By Kevin Mapasure

Dynamos coach Tonderai Ndiraya returns to Baobab Stadium this afternoon, one year since he was inexplicably dismissed by Ngezi Platinum Stars, where he had a two-and-half-year spell.

Ndiraya had assembled one of the strongest forces at Ngezi, but with the league title having eluded him, the club’s hierarchy axed him in October last year when his team was only five points behind eventual winners FC Platinum with as much matches left for the season.

For the first time, he will be in the away dug out as he attempts to achieve what only one visiting team has managed, by winning at the Baobab.

Only Triangle have managed to beat Ngezi at home so far this season.

Even during Ndiraya’s time, coming out of the Baobab with a single point was such a daunting task, let alone winning all three points for visiting teams.

A few things have changed since he left, with a number of players joining Ngezi, while others have left, but Ndiraya will be looking to use his vast knowledge of the place and the players to land one punch at his former employers.

Before he was sent packing, he had presided over one defeat at home when they lost to FC Platinum.

This week, Ndiraya acknowledged that his team would face a tough task against Ngezi, but remains confident that they can still come away with all the points.

“We still believe that if we get maximum points in our next match, it will improve our position this season. We will go there and put up a good fight and hope to get something out of the match. I know Ngezi Platinum very well, I have been there. It is not an easy thing to go there and come out with maximum points. We have to try the best we can and do the best we can to get positive results, but it’s not going to be an easy match, of course,” he said.

Since Ndiraya left, Ngezi Platinum Stars have regressed and plunged into mid-table mediocrity, sitting just one point behind Dynamos, who are seventh on the league table.

Both teams are not where they would have wanted to be at this stage and Ndiraya will be looking to hand Ngezi their ninth defeat of the season.

DeMbare have been struggling as they are on a five-match draw streak, which they want to end this afternoon.

Their prospects have been boosted by the return of the trio that carries the creative spark in Simba Nhivi, Archford Gutu and Evans Katema.

Katema and Nhivi are both former Ngezi players and the latter left in acrimonious circumstances earlier this year.

Ngezi have already sacked another coach, Erol Akbay, whom they replaced with Rodwell Dhlakama.

Across town, second-placed Chicken Inn have a tough away trip to Harare, where they face fifth-placed Black Rhinos this afternoon, in a match the Joey Antipas-coached side cannot afford to lose if they are to boost their title hopes, with Caps United having opened a five-point gap at the top.

FC Platinum face a resurgent Yadah side at Mandava Stadium, while Highlanders take on TelOne, who have also improved under Rahman Gumbo.

Fixtures

Today: FC Platinum v Yadah (Mandava), Manica Diamonds v Kariba (Vengere), Ngezi Platinum Stars v
Dynamos (Baobab), Highlanders v TelOne (Barbourfields), Harare City v Mushowani (Rufaro), Black Rhinos v Chicken Inn (NSS).

Tomorrow: Caps United v Hwange (NSS), Bulawayo Chiefs v Triangle, Chapungu v Herentals (Ascot)

BY CHARLES LAITON

PROSECUTOR-GENERAL (PG) Kumbirai Hodzi has petitioned the High Court on an urgent basis seeking an order to bar self-exiled former Cabinet minister Saviour Kasukuwere from accessing title deeds for his Mutare property which was forfeited to the State before the High Court quashed the ruling.

Kasukuwere was last year arrested and charged with criminal abuse of office, but when he took the matter to the High Court for review, Justice Tawanda Chitapi quashed all the charges saying there was no evidence suggesting that the former Zanu PF political commissar committed any criminal offence during his tenure in government service.

Early this week, the High Court again issued another order releasing Kasukuwere’s forfeited title deeds to a property on Lot 4 of Subdivision D Manchester in Mutare district, registered under 8010/2003, which had been held as surety when he was granted bail.

But according to prosecutor Zivanai Macharaga of the President’s Office Special Anti-Corruption Unit, the order for the release of the title deeds was issued at a time when Hodzi had petitioned the Supreme Court against Justice Chitapi’s ruling and the matter is still pending under case number SC550/19.

In his founding affidavit, the PG said he feared that Kasukuwere would dispose of his property once the title deeds are released to him, leaving the State with no other recourse in case it wins the Supreme Court challenge.

“Kasukuwere has shown that he is ready to deal with the property and may possibly dispose of it. I seek an urgent intervention of the court to interdict Kasukuwere from dealing with the property or disposing of it pending the resolution of the dispute under SC550/19,” Hodzi said.

The PG’s submission was also supported by Tafadzwanashe Mupariwa from the National Prosecuting Authority, who insisted that it was clear that the former minister intended to sell his Mutare property once released back to him.

