BY DARLINGTON MWASHITA/ PATRICIA SIBANDA

BULAWAYO-BASED award-winning gospel musician Margaret Mwamuka, popularly known in the gospel circles as Mai Mwamuka, is set to drop a new album titled Jesu.

Mwamuka disclosed this during the first Ultimate Worship Experience concert at the ZAOGA Church’s Nketa Redemption Centre in Bulawayo recently.

She said the album will comprise 14 tracks.

The musician said the album will have both collaborations and her back-up singers will also get a chance to do solos in some of the tracks.

“I am going to release an album titled Jesu. It has 14 tracks. My back-up singers will also feature with their solos in some of the songs,” she said.

Mwamuka said the album had both Ndebele and Shona songs and promised to release another single soon after hosting a Bulawayo worship gala following the album launch.

She urged artistes to have a positive impact on their audience by exhorting them through music.

“Motivation has to be what people say about you as their comments will always drive you to strive for more. I urge anyone who is in the music industry to localise their talent. If you are a singer or writer, I advise you to record or publish more of your works so that you enlarge your territory and your songs can be heard nation-wide,” she said.
She advised artistes to spread their wings and go the extra mile in showcasing their talent, otherwise they would remain unsung

heroes.

By Freeman Makopa

Mutare-based basketball club, Mercenaries, who are the country’s representatives at this year’s edition of the Basketball Africa League, are confident of progressing to the next round.

The qualifiers, which are scheduled for Johannesburg, South Africa, will run from today to Sunday.

Mercenaries coach Innocent Sithole is confident his charges have what it takes to reach the next round.

He said they were determined to progress to the next round.

“It is the first of its kind in Africa and we feel we have a good chance of getting into the next round,” he said.

Mercenaries were drawn into Group E where they will battle top clubs such as Ferraviario de Maputo (Mozambique), Jozi Nuggets (South Africa), UNZA Pacers (Zambia), Dolphins (Botswana) and Lions Club (Namibia).

Sithole said participating in such a tournament will expose the team to international competition and help in building a stronger Zimbabwean team.

“The financial rewards for going to the next round are huge and this will also help our players to gain experience as they will be battling against top clubs from around the region and we are also opening doors towards a professional team in Zimbabwe,” he added.

Meanwhile, Harare City Hornets maintained their dominance on top of the Men’s A league after beating BUSE Men 92-63 over the weekend.

By Sports Reporter

The who is who of the sports fraternity is today expected to converge in Chiweshe, Mashonaland Central province, for the burial of one of Zimbabwe’s greatest athlete, Artwell Mandaza.

Mandaza died on Monday at the age of 73, having been unwell for quite some time. His burial is set for his rural home in Chiweshe.

One of Zimbabwe’s top ultra-distance athletes, Mako Mambo, was already in Chiweshe yesterday to witness the burial of a man idolised by the majority of local athletes.

National Athletics Assiciation of Zimbabwe Mashonaland Central provincial chairperson Pretty Maware said Mandaza had been unwell for some time although he occasionally attended some athletics competitions every time he was invited.

“The man loved his sport. He had been unwell since last year. I used to go and see him and only this year we invited him to an athletics event at Bindura Country Club and he came. He used to attend these events. The sports fraternity will be poorer without him,” she said.

The powerful-striding sprinter from Mhangura, rose to stardom before the country’s independence by becoming the fastest man in the then Rhodesia and the continent at one point.

He held national records in 100m (10,3 seconds), 200m (20,8secs) 400m (46,8secs) and 400m hurdles (52,18secs) from 1969 to 1976.

On the world map, he was ranked among the world’s top 100 on six occasions.

For his dazzling efforts, Mandaza was chosen as the nation’s Sportsman of the Year for 1970 and was also presented with the John Hopley Memorial Trophy to make him the first black African to be honoured as the country’s supreme sportsman.

BY TERRY MADYAUTA

HARARE football giants Dynamos will be seeking to complete a double over defending champions FC Platinum when the two sides clash in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer league tie at Rufaro Stadium this afternoon.

Dynamos go into the match with their confidence rocket high, having beaten FC Platinum 1-0 in their own backyard in the reverse fixture in June.

Having drawn seven times in eight matches, the Glamour Boys will be determined to secure maximum points.

