New Delhi (CNN)

At least 36 people have died this summer in one of India’s longest heat waves in recent history, Anshu Priya, a spokeswoman for India’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), told CNN.

Intense heat has scorched the country for more than 30 consecutive days, primarily in northern and central India. Temperatures reached 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit) in New Delhi on June 10 — the highest ever recorded in the capital in June.

In Churu, in the western state of Rajasthan, temperatures exceeded 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) on June 1.

A delayed monsoon has contributed to the prolonged hot weather, arriving in southern India around June 8, seven days later than usual. Northern India is still waiting for its annual rains.

Raghavan Krishnan of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology told CNN that the heat waves are becoming “more intense and frequent.”

n summer 2016, the NDMA launched a series of initiatives to mitigate the deadly impact of heat waves, including opening shelters for homeless people, adjusting state government working hours to avoid extreme hot weather, establishing drinking water kiosks, and painting roofs white to reduce heat absorption.

As a result, the country has seen a dramatic drop in deaths from heat waves in recent years. In 2015, more than 2,400 people died in a heat wave. The following year, a heat wave killed just 250 people.

(Reuters) – Jets used for corporate travel by Russian state-owned oil major Rosneft flew at least 13 times to Mallorca, Ibiza, Sardinia and the Maldives when CEO Igor Sechin or people from his social circle were in the same vacation spots.

Using publicly available data, Reuters tracked 290 Rosneft flights between January, 2015 and May, 2019. Of those round trips, 96 took place during Russian public holidays or between Friday lunchtime in Moscow and Monday morning.

Since the start of 2015, Rosneft corporate jets traveled eight times to Sardinia’s Olbia airport, 15 times to the Maldives and seven times to Spain’s Palma de Mallorca, according to the flight tracking data from planefinder.net, flightaware.com, opensky.network.org and flight-data.adsbexchange.com.

Reuters found no public information released by Rosneft or the Russian authorities about official events at those destinations, although the company does not always disclose information about its meetings.

For some of the flights to vacation spots, Sechin’s associates, including his wife before their divorce and mutual friends, posted photos on social media placing them at the same location as the Rosneft aircraft at the same time.

Sechin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin and head of the world’s largest listed oil company by production, has not appeared in social media posts from the holiday resorts.

But Reuters did photograph a man closely matching his description boarding a Rosneft plane at Palma da Mallorca airport on Aug. 6 last year.

Overall, Reuters found public information from Rosneft or the Russian authorities about official events corresponding to 42 of the 290 flights.

In a statement issued on Tuesday in response to Reuters questions, Rosneft said that as a global company it works in all parts of the world, and that expenditures on corporate aircraft are “carried out in accordance with the approved corporate standards.” It did not give details.

Rosneft declined to answer detailed questions from Reuters, saying the news agency was conducting “information sabotage in the service of the intelligence services of interested states.”

Among the questions the company declined to address were whether Sechin’s employment contract entitled him to use corporate jets for personal purposes or whether Sechin reimbursed the company for private flights.

In a reply sent in April to previous Reuters questions about the use of corporate aircraft by the friends or family members of Rosneft employees, the company said: ”No private transport of family members was carried out at the expense of the company.”

A source close to the Rosneft board of directors said no clause in Sechin’s contract allowing private flights had been put before the board for approval.

Sechin’s use of corporate aircraft for travel to holiday destinations – regardless of whether his contract permits it or not – is part of a pattern of wasteful spending by Rosneft, said Vladimir Milov, Russian deputy energy minister until 2002.

Milov is now a critic of the Kremlin, arguing that Putin’s circle is using Russia’s natural resources wealth for their own benefit.

He also cited a 2017 order placed by a company subsidiary to buy tableware including caviar dishes and silver spoons with a total value of $83,000.

After Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny disclosed the order on YouTube on May 22, 2017, it was canceled the next day, according to Rosneft’s website.

