic growth and development of Zimbabwe. The main challenges stifling growth include antiquated machinery and equipment, lack of affordable and long-term financing for industry, for exchange shortages to procure raw materials, high utility costs and competitiveness, among others,” he said.

ZNIDP also seeks to facilitate the sustainable growth of industry, development of new industries and the transformation and diversification of the Zimbabwean industry.

For instance, the policy targets to achieve a manufacturing sector growth rate of at least 2% per annum; contributing towards attainment of a gross domestic savings rate of at least 30% of GDP; manufacturing value-added growth of 16% per annum; merchandise export rate of 10% per annum to orient the manufacturing sector toward exports and generate capital for a high savings rate; and increasing the manufacturing sector share of employment to 20% by 2023.

guest column

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration this week continued its trajectory of outdoing itself in economic mismanagement when it announced that it is going to double what it paid farmers who delivered their maize before it reviewed the producer price upwards to $4 000 from $2 100 per tonne.

The unexpected and unbudgeted “windfall” to farmers could be a way to deflect attention from the maize import scandal that was broken by international media that Zimbabwe was buying maize at an inflated price of US$600/tonne from Tanzania. The import price that is being paid by the Mnangagwa administration is double the prevailing international maize price.

However, that is beside the point. Mnangagwa has been on record saying Command Agriculture was his brainchild. The murky agriculture financing scheme is driven by Mnangagwa’s adviser Kudakwashe Tagwirei through Sakunda Holdings.

Sakunda, for the second year running, is getting a free US$3 billion to fund agriculture, primarily the production of maize and soyabeans. However, the project, aside of the funding mechanisms, has failed dismally to provide a solution to Zimbabwe’s food security concerns.

The country this year has already sent out an appeal to the international community for food aid to feed 5,2 million people who are food insecure and of this number 2,3 million are from urban areas.

The government has been on record that food insecurity was a result of drought and Cyclone Idai, but new empirical evidence produced by the latest Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report on Zimbabwe shows that our government has been doing everything wrong.

“Productivity in the agriculture sector remains relatively low with national average of less than one tonne per hectare for maize compared to Zambia’s 2,5 tonnes/ha and South Africa’s five tonnes/ha. This low level of productivity is common across all other crops and even livestock production,” the EIU report says.

This is beyond poor management in our agriculture. It is shocking that after pouring in US$3 billion, our farmers need to crop an astonishing two million hectares of land only on maize so that we could meet self-sufficiency at the current rate of production.

I am not sure how many other millions of hectares of land would be needed for soyabeans to produce enough edible oils, how many other millions of hectares would be needed to produce enough beef and dairy products for Zimbabweans, let alone exports? It may mean Zimbabwe invading its neighbours Mozambique, Zambia and South Africa for extra land. Deliberately, I left out Botswana because it is mostly a desert anyway.

The EIU further argues: “Factors behind low productivity include low skills by farmers, low levels of mechanisation, use of inappropriate farming methods and farmer absenteeism from the plots and farms. To improve this, the 2020 National Budget should address the effectiveness of extension workers, including their mobility to improve knowledge transfusion to communal farmers.”

This sounds very good advice. We have heard it before and it was implemented in a manner that benefitted the political elites. Under the late former President Robert Mugabe, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe procured farming implements worth US$298 million under the farm mechanisation programme.

The implements that included high-tech tractors, boom sprays, combine harvesters, trailers, water bowsers, disc harrows and ploughs were distributed in an opaque manner. There is no existing list of the beneficiaries and poor Zimbabweans are carrying the can after Parliament passed the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Debt Assumption Act.

Concerns over farmer absenteeism and lack of extension services have been raised on a number of occasions with no immediate solution being found. It is high time we were frank with each other; those senior civil servants who want to be farmers should simply tender their resignation letters and go farming full-time. Mnangagwa should have a spine to release the Charles Utete land audit on multiple farm owners. Any excess land held should be distributed to real farmers who are prepared to stick it out on the land. The honeymoon for pseudo farmers should end.

Agribank, formerly Agriculture Finance Corporation, must be capacitated and do what it used to do during the Rhodesian era or soon after independence. Farmers should simply be given title to land and get loans using their land as collateral. Real farmers would borrow and not depend on direct subsidies like the present scenario. Government should only guarantee markets for farmers’ produce not this brazen and primitive accumulation that is ongoing under the guise of Command Agriculture.

Instead of guaranteeing Sakunda unlimited access to Treasury Bills and further plunging the country into debt, Finance minister Mthuli Ncube should start the process of capacitating agricultural colleges and extension services so that they can impart knowledge to “new” farmers on new seed varieties and management.

I may have rumbled a bit, but let me wrap by boldly stating that Mnangagwa should discontinue Command Agriculture. He should move in and not only release the names of RBZ farm mechanisation programme beneficiaries, but also make them pay. The Utete report should be made public and all those with multiple farms should lose them and real farmers get on the land.