Former Dynamos defender Gift Bello, now on the books of FC Platinum, believes the two teams are meeting at a crucial stage of the campaign and predicted a tough encounter.

The veteran defender made his name at the Harare football giants, before switching to the Zvishavane-based side five years ago.

He has won two successive championships with the Zvishavane-based side – in some of the highlights of his career.

And with his team in a strong position to dominate domestic football again, Bello is relishing the opportunity of meeting his former paymasters.

“We are looking forward to the match. As players, we have prepared very well for this match. We are aware that this match is very important for us. At this stage, we can’t afford to drop points, we need to remain focused.

“It is never going to be easy though, but we are prepared and we pray for a positive result. Remember, we are in the title race so we have to win all the remaining eight games so that we avoid depending much on how other teams play out,” he said.

Bello said they were not reading much into the fact that Dynamos have struggled to collect maximum points in their last five matches.

“Dynamos are playing at home, so obviously, with their huge support base they will be hoping to win this match.

“Their form book is not our concern at this stage because we are only working to collect the three points at stake,” Bello said.

A win for FC Platinum will pile pressure on log leaders, Caps United, who are currently enjoying a five-point cushion at the summit of the log table with 50 points with eight matches remaining.

BY PRECIOUS CHIDA/FARAI MATIASHE

Labour minister Sekai Nzenza says Zimbabweans must prioritise drought-resistant crops to counter the effects of climate change.

Speaking at the official opening of United Nations (UN) week panel discussion and exhibition in Harare on Monday, Nzenza said stakeholders, including government, non-governmental organisations and civic society groups should educate citizens on the benefits of growing drought-resistant crop varieties.

“There is need to develop a new strategy. We need to develop a coping strategy to mitigate climate change. Cyclone Idai was a wake-up call to my ministry to realise the devastating impact of climate change and also in addition to Cyclone Idai we have had drought,” Nzenza said.

“There is a lot of hunger and what the ministry is doing in the short term is to ensure that everybody gets food. In the long term, we have to develop resilient strategies. Let’s go back to what it used to be like before we became so dependent on things like maize which has become much commercialised, let us go back to our small grains like sorghum.”

Nzenza said there is need to educate people across all societies on the effects of climate change in their local languages.

“We are also looking at raising awareness especially in the rural areas where there is less access to information. We need to develop material in the language that people understand. Like what is climate change and what are its effects so that people understand its effects and that it is real and affecting our people,” she said.

Deputy director for climate change department, in the Lands ministry Kudzai Ndidzano said climate change mitigation requires collective action.

“Climate change is real; it’s a threat. It’s time for collective action, private sector, government, civil society groups should come in. We need to act; it’s going to get warmer (thus) developing of tropical storms,” he said.

International Organisation for Migration chief of mission, Mario Lito Malanca said to manage migration in the country, there was need to reduce climate change as its impact such as Cyclone Idai is responsible for the displacement of thousands of people.

UN resident co-ordinator Maria Ribeiro said the three-day exhibition is aimed at raising awareness on climate change action to achieve 2030 Agenda on sustainable development.

BY FARAI MATIASHE/VANESSA GONYE/PRECIOUS CHIDA

SAVE the Children Zimbabwe country director Yvonne Arunga has called on the government to commit resources towards protecting children from getting exposed to cyber-crimes.

This comes at a time Parliament is debating the Cyber Crime and Cyber Security Bill which is meant to ensure online offenders against children among others are brought to book.

“Let me hasten to say, these project milestones have been made with meagre resources, hence we implore the government and other key stakeholders to prioritise child online protection, and commit resources for the full implementation of child online protection at national level,” said Arunga while speaking during the handover of two servers to the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) in Harare yesterday.

She said safeguarding children from accessing harmful content on the internet was not meant to deprive them of their right to access information but to protect them from sexual exploitation.

Arunga said the donation will link up the national child sexual exploitation database to the Interpol database, thus helping to automatically detect leads on child online sexual abuse materials originating from Zimbabwe.

“All these efforts are aiming to ensure the protection and safety of the growing numbers of Zimbabwean children who are accessing the internet either through their mobile phones, computers and other gadgets,” she said.

Arunga said police alone could not protect children but it was the responsibility of everyone in the country including parents and guardians at home, teachers and the community at large to unite in protecting children from online abuse.

