SUCCESS LIFE: Jonah Nyoni

If you travel to other countries that’s when you feel that Brand Zimbabwe has been shuttered. Who do we blame? All of us. Let’s never lie to each other, our brand has been years in destroying and we need to rebuild it together. We have let politics lead, and that has tainted the brand.

We have blamed each other and that has not brought any help. We need to put down our political and personal egos and work together in building our country. My mother always tells me the old stories about Zimbabwe and it was indeed the envy of many countries in the seventies and before. It was glowing, growing and glamorous. But, what really happened? Zimbabwe is not positively perceived by many other countries. We may try to defend and justify ourselves, but the truth is that our relations with other countries are not as great as we would want them to be. We want to relate with other countries because we are going there as beggars and that’s very unfortunate. A positive brand is crucial for success. People don’t just buy products, they buy the feeling associated with the brand. Rob Brown once said, “Your reputation is your personal share price in stock market of life”.

11 Cs that will make Zimbabwe stand out:

Clarity — Collectivism is needed and the leader should lead everyone to work together. We can only work together if we are clear about what we want to achieve as a country. Our Capriciousness in policy, politics, and promises has made us not to be really clear about want we want to achieve.

Create — Zimbabwe has become a consumer. It used to be the breadbasket, but now we running everywhere to consume. We must create products that are competitive, and compelling. We have PR stunts, but that to me is trying to gloss over the whole thing.

Communication — We need to tell the world about Zimbabwe. Speak with one voice and say the truth. Truly Zimbabwe is endowered with great tourist places and that must be sold.

Consistence — We need to stick to the bigger story about Zimbabwe and that should bring us together despite our political differences. Most people would agree that Zimbabwe is a good country, but they never try to sell it.

Collectively re-build — Zimbabwe needs to be rebuilt. Other nations such as Botswana have been building their structures and roads that align to 21st century needs. But with us, it’s like we stopped and parked. Not, only that, we began to fight each other. What we are left with are fights between political parties. Secondly, we have leaders that are not listening to the yearning and cries of the people. If our leaders could truly listen to us, and endeavour to build this nation we can become great.

Collaborate — Success is when you are able to engage other people to help you build your dream. Zimbabwe can never win alone. We should stop behaving as if we don’t need other countries.

Conscious — We need to be clear and put a deliberate effort to rebuild Zimbabwe. If you truly listen to people; people are bitter and they are constantly speaking about the melting economy and the genuine every day struggles in eking out a better life That should change. Leadership must now want, will and walk the talk of rebuilding Zimbabwe.

Competitive — We must now become competitive on a global scale. That can be achieved if we work hard as a country with specific goals we want to achieve and practical means of how to achieve that. We must reward people based on merit. You walk into a government office, you feel it’s a ghost office. The basic office furniture is too old. A good example is the Zimbabwe Republic Police offices, the Passport office and the Birth and death offices. They are run down and people are not motivated to work. Leadership must trigger excellency. When crossing the Beitbridge border you see a marked difference between the Zimbabwe and South African Immigration offices. Peter Drucker said we live in an era of 3 Cs. Overwhelming complexity. Accelerated change. Tremendous competition”. Raise the standard.

Change — Things have changed and the question is has Zimbabwe changed for the positive. This life is constantly changing, evolving and progressing. The first step to change, is by challenging what we created as a country in the past.

Confidence — Leaders must build confidence. Confidence is the great currency that people are willing to buy from Zimbabwe. People buy brands they trust. Zimbabwe must be a trusted brand. We must say no to corruption and underhand deals.

Commit — We must be committed to building Zimbabwe first before we ask for other countries to give us a hand.

A great brand does not come easily, but you have to be willing to win together. We must make it a point that the promise of Zimbabwe is clear.

Jonah Nyoni is an author, success coach and certified leadership/business trainer. He is the author of Inspiration for Success and Success Within Reach.

BY Stephen Chadenga

GWERU City Council (GCC) has resurrected plans to install pre-paid water meters barely three months after saying it had indefinitely suspended the move due to the high costs involved in implementation.

In a speech read on his behalf by his deputy, Cleopas Shiri during a recent tour by officials from the National Defence University, mayor Josiah Makombe revealed that council was courting investors for the rehabilitation of both its water reticulation system and prepaid meter project.

“We have investment opportunities for those who are willing to take up rehabilitation of the water reticulation network and deployment of prepaid water meter system in the city,” Makombe said.

“We are also calling for investors who are willing to rehabilitate our sewage treatment plants and upgrade our reticulation system.”