We know it’s fashionable to be neo-liberals, but certainly Zimbabweans should not allow socialism for the rich, a small political elite and its cronies milking the State dry, through free land, free inputs, free implements and their debts being taken over by the State. Agriculture remains Zimbabwe’s quick route to economic recovery if done properly; and the bad guys are weeded out. Peace!

Some of the crowd enjoy their meals at the National Sports Stadium yesterday

BY Everson Mushava/Tapiwa Zivira

OUTSIDE the monumental National Sports Stadium, the gravity of the chaos was clearly visible as it turned out that the commotion was not about people jostling to get into the stadium, but rather to get a box of two pieces of chicken, chips and a drink.

In the end, their motivation — spurred on by hunger — was to get more food, so they remained outside in the winding queue, which invited the intervention of police officers.

Even well after the presidential motorcade had driven into the stadium with the usual display of opulence, people chose to stay outside and queue for the food instead, paying no regard to the proceedings inside the stadium.

Then an announcement was made, that the serving of food be suspended so that people would get into the stadium to follow proceedings.

But the majority remained outside, like vultures waiting for the moment food hand-outs would resume, leading to running battles with police on horse back.

The proceedings inside the stadium did not seem to matter.

“This is a great day, I last ate Chicken Slice many years ago because of the cost, but today, because the President has called us to march against sanctions, we are eating the meat. Everything is good now,” one elderly woman said.

She was brandishing her Chicken Slice box full of potato chips with her left hand, while the right clasped a Pepsi drink, an American product, the country targeted by the anti-sanctions march.

While the woman was glad to finally eat fried chicken from a fast-food outlet, Mnangagwa and his team made a grand entrance into the stadium in the latest luxury vehicles.

Inside the giant stadium that the anti-sanctions march failed to fill, even Mnangagwa’s Kutonga Kwaro routine dance failed to rouse the crowd.

Far from the proceedings, in most parts of Harare, it appeared like any other holiday, with people going about their business.

And the march was, of course, a subject of discussion among many who either professed ignorance or contempt for the whole thing.

In fact, many, including those who took part, did not seem to understand what sanctions are and how they were impacting their lives.

“Sanctions are about fuel, they sell to us at very high prices because we are under sanctions. When the fuel comes, they make us sell it in bond notes whose value they are destroying,” Munyaradzi Chitima, from Harare South, said.

BY Everson Mushava

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa was yesterday left red-faced after only 7 000 people turned up for his much-hyped anti-sanctions march.

Zimbabweans, battling skyrocketing prices, rising inflation and low pay, snubbed the march against the West to remove sanctions imposed in 2001.

The giant National Sports Stadium, which has a seating capacity of 60 000, was sparsely occupied as even some of the people bussed from outside Harare opted to fight over freebies, which included T-shirts and food, which were being dished outside the venue.

In the run up to the march, Zanu PF party and government officials demanded that schoolchildren be released to take part in the march, while Mnangagwa declared a national holiday to facilitate attendance.

Mnangagwa is struggling to deal with Zimbabwe’s worst economic crisis in a decade, with the country enduring rolling power cuts of up to 18 hours daily and shortages of foreign exchange, fuel and medicines.

The European Union (EU) and United States imposed financial and travel bans on top Zanu PF and top figures for alleged human rights abuses and electoral fraud in 2001. The EU has since removed the embargo.

In the days leading to the march, most government workers were being threatened to attend and that registers would be marked at the protest.

Some buses deployed to pick up participants from various areas across the country came back empty after people snubbed them, with one 75-seater bus coming with seven passengers from Mvurwi in Mashonaland Central.

“We were 32 passengers on the bus from Mvurwi, but the second bus only had seven people on board,” said one participant who requested anonymity.

“We were being threatened with being denied inputs for this year’s agricultural season if we failed to come to Harare for the anti-sanctions march.”

Addressing the participants, who marched from Robert Mugabe Square to the stadium, Mnangagwa thanked people “from all walks of life who came in such large numbers to mark this important day.”

He said the sanctions had caused untold suffering to the ordinary people and were perpetuating the cycle of poverty in the country.

“Thank you Sadc by standing by us and for speaking with one voice at the 74th Session of the UN General Assembly. We also say thank you to the African Union and progressive world, for supporting us during these difficult years in the history of our economy,” Mnangagwa said.

He claimed that the sanctions were a reaction to the land reform programme.

“Ours was a fight to reunite the people with their land and the land with its people, which promise we fulfilled during the land reform exercise. However, this had dire consequences, and led to the imposition of the illegal and unjustified sanctions by the European Union and the United States of America.”

He said the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act, passed in 2001, prohibits Zimbabwean entities from doing business with the US and denies the country access to international lines of credit from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank as well development finance.

“Zidera has blocked Zimbabwe’s access to international credit markets, leading to the drying up of traditional sources of external finance,” he said, adding that the negative perception created by the embargoes denied the country foreign inflows.

Mnangagwa claimed that his government had taken deliberate steps to make political and economic reforms.