“Kasukuwere has acted in a manner which shows that it is his intention to deal with the property in a manner that will prejudice the interests of the applicant (PG) and the due administration of justice,” Mupariwa said.

“Should the application not be dealt with now, the applicant may not be able to have recourse to the property as it will be difficult for him to retain the property as recognisance in the event that he succeeds in his appeal under SC550/19.”

The matter is pending.

By NQOBANI NDLOVU

THE Zanu PF Matabeleland South youth league has suspended its chairperson Washington Nkomo on charges of indiscipline, fanning factionalism and abuse of office, among others.

The youth league’s disciplinary committee met on Thursday in Gwanda, where they passed a vote of no-confidence on Nkomo.

But Nkomo yesterday dismissed his alleged suspension as null and void.

“As far as I know, I am still the Matabeleland South youth league chairperson. I have not been briefed on that, so as it is, it’s just but rumours,” he said.

Zanu PF national secretary for administration Obert Mpofu said he was unaware of Nkomo’s suspension.

“It’s the first time I am hearing it from you,” Mpofu said.

However, the youth league’s disciplinary committee — in its position paper — said it could no longer work with the Nkomo because he was allegedly destabilising the ruling party.

“The youth league Matabeleland South provincial disciplinary committee has on October 10, 2019, sat to discuss allegations of indiscipline, corruption, misuse or abuse of authority without executive consultation and misuse of resources acquired through the party and the wing by Nkomo,” the position paper read in part.

The youths said the decision to boot out Nkomo took long as they feared being labelled G40 activists – a Zanu PF faction that was angling to take over after the late former President Robert Mugabe.

A number of G40 leaders such as Saviour Kasukuwere, Jonathan Moyo, Mandiitawepi Chimene and Patrick Zhuwao, among others, are in exile fleeing alleged persecution.

“The chairman has caused despondency within the party structures by firing and appointing youth executive members. All along, provincial members of Matabeleland South have been fearing to stand against manipulation by the chairman in fear of being demoted to lower positions and labelled G40,” the disciplinary committee said.

“He overrides Matabeleland South youth league and commands the executive members to be loyal to himself instead of the party and President. He has addressed Press conferences without the knowledge of his executive on behalf of Matabeleland South youth league purporting to be resolutions agreed by the provincial executive.”

Port ELIZABETH — Norman Mapeza says his main priority is to turn around the flagging fortunes of Chippa United and save the Port Elizabeth-based club from relegation.

As things stand‚ after eight Absa Premiership matches‚ the Chilli Boyz remain the only team yet to taste the sweetness of a victory.

Rock bottom of the log with four points from as many draws and defeats‚ Chippa are destined for the chop if they don’t arrest their downward spiral.

“The club is in a difficult position, so the best plan is to make sure we survive relegation.
That is the main priority‚” Mapeza told TimesLIVE from Port Elizabeth.

He will take charge of his first match in the Telkom Knockout first round on the weekend of October 19 to 22 at home against Bloemfontein Celtic‚ but the Zimbabwean has already made it clear that his first prize is surviving relegation in the league.

His first PSL assignment will be an away trip to Tembisa on Gauteng’s East Rand to face Highlands Park on October 26.

“Look at the moment where the club is positioned. What do you expect from me? If they (Chippa chairman Mpengesi) had told me that they want to win the league at the end of the season, I would say ‘look‚ it can never happen’‚” said Mapeza‚ who spent five years with FC Platinum in Zimbabwe and guided them to back-to-back title wins in 2017 and 2018.

The former Zimbabwe midfield and defensive star and national coach said he was confident he could get the Chilli Boys’ campaign back on track.

“I also took over a club back home in Zimbabwe which was at the bottom of the table, but we managed to survive relegation. So Chippa offers another a new opportunity in a new environment.”

Mapeza saved Monomotapa United from relegation in 2007 and went on to win the Zimbabwe league the following season with the same team.

“For me, the Chippa job is a challenge that I wanted to experience‚” said Mapeza‚ who replaced Clinton Larsen — followed for a combined three matches by caretaker bosses Duran Francis and Mbuyiselo Sambo — as head coach on October 1 and inherits a team low on confidence.

Mapeza‚ Chippa’s 20th different coach in eight years‚ sees the move to join the club as his growth path.

“You know as coaches and as footballers we will always look to go somewhere. I was a footballer before and my wish was to go and play my football in Europe‚” he said.

“If you look at good coaches‚ for you to grow you need opportunities like this.