Makombe added: “We have power challenges in Zimbabwe and as a local authority, we have created investment opportunities for anyone willing to venture into waste to energy power generation supply into the national grid.”

The city has on several occasions set aside plans to introduce prepaid meters and the latest move was likely to draw the ire of residents associations.

Gweru Residents Forum director Charles Mazorodze said his organisation would resist any attempt by council to impose prepaid meters on residents.

“As we have said before, any attempt to bring prepaid water meters through the back door will be met with stiff resistance,” he said.

“Water is a right and we cannot tolerate the move, particularly in a city where lives have been lost through typhoid and other water borne diseases.”

Council, however, argues that prepaid meters would improve its revenue collection base and remove of defaulting.

Residents owe the local authority more than $68 million in unpaid water bills.

BY PATRICIA SIBANDA/DARLINGTON MWASHITA

PARTICIPANTS at an inquiry on access to national documentation conducted by the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) in Bulawayo on Tuesday made impassioned pleas for the government to decentralise registry offices.

Concerns were raised that long distances were hindering people in remote rural areas from acquiring national identification documents.

Trinity Project director, Phumulani Mpofu said his wish was for ZHRC to facilitate decentralisation of the registry offices.

“I once worked at Nsiza and I noticed people had to travel very long distances to get documentation. There is no accessible registration office in that area and we are asking the registry to open more of these offices so that the people do not have to walk discouraging miles just to get national documents,” he said.

Mpofu said the biggest challenge was the stringent Birth Registration Act, which negatively affected people in remote areas.

“We, as an organisation, are asking you to be very lenient with people who live in the outskirt regions of the country, when it comes to birth registration fee. May you please reduce (fees) because you have to consider that those people do not have much and the distance they travel is long,” Mpofu said.

He said legal guardians or custodians face challenges registering children without proper documentation of the biological parents.

“There are a lot of accidents that happen in the country, chronic diseases, economic migration as some of our brothers and sisters cross borders in search of improved economic opportunities, hence those who remain behind with the children face difficulties in acquiring documents for them,” Mpofu said.

ZHRC chairperson Elasto Mugwadi promised to take the matter to Parliament.

“We will benefit a lot from all your concerns and we are dedicated to compile them in the global report that will reach the government to make sure that these stringent laws which stop people from attaining proper documentation are removed,” Mugwadi said.

Bulawayo provincial registrar Jane Peters said participants had raised vital concerns which needed to be addressed.

“It was very insightful, especially when you spoke about the changing of laws, that was excellent overall,” Peters said.

BY VENERANDA LANGA

RESERVE Bank governor John Mangudya yesterday threw former Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa under the bus after he refused to take responsibility for the US$3,2 billion Treasury Bills that were unlawfully issued from 2017 to 2018 mostly for the Command Agriculture programme.

He told Parliament that the illegalities were done by the Finance ministry, then under Chinamasa.

Mangudya had appeared before the Tendai Biti-led Public Accounts Committee to explain how the RBZ issued out the US$3, 6 billion TBs.

The meeting was highly emotional and tempers flared between the RBZ governor and Biti as the PAC interrogated the central bank boss over the issuance of the TBs without Parliament approval causing massive inflation currently affecting the country.

Biti and Mangudya did not give each other chances to speak during the heated exchanges until Chirumanzu MP Barbara Rwodzi berated them and pointed out that the meeting was about the PAC doing investigations on the US$3,6 billion and must not be personalised to issues between Mangudya and Biti.

Tempers flared when Biti accused the RBZ of bad corporate governance, arguing it was the central bank that broke the law by failing to advise the Finance ministry that they were treading on illegalities.

“The Ministry of Finance spent money outside the blue book and when they appeared before PAC, they said it was not their problem and they passed the snake to you (RBZ), and the schedule says that you spent US$2,1 billion in 2017 and US$1,5 billion in 2018, and the bulk of the money was spent outside Parliament approval and the Appropriation Act by the RBZ,” Biti said.

“When we go to the specifics, they will show that 90% of the TBs were generated by the RBZ, and as central bank governor, it means that you were oblivious that the Finance ministry was overspending, and on what legal basis did the RBZ breach the Constitution by spending US$2,1 billion in 2017 and US$1,5 billion in 2018 which was not approved by Parliament?”

Mangudya responded: “The question should be referred to the Ministry of Finance who gave you the information. It is they who should answer to you. The money was not spent by the RBZ. We just get an instruction from the principal agent (Finance ministry) who wrote letters for us to issue payments for Command Agriculture, and it is the Ministry of Finance who should give you the reasons why.”