“The far-reaching implications on Sadc’s ability to achieve its collective targets in the social, economic and financial spheres cannot be ignored. This is the reality of these sanctions. No amount of propaganda can spin or sugar-coat this gruesome truth.”

He said government programmes such as Command Agriculture, which is at the centre of a US$3 billion scandal, would be used to mitigate the impact of sanctions.

But the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee has accused Mnangagwa’s regime of trying to hide its failures by hiding behind sanctions.

The committee’s chairman, Senator Jim Risch said Mnangagwa’s government should instead focus on improving its governance record.

“Responsibility for the current political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe falls solely on the ruling regime that has governed the country for decades. If Zimbabwe’s leaders put as much time, financial resources, and effort into delivering on their long-promised reforms as they have in distorting facts and organising ‘anti-sanctions’ campaigns, Zimbabweans would not continue to suffer under the dire economic and humanitarian conditions they face today. The US does not sanction people without just cause — sanctions are a response to malign activity,” said Risch in a Press release on Thursday night.

In Gweru, businesses and informal traders yesterday operated as usual while at Kudzanai long-distance bus terminus, traders completely ignored the march which was led by Midlands Provincial Affairs minister Larry Mavhima.

A crowd of people bussed from mainly Chiwundura, Lower Gweru, Mkoba and peri-urban areas surrounding the city constituted the majority of the marchers.

Riot police maintained heavy presence during the march.

Traffic police had a torrid time trying to stop motorists from moving into the central business district ahead of the march as the drivers insisted they wanted to carry out their daily business operations.

At the venue of the anti-sanctions march, affiliates of Zanu PF like war veterans gave solidarity messages and Mavhima later read Mnangagwa’s speech.

In Manicaland, very few people took to the streets for the march despite reports of some shops being forced to close by suspected Zanu PF activists to mobilise demonstrators.

The march started late after a vain wait for participants.

However, addressing journalists after the gathering, Manicaland Provincial Affairs minister Ellen Gwaradzimba defended the low turnout, saying people were still learning the importance of the day.

“It is not a bad start, it (demonstrations) started late. People are still in the process of learning the importance of the day. It was quite a sizeable crowd, but it started late. At the same time, I can’t really complain,” she said.

The march in Bulawayo was a non-event, with very few people bothering to turn up at White City Stadium despite the provision of cheap transport to the venue.

Bulawayo Metropolitan Affairs minister Judith Ncube read Mnangagwa’s speech, which was attended by Industry deputy minister Raj Modi, Zanu PF central committee member Angeline Masuku, Zanu PF politburo member Absalom Sikhosana and former Makokoba legislator Tshinga Dube, among others.

The regional Southern African Development Community rallied behind Zimbabwe’s call for an end to sanctions.

Attendance was much better at the South African side of the Beitbridge border post, where African National Congress secretary-general Ace Magashule.

He addressed about 1 000 members of the party from the Limpopo province who braved the heat for the march.

Magashule said sanctions against Zimbabwe were hurting the entire region and liberation movements ruling Sadc countries would rally behind the country to have them removed.

He said his country had started educating its nationals against xenophobia, which was a direct result of the sanctions.

The ANC stalwart also said Africans were one people and must unite against imperialism and US-led sanctions against Zimbabwe which despite being targeted hurt everyone.

— Additional reporting by Tapiwa Zivira, Rex Mphisa, Kenneth Nyangani, Praisemore Sithole, Brenna Matendere

BY JAIROS SAUNYAMA

A VISIT by First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa to Mugodhi Apostolic Faith Church in Wedza on a cancer screening awareness programme has divided the church, with one faction accusing the late founder Tandewu Mugodhi’s sympathisers of disrespecting their religious beliefs.

This was revealed on Saturday at the burial of Tandewu by the faction which is fighting to wrest control of the church from Mugodhi’s family. The faction accused its rivals of inviting the First Lady for cancer screening, a medical process which they claim was against their beliefs.

The First Lady visited the shrine in April last year alongside government officials from the
Health ministry as part of her nationwide awareness campaign on free cancer screening.

Zimbabwe Amalgamated Churches Council patron Jimaya Muduvuri, who also attended the burial at the weekend, confirmed the matter yesterday, saying the cancer screening exercise had brought divisions within the sect.

“I am aware of the issue and it is being propped up by one Mangoma. The First Lady is a national figure, not a political one. She is doing a national duty, hence the invite by the apostolic members. We heard that some of them are questioning why the First Lady visited the church. This is dividing the sect, of which it is not good,” he said.

Some of the country’s white garment-donning apostolic churches have been abandoning their archaic religious beliefs and embracing modern medical treatment.

However, others are still deeply rooted in their religious beliefs that shun medical assistance.

The Mugodhi apostolic sect is currently embroiled in a nasty leadership wrangle that has resulted in factionalism breaking out.

Tandewu died last week and was buried at the church headquarters at Chitope in Wedza.

He was succeeded by his son Washington, a move that has, however, angered his rivals.