The office of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the Rosneft flights, saying it was an internal, corporate matter. The Russian government’s spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

SIX FLIGHTS TO MALLORCA IN A YEAR

Between January 2015 and May 2019 Rosneft used a fleet of six business jets registered in Austria and the Isle of Man. They were owned by Rosneft subsidiaries, chartered by Rosneft, used for official Rosneft corporate trips, or in most cases all three.

The photograph Reuters believes is of Sechin shows him boarding a Rosneft-operated Bombardier 6000 aircraft at Palma de Mallorca airport on Aug. 6, 2018. The photograph was taken from a public thoroughfare.

The same jet – with tail number M-YOIL – flew into Palma de Mallorca six times between mid-July and late-August, 2018, according to flight tracking data and photographs taken by Reuters at the airport.

Over that period, the aircraft was on Mallorca or nearby for 27 days, not including the day of arrival or departure.

On July 15, the day a Rosneft flight landed in Palma de Mallorca, the Russian pop singer and Sechin family friend Anita Tsoy posted on Instagram that her family’s long-awaited vacation had begun.

On July 19, she posted a photograph on Instagram, tagged as having been taken on Mallorca, of her, her 26-year-old son and her husband, Sergei Tsoy, a senior Rosneft executive.

On Aug. 1, the day after the Rosneft jet landed back in Moscow, she posted a photo tagged Moscow. ”The holiday has come to an end,” she wrote.

Neither Anita Tsoy nor Sergei Tsoy responded to requests for comment. Rosneft did not respond to questions about the flights to Palma.

CODE OF CONDUCT

Rosneft’s corporate code of conduct, a public document, states that “we do not use the company’s property and assets not for the purposes intended, or to personal ends or with the aim of extracting personal benefit.”

The full cost of the flights is not available, but Reuters found documents showing the costs of running one of the private jets in 2016.

The jet with tail number M-YOIL is operated by a Singapore-registered company called AV Asia Developments Pte Ltd, according to Eurocontrol, an inter-governmental aviation body.

A 2016 financial report for AV Asia Developments, 100 percent controlled by Rosneft, stated the company received $1.86 million for the charter of the sole jet it operated at the time, and more than $2 million for services related to the same plane.

AV Asia Developments did not respond to a request for comment.

Flight tracking data showed that during 2016, the plane carried out 12 flights totaling around 96 hours in the air. 

When set against the figures in the AV Asia Developments report, that  works out at an hourly cost – a standard industry measure of the cost of private jet services – of about $40,000, or about $19,000 excluding services costs.

A return business class flight from Moscow to the Maldives with Russian carrier Aeroflot, departing June 28 and returning July 4, costs $3,770 according to the Aeroflot booking website.

“EMERALD COAST”, MALDIVES FLIGHTS

Sechin’s then-wife Olga Sechina spent part of the summer of 2015 at Costa Smeralda in Sardinia, according to her posts on social media tagged with the location, and posts of her friend Olga Tonkikh.

Sechina’s first post from there was on June 30, and the last social media record of the vacation was an Aug. 21 post on one of Tonkikh’s social media accounts, featuring Sechina.

Around that period, a Rosneft Bombardier Global 6000 jet with the tail number OE-IRS was recorded three times at Sardinia’s Olbia airport: on July 26, Aug. 16 and Sept. 9, according to flight tracking data.

On Aug. 14, the Cala Di Volpe hotel at the Costa Smeralda resort hosted a private concert by British pop singer Robbie Williams, according to the hotel’s Facebook posts.

The same day, Olga Tonkikh posted a photograph on Instagram showing both women with hashtags including #robiwilliams.

Neither Tonkikh nor Olga Sechina responded to requests for comment. Rosneft did not reply to questions about flights to Sardinia.