He added: “It means they should answer — not me. There was an instruction from the Ministry of Finance that I should release US$1,5 billion TBs for the purchase of maize from farmers.

If the Ministry of Finance, which is the Executive, gives an instruction for an account to be paid, is it legal? The answer is it was legal.”

The PAC said the release of US$840 million used to pay for local grain without Parliament approval in 2018 triggered the Auditor-General and PAC to notice that there was something amiss with the manner in which funds were being used.

When Agriculture ministry secretary Ringson Chitsiko appeared before Parliament, he said he did not know about the payments and yet it was purported to have been used to purchase grain which is the mandate of his ministry.

“The answer is that the RBZ did not overspend. The Ministry of Finance should answer that question,” Mangudya insisted.

Cornered, the central bank governor then produced a 2009 letter where he claimed that Biti was accusing him of illegally releasing TBs for agricultural purposes and yet during the government of national unity, he (Biti) as Finance minister signed for TBs to be released for Command Agriculture.

Biti then read letters between Chinamasa and the RBZ which showed that the features and terms and conditions in the TBs were defined by the RBZ and not the Ministry of Finance. The law states that the features must be defined by the Finance ministry.

“If you look at the letters from Chinamasa, he was setting you (RBZ) up and you did not realise that he was putting you in a trap when you unlawfully set the features of the TBs because even if you go to court, Chinamasa will say it was the RBZ which issued the TBs and he will get away with it,” Biti said.

BY NQOBANI NDLOVU

OUTSPOKEN Ntabazinduna traditional leader, Chief Felix Nhlanhlayamangwe Ndiweni, has revealed that he used his incarceration period in August to write a book on the country’s appalling prison conditions.

Ndiweni spent time at Khami Maximum Prison on the outskirts of Bulawayo after he was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment following his conviction alongside 23 other villagers for destroying one of his subjects’ property.

His co-accused, 23 other villagers, were given community service sentences.

Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Thompson Mabhikwa, however, granted Ndiweni $500 bail pending appeal against both conviction and sentence for destroying property belonging to his subject, Fetti Mbele.

On Tuesday, Ndiweni bemoaned appalling conditions at Khami Maximum Prison and revealed that he used his jail time to write a book on what needs to be done to refurbish the correctional holding centre in Bulawayo.

“I am not afraid of prison. There are good people there, who made my stay at Khami comfortable,” he said.

“However, the infrastructure there is old and needs refurbishment to improve living conditions. I used my time there to start writing a book on what needs to be done, particularly the need for private public partnerships to refurbish the prison and improve living conditions for inmates,” Ndiweni told journalists in Bulawayo on Tuesday.

Government has on several occasions been urged to increase budget allocations to the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) and enter partnerships with other stakeholders to improve inmates’ living conditions.

BY FORTUNE MBELE/HENRY MHARA

THE Premier Soccer League (PSL) has called on local soccer governing body Zifa to probe referees amid allegations of poor match officiating that reportedly resulted in violence flaring up in games involving the country’s top three clubs on Wednesday.

Games involving Dynamos, Caps United, ZPC Kariba and Highlanders were all marred by violence.

A match between Dynamos and champions FC Platinum at Rufaro Stadium had to be stopped for 16 minutes as the home supporters rained missiles onto the pitch in protest over referee Brighton Chimene’s decision to ignore a penalty appeal when striker Evans Katema went down following a challenge by FC Platinum goalkeeper Petros Mhari.

Katema was instead booked for assimilation, further infuriating the Dynamos supporters, already frustrated by Chimene who had earlier on disallowed Jarrison Selemani’s goal from an indirect free-kick.

While Chimene may have been correct to rule out the effort when Selemani scored directly from the kick, when the ball should have first come into contact with another player from either team, it did not improve his CV in the eyes of the spectators.

The penalty appeal decision effectively helped tip over the scales, with fans pelting Mhari every time he tried to take his position on goal. Twice the missiles landed on him, and he had to be attended to by the team’s doctors.

Video footage circulating on social media shows that Chimene may have made the wrong call, as Mhari looked like clattering on the dreadlocked striker who had been sent clean through on goal. The match which ended goalless, only resumed after the Dynamos executive pleaded with the supporters to calm down.

PSL, while condoning the hooliganism that followed, feels that the mistakes that match officials have been making of late are far too many, and Zifa should investigate them.