ZRP acting chief of staff officer crime Assistant Commissioner Israel Makuwaza said their partnership with Save the Children was focused on fighting physical abuse of children but due to technological advancement they also had to pay attention to online crimes against children including sextortion and revenge pornography.

He said the HP DL20 servers donated by Save the Children will help link the ZRP’s Victim Friendly Unit with the Interpol server.

“This database will allow VFU to upload images and videos, obtain information on identified victims and offenders. This will enable the VFU to identify and safeguard more children, monitor and apprehend more offenders and thus prevent further distribution of child sexual exploitation material,” he said.

Meanwhile, Plan International has bemoaned challenges being faced by young girls among them difficulties in accessing sexual health services.

Speaking at a girls’ symposium held as part of celebrations to mark International Day of the Girl, Plan International sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) project manager, Varaidzo Nyadenga said most girls particularly in Epworth were living from their own pockets and were failing to raise fees for medication.

“Health workers are further worsening their predicament as they are portraying a negative attitude towards those on anti-retroviral therapy as well as their peers who seek medical attention on SRH issues. They are not forthcoming and usually they exert their beliefs when on duty which is therefore making girls hesitant to seek medical attention fearing stigma,” she said.

“The other issue is access to sanitary wear, we have been talking about this for a long time and we do appreciate the efforts that have been made to reduce the tax but still the prices are prohibitive.

by STAFF REPORTER

HUNDREDS of villagers in Gokwe North now have thriving community gardens, courtesy of an UKaid programme being implemented by Caritas Gokwe with the support of the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (Cafod).

Beneficiaries and their livestock faced hunger due to recurrent drought in the area and used to walk several kilometres in search of water.

With the help of the non-government organisations and UKaid, villagers were now into irrigation utilising water from Vimbe Dam while focussing on production of maize, beans and bananas, among other crops.

“We have three community gardens, one with 130 members, another has 140 and the third has 203 members surrounding this dam and Caritas assisted with fences,” Innocent Muvaka, the project patron.

The nearby clinic and local schools as well as hundreds of other villagers in nearby three wards were also benefitting from the dam and irrigation schemes.

The dam was first constructed in 1992 but several challenges were encountered until the intervention of Caritas and Cafod in 2016.

“Since then, we never had a problem with water and our lives have changed completely,” Muvaka said.

The project is working on climate resilience by increasing nutrition-sensitive agriculture. Project monitoring and evaluation officer, Admire Dube said at least three wards were benefitting from the initiative.

“We also have solar panels to aid in so many ways here. A lot of people come to buy different crops like vegetables,” he said.

One of the beneficiaries Florence Musiiwa said: “We have been helped by these organisations to plant nutritional crops and we end up selling some to buy basics, pay school fees and buy underwear for the girls. There are some things you cannot ask their fathers to buy for them and now, thanks to the help, we get the money to buy.”

The programme is helping more than 130 000 people in Zimbabwe and stretches to remote areas including Uzumba, Maramba, Pfungwe, Gokwe North and South.

By Miriam Mangwaya

DARING villagers in Mapiye village under Chief Musarurwa have set up their own “tollgate,” cashing in on motorists who are evading the official Zinara plaza along Chivhu-Murambinda Highway, about 18km from the farming town.

The villagers set up a barbed wire gate which serves as a barricade for motorists using the makeshift road which is some 200 metres from the Zinara tollgate.

They manually open the gate for motorists after receiving a negotiable fee which is between $2 and $5 for light motor vehicles and commuter omnibuses who mostly use the illegal tollgate.

Light motor vehicle and commuter omnibuses pay a toll fee of $10 and $15 respectively at Zinara tollgates.

Mashonaland East police spokesperson Inspector Tendai Mwanza said they had not yet received a report on the case.

Zinara spokesperson Augustine Moyo requested questions on email but had not responded by the time of going to print.

Although the villagers refused to answer questions from NewsDay, they claimed that the motorists who were evading the official tollgate pass through their farming fields, therefore they could not use the land for productive agriculture.

“I have to earn something since I can no longer use my field for farming purposes because part of that arable land is now a road for traffic,” said one villager who refused to be identified.

NewsDay could not, however, establish how much the villagers collect from motorists per day.