On the night of Dec. 24, 2016, a Rosneft Boeing business jet with tail number OE-IRF took off from Moscow’s Vnukovo airport in the direction of the Indian Ocean, flight tracking data showed. Two days after the flight departed, Tsoy, the pop star, posted a picture of herself on Instagram from inside an aircraft that matches the interior of a Boeing business jet.

”And here the long-awaited moment has arrived: VACATION,” she wrote next to the photo.

On Jan. 3, 2017 she posted a picture of herself on a golf course that matched publicity photos for Velaa Private Island, an exclusive Maldives resort.

On Dec. 28, 2016 and Jan. 4, Sechin’s then-wife Olga posted photographs on Instagram of herself in a room that matches publicity material of Velaa Private Residence posted on the resort’s website.

Sechin and his wife divorced in June 2017, according to court documents seen by Reuters.

There have been Rosneft flights to the Maldives since then.

Flight tracking data showed two Rosneft private jets flying into the international airport in the Maldives on Dec. 28 and out again hours later. The same two planes flew back to the Maldives on Jan 9. and returned to Moscow on Jan. 12.

Reuters saw photographs of the aircraft taken while they were at Velana International Airport in January before they took off for Moscow.

There is no public record of Rosneft executives having any business meetings in the Maldives in the last three years.

Sechin’s ex-wife and Anita Tsoy did not respond to questions about their trips to the Maldives.

BY AFRICANEWS

Tanzania’s finance ministry proposed new taxes on locally manufactured and imported wigs and hair extensions which are popular with women in the country.

Phillipo Mpango, who was tabling the 2019-2020 budget in parliament was applauded by legislators when he made the proposals that are likely to be unpopular with ordinary Tanzanians.

When the budget is approved, locally manufactured wigs will pay a 10% tax, while imported ones will attract a 25% tax.

East African finance ministers including from Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania presented their budgets for the next financial year on Thursday.

More from Tanzania’s budget

Mpango said Tanzania’s overall spending will rise 2% to 33.11 trillion shillings ($14.43 billion) in 2019/2020, while borrowing 4.96 trillion shillings from the domestic market.

The government also plans to borrow 2.32 trillion shillings from external non-concessional sources, Mpango said.

East Africa’s third-largest economy is investing heavily in public infrastructure projects as it seeks to profit from its long coastline and upgrade its rickety railways and roads to serve the growing economies in east and central Africa.

Rwanda’s budget

Rwanda’s overall spending will rise 11% in 2019/20 (July-June) fiscal year to 2.877 trillion Rwandan francs ($3.16 billion), while 2019 economic growth will be slower than a year earlier, its finance minister said on Thursday.

Uzziel Ndagijimana proposed that 85.8% of the budget would come from internal sources, and the rest from external grants. The economy is projected to grow 7.8% in 2019 from 8.6% in 2018, he said.

Uganda’s ambitious financial plan

Uganda plans to raise its spending by 23% in 2019/20 (July-June) to 40.1 trillion shillings, and its fiscal deficit will rise, its finance minister said on Thursday in his budget speech.

Matia Kasaija said in parliament the 2019/2020 fiscal deficit will be 8.7% of GDP, up from 5.8% in this fiscal year, which ends this month.

He said the government will borrow 2.8 trillion shillings from domestic markets in 2019/20 up from 2.2 trillion shillings in 2018/19. External financing will be 10.11 trillion shillings, but he did not say how much of this will be borrowed.

Highlights of Kenya’s budget

Kenya will cut its budget deficit for its 2019/20 (July-June) financial year to 5.6 percent of GDP from 7.4 percent in the fiscal year to the end of this month, the Finance Minister Henry Rotich said in his budget proposals to parliament.

The funding gap will be filled by net local borrowing of 283.5 billion shillings ($2.79 billion) and 324 billion shillings in net external borrowing, Rotich said.

BY BBC

Women across Switzerland have begun a day of demonstrations against what they say is the country’s unacceptably slow pace to equality.

Friday’s protest comes 28 years after similar action saw half a million women take to the streets in 1991.