“The Premier Soccer League is appalled by skirmishes and match disturbances that took place during PSL fixtures played on Wednesday. The PSL strongly condemns the unacceptable behaviour witnessed at Rufaro during a match between Dynamos and FC Platinum, ZPC Kariba versus Highlanders at Nyamhunga and Chicken Inn versus Caps United at Barbourfields,” PSL said in a statement yesterday.

“Hooliganism has no place in our football and as such we urge football fans, players and administrators to respect the referee’s decision, to abide by the rules and regulations of the competition and to act in a responsible manner. We also call upon the Zifa referees committee to investigate the clubs’ complaints of poor match officiating.”

At Barbourfields, the match between Chicken Inn and log leaders Caps also had stoppages as the away supporters threw missiles onto the field after referee Happy Mabhena had awarded a questionable penalty to the home team.

Caps players walked off the pitch in protest and only returned after some lengthy discussions to see Passmore Bernard converting the penalty.

Chicken Inn won the match 1-0. Allegations are that the Caps players manhandled the match referee and security details at full time, and also destroyed property in the dressing rooms.

In Kariba, in the match against hosts ZPC Kariba and Highlanders, there was also commotion as players from both sides scuffled while supporters in the stands engaged in their own war following the expulsion of Prince Dube who was shown a red card by referee Tatenda Bvekerwa for a stamp on goalkeeper Future Sibanda.The chaotic scenes caused a five-minute match stoppage Zifa yesterday said the rogue elements would be identified and brought to book.

“We have seen footage circulating on social media depicting acts of hooliganism and violent scenes in some PSL matches played yesterday (Wednesday). We are waiting for match commissioners’ reports which we will study meticulously. However, let me hasten to state that violence and hooliganism have no place in our beautiful game. Hooliganism belongs to the Homo erectus era when human beings were still learning to walk. We are now in the new millennium where football celebrates tenets of fair play, respect, peace and tranquillity,” Zifa spokesperson Xolisani Gwesela said.

“The association will also examine the footage and all these heinous elements causing mayhem will be identified and brought to book. In the process, Zifa will also invoke football statutes to ensure that these ghastly and violent elements are banned from attending our matches. We also appeal to the police to ensure that these hoodlums are prosecuted,” he
added.

editorial comment

WHEN people embark on a demonstration, it is to register certain concerns and have the targeted individual or audience address the said concerns. As Zanu PF has been planning their march against illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the United States and the European Union, they would be wise to heed the US ambassador Brian Nichols’ sentiments.

Nichols represents the US government in Zimbabwe, and he is the best person to advise the government on what they ought to do to have the embargo lifted. Suffice to say he has already spoken, urging the President Emmerson Mnangagwa-led government to implement the necessary political reforms, uphold the rule of law, effectively fight corruption, respect human rights and fully implement the 2013 Constitution.

This is like giving an examination candidate the answer sheet before they sit for the exam, and only a foolish student will write answers different from those on the answer sheet. And it looks like this is what Zanu PF is bent on doing today with their march, with those that will be used as foot soldiers in the march waking up the following day to the same old Zimbabwe of endless fuel queues, exorbitantly priced basic commodities and high cost of living.

Indeed sanctions are bad for they stagnant economic growth. The reality though is Zimbabweans are suffering under the weight of Zanu PF sanctions in the form of endemic corruption, poor governance and lack of political will to institute political reforms, among others.

So, the effects of sanctions could be a fraction as compared to the plunder by Zanu PF fat cats.

Yet those who are sending them onto the streets have fuel delivered to them, do not fret over the price of bread and will continue to enjoy the niceties of life. Surely, there are a few smart people in Zanu PF who can read through these phony agendas.

In fact, those that are marching today must demand that their leaders fulfil the demands that have been presented to them — which are the very same promises that Mnangagwa made when he became President, ostensibly having removed the late former President Robert Mugabe on the pretext that he was reluctant to implement those demands. Those that are marching should think about their children and the legacy they want to leave for them.

Out of nearly 16 million Zimbabweans, there are only 141 people and companies on the US sanctions’ list. And many of these are responsible for the hardships that the majority of people are facing. Why then would anyone with a brain that is functional go for that march? For what reason? This is not about sanctions. It’s about abuse of power, corruption, lack of reforms. It is not even a mystery what the government should do to have the sanctions lifted.

But one thing for certain is that the sanctions will not be removed because people have marched. You can be rest assured about that. They will only be removed when the necessary reforms have been implemented. Period!

Zimbabweans must push government for these reforms to happen — and at the very soonest too.