“I will give you an example. If (Mamelodi Sundowns coach) Pitso Mosimane goes today and gets an offer to go and coach Aston Villa‚ I don’t think he will say no because it is a new challenge for him and that is what he wishes for as a coach. As coaches our wish is to grow,” Mapeza said. — TimesLIVE

BY Nokuthaba Dlamini

HWANGE district’s biggest referral health institution, Victoria Falls Hospital, is running without emergency facilities and basic medication, a development which is compromising service delivery in the event of a disaster in the country’s prime tourist resort.

Doctors at the institution said there was no functional intensive care unit (ICU) and related supplies such as oxygen synthesisers.

A government medical officer, Michael Jeans, recently told United States ambassador to Zimbabwe, Brian Nichols that in cases of emergency, it takes about six hours for patients to be evacuated to the nearest health facility in South Africa.

He said the hospital needed facilities for trauma and life support, including oxygen synthesisers in the ICU.

“We also don’t have medication to stabilise patients affected by heat stroke nor injection for blood thinning and blood in emergency situations,” Jeans said.

“As a result, we alternate to anti-clotting pills like aspirin which is also not always available.
These injections are always in stock even in rural areas of South Africa, yet the prime tourism destination does not have.”

He added that due to electricity shortages, emergencies were difficult to attend to as the generator at times would not have adequate fuel to run.

Nichols said 60 000 Americans visited the country annually and safe healthcare was a necessity.

Acting district medical officer Fungai Musinami said they were working with US-based organisation, Matter, which recently donated maternity equipment.

Victoria Falls Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe chapter chairperson Farai Chimba said there was need for collaborative efforts to capacitate hospitals in order to promote smooth running of tourism.

“We had to take an injured tourist to hospital, but he died upon admission in South Africa, otherwise many prefer private hospitals,” he said.

Matabeleland North provincial medical director Purgie Chimbengwa said the Victoria Falls Hospital “is ideally not at a level of a provincial hospital, where one expects to find services such as ICU”.

In a bid to improve service delivery, he said they had deployed an obstetrician and gynaecologist to complement the government medical officers.

Community Working Group on Health executive director Itai Rusike said the deplorable state of the country’s health system required urgent attention, giving priority focus to revitalising the primary healthcare system and addressing the social determinants of health to achieve universal health coverage, thus enabling every Zimbabwean equitable access to essential quality health without facing financial hardships.

BY DESMOND CHINGARANDE

HARARE City Council has threatened to name and shame over 100 private companies owing $336 million in unpaid rates.

Speaking during a performance review meeting yesterday, council finance director Stanley Ndemera said the debtors’ honeymoon was now over, adding that besides naming and shaming, the local authority was ready to take legal action on all debtors.

“We are owed more than $900 million in total revenue fees and topping the list of debtors are private companies, with $336 million. Now we are taking a new direction and if they do not pay up, we will first name and shame them, then take the legal route,” he said.

Ndemera said government had cleared its debt with the council.

“We have categorised the high-value debtors and we put them in the following categories: government debt $22 222 445, which they have already cleared. Debt submitted to legal is
$58 691 896 and we have targeted 31 companies; dormitory towns $17 226 015 and other companies $255 913 325 to make it $336 827 666 debts owed to the council,” he said.

Council also disclosed that it had lost more than $10 million premises lease fees for the last five months due to a systems breakdown.

Editorial Comment

AS far as this country’s statutes are concerned, civil servants’ wages and benefits are not a secret to the extent that they should actually be published in the Government Gazette. It does not matter whose salary and benefits they are, from the President down to the lowest-paid public worker, their earnings should be publicly known.

It then comes as a huge surprise that government, through Treasury, appears to be clandestinely and unevenly awarding its workers. It appears it is favouring a few lucky one while the majority – who include doctors, nurses and teachers, are being left to stretch their meagre earnings beyond the impossible.

Revelations that the country’s magistrates have been awarded hefty salaries and allowances at a time the government is at odds with the bulk of its workforce over the same smacks of serious duplicity. And the chief magistrate’s attempts to conceal the deal and his disappointment that the information had leaked have exposed the government. The whole issue is an indictment on President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s promise to promote transparency and good governance. Many questions are now emerging. What else is happening behind the scenes along government corridors?

Why is government using divide and rule tactics on its workforce? Why has the government decided to be so brazenly dishonest? Is it now a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing?

What is also quite worrying about this issue is that in his letter to rebuke those who had leaked the secret salary award, the chief magistrate sounds as if what he and his principals have done is above board.