According to a source in the neighbouring Hokonya village, said those in charge of the illegal tollgate, popularly known as the Mapiye tollgate, have come up with their own working shifts to collect fees from motorists.

“They are also putting barricades on other tracks that motorists might want to use to avoid their tollgate,” said the source who refused to be named for fear of victimisation.

In separate interviews with NewsDay, motorists said they prefer the Mapiye tollgate because the fees were affordable.

“The Mapiye tollgate is convenient because you can negotiate with the crew and pay less than they demand and sometimes if you don’t have the cash, they can allow you to pass,” said a pirate tax driver who only identified himself as Max.

The Chivhu-Murambinda tollgate was operationalised in September 2018.

BY WINSTONE ANTONIO

A ZIMBABWEAN woman, Susan Vivian Mutami, was last night honoured in Australia for her contribution to that country’s healthcare system.

Mutami was named among Australia’s 100 Women of Influence for coming up with innovative health initiatives that were adopted by the Australian government to help improve the lives of indigenous and non-indigenous Australians in urban, rural and remote parts of that country.

In an interview with NewsDay from her Sydney base, Mutami said she was happy to be making an impact after the Australian government adopted her initiative to establish state of the art and fully-equipped mobile hospitals with beds and manned by nurses, doctors and other health professionals.

Mutami started planning for the project last year and engineers helped her design the special moving hospitals and also digitalising everything on board.

“The moving hospitals are basically fully-fledged hospitals on wheels that have all medical personnel on board from doctors, nurses and physiotherapists,” she said.

“We work hand in hand with the Royal flying doctor service of Australia which is one of the largest aero medical organisations in the world that has a total of 71 aircraft that cover the length and breadth of the country’s rural, remote and regional parts of Australia.”

Mutami added. “The moving hospitals were specifically designed for the outback terrain. I came up with the idea after my research found out there was high infant mortality rate of indigenous Australians (child death 153,6 per 100 000) as compared to non-indigenous (73,2 deaths per 100 000).”

The Australian Minister for Health and Ambulance Services, Steve Miles, commended Mutami’s healthcare initiative.

Mutami said to improve the healthcare system in Zimbabwe, there was need for the Health ministry to be properly restructured.

“There is need for sector reform in the pharmaceutical industry to allow local pharmaceutical industries to manufacture medicines locally. More emphasis on the ministry must be towards prevention because in Zimbabwe there is an increase in non-communicable diseases. There should be more awareness campaigns and education,” she said.

The Kwekwe-born Mutami is a holder a Bachelor of Social Sciences degree (Security and Counter Terrorism) and a Bachelor of Nursing degree.

Last year, Mutami was also recognised at the prestigious Australian CEO magazine Executive of the Year Awards for her contribution to the country’s healthcare system, becoming the first black African to receive the gong.

BY JAIROS SAUNYAMA

The MDC Mashonaland East province has been plunged into mourning following the death of party stalwart Obed Pindu Muchabaiwa who died at Marondera Provincial Hospital on Sunday at the age of 81.

The late political activist, popularly known as Sekuru Muchabaiwa, survived a series of political attacks at his house as suspected Zanu PF militias were against his move of housing MDC youths in Marondera.

Muchabaiwa is also father to MDC Marondera senator Jane Chifamba, who described him as a brave figure who despite his age nurtured and housed MDC youth activists despite attempts on his life at the height of political violence in the country.

Speaking during the funeral wake in Marondera yesterday, Marondera mayor Chengetai Murowa, who is also the MDC provincial spokesperson, said the late Muchabaiwa will be remembered for his contributions in the country’s opposition politics.

“Sekuru Muchabaiwa was an MDC founding member in 1999 and was also present at the party’s first congress in 2000. He was there despite all the negative forces. At the time, it was taboo to talk or discuss anything MDC in Marondera and the province. His house was our meeting point where we would strategise on the way forward,” Murowa said.

“I vividly remember in 2002 during the presidential election campaigns when his house was raided before he and his family members were tortured by suspected militias. They were left nursing injuries. In the same year, his house was attacked and had his belongings looted as he was accused of housing MDC youths.”

Muchabaiwa was the party’s first treasurer for Marondera East, an area that covered central Marondera and part of rural Marondera.

He was buried yesterday at Paradise Cemetery in Marondera.