Swiss women have long campaigned to accelerate the pace of gender equality.

They joined millions of other women in Europe after World War One ended in 1918 in demanding the right to vote – but did not get it until 1971.

At the time of the 1991 strike there were no women in the Swiss government, and there was no statutory maternity leave.

Appenzell, the last Swiss canton to refuse women the right to vote, had just been ordered to change its policy by Switzerland’s Supreme Court.

How far has Switzerland come?

Some things have changed: there have since been eight female government ministers and the right to maternity leave is now enshrined in law.

However, women in Switzerland still earn on average 20% less than men, they are under-represented in management positions, and childcare remains not only expensive, but in short supply.

Last month, a survey by the International Labour Organisation put Switzerland bottom of the list in pay rates between men and women in senior roles.

Journalist Beatrice Born, who was six months pregnant with her first child when she joined the strike back in 1991, will be striking again on Friday.

When she returned to work following the birth of her daughter in 1991, she got something of a shock. No-one, it seemed, had expected her back, and certainly not full-time. “The resistance was huge,” she says.

Paola Ferro, one of the organisers of the 1991 strike, will be back on the streets on Friday, too.

She agrees that some progress has been made in the past 28 years, but points to the wage and pension gap. Swiss women’s pensions are 37% lower than men’s, primarily because women take time out from work to raise their children.

Why #frauenstreik is trending

A new strike was first suggested last year in response to parliament’s decision to introduce more scrutiny on equal pay.

The government’s move only related to companies with more than 100 employees, a measure that women trade union leaders dismissed as virtually meaningless.

Since then, women across the country have been mobilising, using social media to take advantage of the power of the hashtag.

#Frauenstreik – women’s strike in German – has been trending for days, along with #GrèvedesFemmes in French.

Events were staged in many of the main cities on Friday, including Bern, Sion and Lausanne, where women filled the station concourse to sing a feminist hymn.

Social media has emerged in recent years as one of the most powerful techniques for quickly raising awareness of a particular issue and mobilising people for protests and demonstrations.

Nadine, a Swiss law student not even born when the first strike took place in her country, will be among those taking part.

“I think it’s a good thing,” says the student, who comes from the traditionally conservative canton of Glarus.

“People will get informed about the many disadvantages women still face: we don’t get equal pay, men still get prioritised with certain jobs,” she adds
Aida, a 25-year-old yoga teacher, will be striking too.

“I think it’s a good opportunity to stand together and show that we’re not happy with the way things are,” she explains.

For her it’s also a way to pay tribute to earlier struggles. “I want to honour all the amazing, strong women who fought for us before.”

Not every Swiss woman is entirely convinced.

“I’m not sure what to think about the strike,” says one. “Some of these feminists can be really in your face,” another tells the BBC.

But the fact that every Swiss town and village, from urban centre to alpine farming community, has an activity planned for the day, is an indication of widespread impatience with the slow pace of equality.

What will bosses do?

Thousands of women have already informed their bosses they won’t be at work.

Others will leave at 15:30, reducing their working day by 20% to symbolise the 20% wage gap. But Switzerland has no tradition of major industrial stoppages, and there are unlikely to be unexpected walkouts.

Some employers have said the strike is illegal, but many big companies seem to be taking a pragmatic approach. Retail giant Migros has said it would prefer employees not to simply down tools, but has also suggested there will be no disciplinary action if they do.

What good will it do?

The real test though will not be relaxed employers or supportive men on Friday, but whether the inequality Swiss women have campaigned against so long will be addressed.

Ms Born, who joined a newsroom staffed entirely by men in 1986, is quietly optimistic. “We’ve achieved some good things since 1991,” she points out. “We have maternity leave now.”

“And something else. In 1991 the government and parliament were completely male-dominated. Today, women in politics is completely normal here. And that phrase ‘the first Swiss woman ever to’… we used to hear it a lot. Now we hardly do.”