By Garikai Mafirakureva

THE opposition MDC Masvingo provincial executive yesterday said today’s anti-sanctions event should be used as an opportunity to mourn victims of State-sponsored brutality.

MDC Masvingo provincial spokesperson, Derrick Charamba, said they will be praying and mourning among others Tafadzwa Tamangani, a Harare vendor, who died at remand prison last week after he was brutally assaulted by police and denied treatment.

“As MDC Masvingo, we are happy the government has declared Friday (today) a national holiday, because that will give us time to meet and pray together with vendors. In fact, to us it is a national prayer and mourning day. Not only for the slain vendor, but for unarmed innocent civilians who were shot and killed on August 1, 2018,” Charamba said.

“We will also be mourning those who were killed in cold blood during the January fuel price hike demonstrations and all MDC cadres who were killed in the run-up to the June 27, 2008 election run-off, those who died in the wanton Gukurahundi genocide era, as well as those innocent people we lost during the 39 years of Zanu PF rule. So, it is obvious, we are not going to join people who will be marching against themselves.

“That is why we chose to declare Friday a day of praying and mourning. After all, we are not on the list of those placed under targeted sanctions, so why team up with people fighting their own wars? The whole thing shows that Zanu PF has reached unprecedented levels of desperation.”

Zanu PF Masvingo provincial vice-chairperson Ailess Baloyi said the main event will be held at Mucheke Stadium, while districts would be marching in their respective areas.

“A lot of old people are willing to join in the march. They have been asking about it for more than two weeks now and I am confident the event will be a success,” Baloyi said.

“This time, we are not going to bus people because we will end up ferrying those who do not have the same thinking with us, although this event is for everyone. So those in all the seven districts will organise their own marches at district level, and obviously it will be on the same day.”

Victor Muchemwa

Zimbabwe receives more than US$400m in grant aid on an annual basis with most of it coming from bilateral and multilateral agreements between the government and foreign governments.

Donor aid is channelled through UKAid, USAid, EU, UN Agencies and others. For implementation, these agencies implement programmes through various models such as;
Implementation by international NGOs (INGOs): These are development partners with a lot of expertise and experience in delivering programmes across the globe and most of them with headquarters in the West. Some are even private companies in their homeland but registered as NGOs when implementing charity programmes overseas. Some leverage programmes from own fundraising activities such as Oxfam GB. The risk level of operating through INGOs is considered lower than local NGOs.

Implementation by local NGOs: Local NGOs have better knowledge of local environments but suffer from lack of capacity and experience in managing large grants. Unlike INGOs which can be asked to return funds if there are disputes or misuse of funds, most local NGOs literally get away with murder whenever funds are abused. The most common method of redress is donor fund pull out. A school of thought or movement in support of local NGOs is that using local organisations and systems is a sustainable model as donor funds are not around forever! There will come a time when donor funds will dry up with locals expected to take over.

Partnership between INGOs and NGOs: A preferred model of using leveraging organisational expertise from INGOs in capacity building local NGOs. The model however suffers setbacks of being more expensive and there have been instances where capacity building goes on forever. A capacity building INGO may prefer to keep operating and providing capacity building services as a source of income, if no capacity gaps exist, then they are out of income and jobs.

Most common risks in the NGO sector

 Procurement (tenders, staff recruitment, goods procurement)

 Donor Requirements (tax, unbudgeted expenses)

 Abuse of cash resources (travel allowances, cash to beneficiaries, foreign currency arbitrage opportunities)

 Abuse of goods in kind (goods not reaching intended beneficiaries or misuse)

What makes grants management complex

In a typical NGO, there are support departments such as finance, procurement, human resources and administration. Support departments help programme teams which include monitoring and evaluation. Our focus is on the grants management department which is responsible for oversight of funds channelled to support partners.

The grants management unit is sometimes a standalone department or can fall under the finance department. When it is a standalone department, there are several benefits such as working closely with programme and supporting teams. As a strategic unit, it has its own strategies, resource allocations and is subject to strategic review. Major roles include budgeting, donor compliance, risk management, monitoring and evaluation and partner management.

The department works effectively when structured like an internal audit department, but few organisations have independent grants management departments. The most common approach is to place grants management functions in the finance department. Once placed in finance, the grants management functions will suffer from being consumed in financial operations such as financial and management reporting, taxation and other administration functions.

The language becomes internalised financial management, creating loopholes in grants management oversight. The major reason for incorporating the department into finance is financial considerations but trouble often follows when funds misappropriation start to emerge from partners’ financial mismanagement.