“I refer to my correspondence to all of you on Friday October 4, 2019. In that correspondence, I attached a schedule indicating the new structure of regional magistrates’ salaries and other allowances. I exhorted all of you to counsel colleagues to ensure that the information did not end up being distributed to persons who have nothing to do with it. Contrary to that exhortation and ethical conduct expected, I am advised that the information is awash on social media platforms.

Please, advise all regional magistrates that the Chief Justice and the secretary for Judicial Service Commission are both concerned about this lack of respect for the office of regional magistrate. I pray that this unreasonableness does not return to disadvantage magistrates in future remuneration discussions,” the chief magistrate is reported to have written.

So, what is ethical and just about this whole issue, if we may ask? We would have thought, being the custodians of the rule of law, the judiciary would not be swayed to accept under the table wage and allowance offers. We expect better conduct from our judiciary and we never thought they would stoop this low and accept to be secretly pampered at the expense of fellow civil servants.

BY SILAS NKALA

BINDURA magistrate Langton Ndokera has acquitted a local resident, Saymore Mashorokoto, who was on trial for blaming President Emmerson Mnangagwa for the country’s deteriorating political and economic situation.

Mashorokoto was arrested after publicly calling on Mnangagwa to hand over power to opposition MDC leader Nelson Chamisa.

During trial, the prosecution alleged that the 45-year-old Mashorokoto, who was charged with contravening section 41(b) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, had acted in a disorderly conduct.

They alleged that Mashokorokoto had used threatening, abusive, or insulting words intending to breach peace.

But Ndokera on Thursday acquitted Mashorokoto, who was represented by Tinomuda Shoko and Blessing Nyamaropa of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), after ruling that the evidence presented in court by the State did not warrant a conviction.

Ndokera also stated that before bringing such cases to court, police should seriously consider the impact they pose to the country.

Meanwhile, an MDC Alliance councillor in Bindura has denied charges of disorderly conduct after he allegedly stated that Mnangagwa had run down the economy and caused untold suffering to the citizens.

Brian Kembo denied the charge on Wednesday when he appeared before magistrate Maria Musika.

The prosecution alleged that Kembo (36), who is represented by Idirashe Chikomba of ZLHR, engaged in disorderly conduct when he allegedly stated that several people in Zimbabwe were stressed owing to Mnangagwa’s failure to fix the country’s economic crisis after winning the 2018 presidential election.

The prosecution claimed that Kembo boarded a commuter omnibus on October 24 last year, where during a conversation with another passenger, blamed Mnangagwa for failing to alleviate the current economic crisis, which has seen a spike in the cost of living.

According to a ZLHR report, two witnesses have testified against Kembo, who was remanded out of custody to October 24, when Musika is expected to make a ruling on his application for discharge.

BY VENERANDA LANGA

NEW chairperson of the African Parliamentarians Network Against Corruption (APNAC) Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga has called on governments to impose mandatory disclosure of assets laws on MPs and public officials to promote transparency and accountability.

Misihairabwi-Mushonga made the remarks during a Southern African Parliamentary Support Trust (SAPST) policy dialogue for MPs and journalists held in Harare on Thursday, where stakeholders were brainstorming on the implementation of recommendations made by parliamentary portfolio committees and the Auditor-General.

“Section 198 of the Constitution demands that Parliament must come up with a law to ensure public officers make regular disclosure of their assets because people are living beyond their means,” she said.

“Some MPs that came to Parliament from 2000 are divorcing — and the amounts of properties that they would have acquired are very frightening. You find a young MP who joined Parliament soon after college and they had no job, but they now own very expensive properties and vehicles.

“Parliamentary Standing Rules and Orders require disclosure of assets and, as APNAC, we have noted that some MPs have disclosed their assets while others have not. We are saying that disclosure of assets should be done in public and not in the Speaker of the National Assembly’s office to enhance accountability.”

Misihairabwi-Mushonga said APNAC would strengthen parliamentarians’ fight against corruption and even initiate private members’ Bills to ensure anti-corruption laws are tightened. For example, Misihairabwi-Mushonga said there is need for a Whistleblowers’ Act.

Budget and Finance Parliamentary Portfolio Committee chairperson Felix Mhona said while Parliament was working on the clock to expose corruption through its committees, the issue of executing the findings and recommendations was the prerogative of the Executive, while the Judiciary interpreted the laws in order to enforce prosecution.

Mhona said currently, the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Bill was before Parliament and public hearings would be held on it, adding that people must interrogate it during public hearings.

Member of the Public Accounts Committee and APNAC’s Willas Madzimure said the committee would have a no-nonsense attitude towards corrupt people, adding that its recent reports recommended firing of corrupt government officials.