Nairobi, Kenya (CNN)

Kenyan Member of Parliament, Rashid Kassim, has been arrested after being accused of causing “actual bodily harm” to his female colleague, the Kenyan Police Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said.

In a video circulating on social media, MP Fatuma Gedi said she was walking out of the Parliament in Nairobi Thursday morning, when she met Kassim, who she says confronted her over why she did not allocate money to his constituency.

Gedi said after explaining her position, she was told she was “stupid” and was struck several times in the mouth and jaw. “And then he hit me, he punched me here,” Gedi said, gesturing towards her mouth. “And then again, and I was shocked.”

MP Sabina Chege is the Muranga County Women’s Representative and said she was a witness to the alleged assault.

She told CNN on Friday, “Mr. Rashid was complaining about funds allocation for his constituency by Hon. Fatuma Gedi who sits on the budget committee, she told him the issue was before the public participation committee of which Rashid never attended.”

She continued, “He became agitated and started hurling insults at the MP and then he hit her, not once but twice slapped on the face.”

Chege said she and other MPs stormed out of Parliament during the next session in protest.

“This came as a shock to all of us, it’s bad and demeaning, how can a Member of Parliament be attacked inside the precincts of the house,” she said.

“It’s sad that male Members of Parliament are threatened by our presence, they are thinking we are taking their territories and they are not ready to accommodate powerful women leaders coming up. Instead of being scared they should all do their job of service delivery like we do, not hit women. No,” Chege added.

CNN has attempted to contact the accused MP Rashid Kassim for a statement but is yet to receive a response.

The Kenyan Police Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said “further investigations are ongoing.”

Journalist Idris Muktar reported from Nairobi and CNN’s AJ Davis wrote from Atlanta.

BY VENERANDA LANGA

OPPOSITION MP Willias Madzimure yesterday demanded that Home Affairs minister Cain Mathema or his deputy, Mike Madiro, issue a ministerial statement on the progress by the police in locating the whereabouts of missing journalist-cum-activist Itai Dzamara.

For years, the Home Affairs ministry has been promising to bring regular reports in the House on progress in finding the missing human rights activist, but that has not been
happening.

Madzimure said it would be better for the police to put closure to Dzamara’s case to end the emotional suffering by his wife, Shefra and
family.

“It is more than five years since Dzamara disappeared and the Home Affairs ministry promised to give an update on his whereabouts,” he said.

“We have provisions in our statutes that deal with missing persons and it is high time that the Home Affairs minister comes to this House to give a report on the investigations done so
far.

“If there is need to declare Dzamara dead, then do that so that the family can have closure.”

Madzimure said the country’s Constitution stipulates that every person has a right to life and so Dzamara’s case must come to a conclusion.

Meanwhile in the Senate, Chiefs Council president Chief Fortune Charumbira, asked Information deputy minister Energy Mutodi to explain government policy on fake Twitter and other social
media accounts.

Charumbira said he was a victim of a fake post of a pseudo-personality pretending to be him on Twitter who blasted President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government for people’s suffering.

Mutodi said several other top government officials, including Mnangagwa, Vice-Presidents and top army officials, had been victims of fake social media accounts.

“It is not only happening in Zimbabwe. In the United States, 11% of social media accounts are fake and some have been used for fraudulent criminal activities. In Zimbabwe, we face a
serious situation of these fake accounts because popular individuals like the Head of State and Government, the army, the Central Intelligence Organisation or chiefs are used to
peddle lies through those fake accounts as if they have said something,” Mutodi said.

He said the Cyber-Crime Bill being crafted would deal with the issue of people creating fake accounts and defaming others by posting nude pictures.

However, Mutodi said it would be difficult to prosecute because the Constitution provided for freedom of information.

He said some of the people creating fake social media accounts were domiciled in foreign countries.