Grants management require more than financial management and some of the key skills include:

Strong programme development and management.

Strong risk analysis and management especially tracking of key macro and micro risks. Strategic partnership management including capacity building. All of these key skills are not necessarily found in the finance department. The finance department can do a good job of partner visits and voucher verification, but this is low-level risk management which does not include strategic management, monitoring and evaluation and capacity building.

A number of local NGOs made headlines when funding taps where switched off by donors and a closer look shows lack of strong grant management approaches. These include weaknesses of donor agencies and INGOs and local NGOs themselves… it’s a complex world.

Some of the leaders of the local NGOs cited clean external audit reports having been issued, but in the complex world of grant management, audited reports are not enough. External auditors do not adequately review this field because they are mostly finance professionals with little appreciation of programme management, monitoring and evaluation and complex donor requirements. They should be worried that after issuing unqualified audited reports, donors move in and withdraw funding due to gross funds misappropriation.

Recommendations

Every organisation involved in grant management should critically assess its business model and capacity.

Grant management strategies:

Do you have a strong grant management strategy? Are you involving partners, auditors and other stakeholders in the development of a grant management strategy? Do you have grants management manuals and systems? (few organisations have this in place). Grant management systems: Do they have more than finance skills in grant management? How are they developing skills? Do they have strong induction programmes for new personnel? Do they have strong performance management systems for the function? Are you benchmarking your departments to world best practice?

Grant management skills: How are you developing and reviewing grants management skills? Do you have strong in-house grant management inductions? Are you allocating sufficient resources in the development of grant management skills?

Risk management skills: Do you have strategies to review partner risks? Are you involving internal and external auditors or risk management professionals? Are you reviewing and analysing trending risks in the economy? Are grantee partners, donors and beneficiaries involved? Are auditors’ role simply carrying out external audits at the end of the financial year? How is monitoring and evaluation involved in risk management?

Capacity building skills: Do you have a strategy for identifying capacity gaps and plugging them through formal capacity-building? Do you have resources allocated for building capacity-building skills? Are you reviewing capacity-building initiatives? Do you have case studies of successfully completed capacity-building initiatives?

Donor funds are taxpayer funds and they monitor their use and whenever reports of abuse emerge, they mostly respond with calls for their cut. With most Western governments dealing with their own economic challenges, the calls to cut donor funding are getting louder and this is increasing the pressure for transparent and effective use of donor funding. While some gaps in grant management are due to lack of resources and knowledge, there are also cases where gaps are deliberate in order to facilitate fraudulent activities and this is not surprising given Zimbabwe’s ranking on the corruption index.

It’s therefore important for organisations handling donor funds to critically analyse their grant management strategies, systems and skills with a view to strengthening them for more donor funds abuse means increased lack of trust and a cut in funding or closure of organisations.

By NQOBANI NDLOVU

ZANU PF Matabeleland South’s underfire youth chairperson Washington Nkomo on Saturday survived an ouster bid after his colleagues raised several allegations against him.

Nkomo’s hold onto the post was hanging by a thread ahead of the Saturday provincial meeting attended by national party chairperson Oppah Muchinguri to discuss, among other things, the chaos bedevilling the province.

A vote of no confidence passed by the party’s Matabeleland South youth disciplinary committee against Nkomo last Thursday was on the table.

The committee accused Nkomo of bringing the party’s name into disrepute through corruption, extortion and creation of parallel structures in the province.

However, Nkomo lived to fight another day after his issue was not brought up for discussion. He confirmed in an interview on Tuesday that he remains the youth league chairperson.

“I am still the chairperson for the youth league in the province,” Nkomo said.

Zanu PF secretary for administration Obert Mpofu on Tuesday said he had only read Nkomo’s supposed suspension in the Press, saying his department had not received the petition against him.

“I have just been reading about it in the Press, but it has not come to my office,” Mpofu said.

Last week, Matabeleland South youths demanded that Nkomo returns all party assets.

“We kindly request the party to order the withdrawal of party assets in the hands of Nkomo as this is bringing the name of the Matabeleland South youth league into disrepute, especially our branded party vehicle, which is being used for unscrupulous purposes,” the youth league said in their petition.

They accused him of being part of a US$12 000 extortion scam involving a Shangani miner during which President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s namewas used, resulting in the arrest of four party members.

Nkomo faces another charge of grabbing mining claims in West Nicholson and Shangani, also using Mnangagwa’s name to commit the act.