In an unrelated matter, Parliament yesterday also produced a statement saying they were a victim of a fake social media post, where claims were being made that the institution had
bought diesel coupons at Redan at an inflated cost of ZWL$10,50, which is way above statutory limits.

Journalist Hopewell Chin’ono had brought the matter to the attention of Parliament demanding answers.

By Everson Mushava

MDC leader Nelson Chamisa yesterday came to the rescue of his rival MDC-T president Thokozani Khupe and Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda after they were booed by party supporters at the send-off funeral service for the late Glen View South MP Vimbai Tsvangirai-Java in Harare yesterday.

Vimbai, who on Monday succumbed to injuries sustained in an accident outside Kwekwe on May 14, was buried at the Glen Forest Cemetery in the capital.

Her body was taken to City Sports Centre before being taken for burial where thousands came to bid farewell to the daughter of the late founding MDC leader
Morgan Tsvangirai.

Khupe, a former Tsvangirai deputy, was first booed when she stepped into the City Sports Centre and later when her presence was recognised, while Mudenda’s
crime was to mention President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s name in his eulogies.

Mudenda was forced to quietly stand behind the microphone for close to five minutes amid booing, forcing Chamisa to step up to manage the situation before he
continued with his candid speech, which was later appreciated by the opposition supporters.

Chamisa gave the party supporters some tongue-lashing, saying if they indeed, believe he was their leader, they should stop heckling Khupe and Mudenda at a
funeral.

The youthful leader described Vimbai as an all-inclusive person and urged the party supporters to honour her by embracing anyone who had come to grieve with
them.

“I am not happy with what you did to Advocate Mudenda and Dr Khupe. I don’t want to hear anything like that again,” Chamisa said.

“Vimbai was an inclusive person and we expect you to do the same. This is a funeral. Dr Khupe worked for the country and the party with Tsvangirai and Vimbai.”

Chamisa then chided the party supporters for failing to respect the institution of Parliament, which was represented by Mudenda, before assuring the Speaker of
peace and freedom to say whatever he wanted to say.

“Honourable Sir, you have the peace of the place, the freedom of the environment, to utter what you may wish, including repeating the name of President Mnangagwa, who is the president of Zanu PF,” Chamisa said to wild cheers.

Khupe and Chamisa acrimoniously parted ways last year following a dispute on who should take over after the death of Tsvangirai.

Tsvangirai’s deputy of 10 years was forced to go it alone during last year’s elections, where Chamisa narrowly lost to Mnangagwa.

Chamisa has, however, refused to accept the outcome that was endorsed by the Constitutional Court, demanding dialogue, which he insists should be anchored on
the country’s legitimacy question, a demand flatly rejected by Zanu PF.

Mudenda, Chamisa said, was a unifier who believed in Zimbabwe. He said a country is run by accommodating divergent views.

“With Dr Khupe, we had our problems, but she is our comrade, I honour you, Dr Khupe. We should learn to acknowledge and respect others. We still have the
Speaker of Parliament we should respect, we still have the generals in the army we should respect. If you fail to respect others when you are still in
opposition, when you take over government, there will be gnashing of teeth,” the MDC leader said.

“We need tolerance. Dr Khupe, once more I salute you. You were my deputy Prime Minster when I was a minister. You were a vice-president when I was organising
secretary. There might be some problems, but that won’t change. I have always said we will meet, and we have met today at Vimbai’s funeral.”

In his address, Mudenda described Vimbai as a humble person, a selfless leader who emulated his father’s leadership attributes, who accepted to join the
inclusive government for the benefit of the people and helped stabilise things during the five years he was in government.

He also called for unity for the country to move forward and urged all people to copy from Tsvangirai whose leadership was not self-centred.

By Everson Mushava

The late MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s brother-in-law yesterday challenged President Emmerson Mnangagwa and opposition leader Nelson Chamisa to dialogue and come up with an inclusive government that will address the country’s economic challenges, decrying the deplorable state Zimbabweans are living in.

Isaac Mhundwa, brother to Tsvangirai’s wife, the late Susan, said: “My sister died in an accident on her way to celebrate the inclusive government that later stabilised the economy for the betterment of people’s lives. My niece died in an accident as well and I hope this challenges the political leaders to negotiate and come up with another inclusive government.”

Vimbai Tsvangirai-Java, the eldest daughter of Morgan and Susan, succumbed to injuries sustained in an accident she was involved in outside Kwekwe on May 14.

Mhundwa’s remarks came after Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda was booed by MDC supporters at the mention of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s name.

Mhundwa said the heckling was because people were hungry and urged the political leaders in the country to consider talks and come up with a unity government that would stabilise the economy and make life better for ordinary Zimbabweans.

“The reason people booed Advocate Mudenda is that they are hungry. They are struggling to survive. Things are not looking good. In fact, it is frustrating. If they earn their salaries
today, tomorrow it will be nothing. Things cannot continue like that. Advocate Mudenda, can you go and tell the President that the people are not happy with the status quo,” Mhundwa
said.

“The challenge is now on you (Mudenda and Chamisa). We would be happy to hear that people are talking at the top. People have suffered.”

Tsvangirai’s first son, Edwin, made similar calls at his father’s memorial in Buhera last month, but was booed by MDC supporters.

Chamisa on Wednesday said he wanted genuine dialogue with Mnangagwa that should address the legitimacy crisis the country is facing.

He, however, said the dialogue was not aimed at coming up with a power-sharing deal, but to resolve the country’s economy.

Mnangagwa has rejected any demand to discuss last year’s election, which he says he won, and has opened up talks with fringe presidential candidates in last year’s polls, which were
snubbed by Chamisa and other leaders.

BY DESMOND CHINGARANDE

The trial of former City of Harare commission chairpersons Sekesai Makwavarara, Michael Mahachi and former town clerk Tendai Mahachi, who are facing charges of awarding Augur Investment Company a contract without due process, failed to kick off yesterday after the special prosecutor failed to turn up.

Makwavarara (61), Michael and Tendai Mahachi appeared before magistrate Hosea Mujaya and the matter was postponed to July 11 for trial.

The matter is being handled by Zivanai Macharaga of the anti-corruption special prosecution unit in the office of President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Allegations are that sometime in 2007, City of Harare planned to construct and upgrade Airport Road and on June 22, 2007, Makwavarara, acting in common purpose with Tendayi and Michael
Mahachi, who are already in remand in connection with this matter, caused City of Harare to enter into a memorandum of agreement (MoU)) with Augur Investments without council resolution
and without following tender procedures.

It is alleged that Makwavarara and his accomplices signed the MoU representing the City of Harare, while Augur was represented by Olexander Sheremet. The MOU was signed by Makwavarara
in connivance with her accomplice and Tendai Mahachi representing council.

The State avers that on September 4, 2007, Makwavarara and her accomplices entered into a shareholders agreement and MoU on May 21 2008 with Augur Investments, a foreign based company
purportedly based in Ukraine. The agreements were for the construction and upgrading of Airport Road at a cost of $80 million.

According to the agreements, Augur Investments was to fund and provide the expertise for the project with the City of Harare ceding pieces of land to the company. The project was
allegedly divided into four phases and was to be completed in 2010.

The shareholders agreed that the title deeds of the land were to be held in trust by Messrs Coghlan Welsh and Guest, pending transfer upon completion and certification of work done.

Makwavarara acting in cahoots with her accomplices hatched a plan to violate the provisions of the law and engaged Augur Investments, a company which was not registered in Zimbabwe
under the Companies Act and under the Zimbabwe Investment Authority (Zia) at the time of the agreement.

The company was later registered in 2010 after the lifespan of the alleged contract had expired. The engagement of Augur Investments by the accuse persons was a violation of the Urban Councils Act.