BY STEPHEN CHADENGA

THE Land Commission, chaired by Justice Tendai Uchena, will on Monday start making inquiries into the sale of State land in and around the Midlands province dating back to 2005, a senior government official has said.

Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs permanent secretary Virginia Mabiza, who is secretary to the commission, said they would be in the province from June 10 to June 28, to gather public views on double or multiple allocations, allocation of stands on spaces meant for schools, clinics, roads, recreational sites, wetlands and open spaces, among others.

“The commission shall commence its inquiries in Midlands province by conducting site visits to farms, locations or urban State land units,” she said in a statement.

“After site visits, the commission will hear government officials, local authorities, land developers and homeseekers who purchased stands and beneficiaries of urban State land from June 14 to 28, 2019.”

She said the sites that would be visited include Lot 73 of Umsungwe Block, Hertfordshire (Phase 1 and 2), Lot 1 of 5A West Gwelo Block and Belton of Clysdale (Tatenda Park), Subdivision 4 of Gwelo Small Holdings (Woodlands), Adelaide Park in Senga, Mkoba 12 Infill, portion of Central Estates in Mvuma, Mabula in Zvishavane and Makgakooshla in Shurugwi.

In March, at a devolution workshop in Gweru, Local Government minister July Moyo warned land developers in the Midlands province that the long arm of the law would soon catch up with those allocating residential stands on unsuitable sites such as wetlands.

BY TATENDA CHITAGU

ZIMBABWE’S hectarage under timber declined sharply from 120 000 to 70 000, about 41%, last year due to the harsh business environment, illegal settlers, miners, veld fires and the chaotic land reform programme, a situation that will lead to timber shortages in the near future, the Timber Producers Federation has said.

Speaking at an agriculture and forestry sector workshop in Harare, Timber Producers Federation chief executive, Darlington Duwa, said there is need for recapitalisation of the sector to avert domestic timber supply shortages.

The workshop was organised by the Climate Change Management Department in the Ministry of Lands and supported by the United Nations Development Programme.

“Plantations hectarage has declined from 120 000 hectares of commercial timber plantations to 70 000 last year. The general picture is that the area is declining. We do have a temporary unplanted area of 40 000 hectares,” he said.

“This is because of numerous challenges which have to do with the economy, shortages of diesel and working capital, among others, including the ease of doing business and veld fires that left large ripe trees burnt. A lot of areas have been damaged and this affected operations. As a result, companies downsized. There are also illegal settlers in our plantations.”

Zimbabwe Forestry Commission researcher Tatenda Gotore weighed in, saying there was also a shortage of improved tree species that could withstand changing climate.

“There is a steady decline in the supply of appropriate tree species. Shortage of suitable pine seed species is also hampering planting. The industry needs Pinus patula or Pinus maximinnoi/ tercunuminii, which are in short supply. The need for improved seed (varieties) is growing and we should look for other varieties because the timber industry is under 50% capacity utilisation, and they also cannot access low interest loans,” he said.

“Commercial plantation owners meet their own financing requirements. In recent years, it has become difficult to borrow due to high interest rates and perceived country risk. Thus, some companies have financed their operations through arrangements where payment is done in kind.”

Gotore said there are other policy barriers to the development of the timber industry, like lack of a national forest policy to guide forestry development, weak implementation of the
Forest Act as it relates to forest fires, prohibitive levies on the timber industry, lack of incentives on the “limping” industry as well as the unavailability of land for new commercial timber plantations.

He said if there are no interventions, the country would face timber shortages starting from 2025.

BY NQOBANI NDLOVU

THE National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) has said its provincial peace committees will be mandated to solve conflicts in their areas because a “one-size-fits all” approach has proved impractical.

The NPRC is setting up provincial peace committees countrywide to deal with past conflicts peculiar to their areas, and also facilitate peace-building processes.

This comes after the NPRC recently completed a 21-day outreach programme to gather citizens’ views on dealing with past conflicts.

NPRC commissioner Patience Chiradza said the process of setting up provincial peace committees is expected to be complete by early July, having so far set up such in Mashonaland West and Central.

“The peace committees are a platform within the commission to deal with issues of peace-building in communities. What they will do is that they will use local knowledge and local resources in dealing with conflicts and peace-building initiatives in their localities,” Chiradza said yesterday.

“The provincial peace committees consist of various stakeholders representing government, civic society, church, business, academia, political parties, youth, people with disabilities and war veterans, among others.”

She added that between 30 and 40 people would sit in the committees.

“Obviously, we will put a small criteria such as ensuring that we have people who are committed to and have shown interest to issues of peace building. We are looking at 30 to 40 members on average to sit on the provincial peace committees,” she said.

“It is a kind of devolving the work of the NPRC. We have set up (their) terms of reference, the only difference being that it’s really voluntary. It’s all voluntary work of people who are committed. We are hoping that once we are done with provincial peace committees we will then cascade to the districts and wards, but that should be at a later stage.”

According to the Constitution, the NPRC is mandated to deal with past conflicts to ensure healing and reconciliation.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa signed NPRC into law in January to operationalise the commission appointed in 2016 by his predecessor Robert Mugabe.

BY CHARLES LAITON

CABS Bank has petitioned the High Court seeking a garnishee order against a member of the National Defence University, Arnold Lethlale Pullen, who reportedly stole $262 208 that had been mistakenly transferred into his bank account during a system failure at the financial institution in 2017.

According to the papers recently filed at the court, Cabs Bank Limited has cited Pullen as the judgment debtor while Defence minister, Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri and the director of the Salary Service Bureau (SSB) are cited as garnishees.

In his founding affidavit, Cabs Bank head of recoveries, Collins Chikukwa said his employer was making the application for a garnishee order in terms of Order 42 of the High Court Rules, 1971 after having failed to recover the cash directly from Pullen.

“On April 2, 2019, the applicant (Cabs) obtained an order against the third respondent (Pullen) in the sum of US$262 208 together with interest thereon calculated at the rate of 20% per annum and costs of suit on a legal practitioner and client scale,” he said.

“The judgment debt arises from unauthorised overdrafts utilised by the third respondent which debt remains outstanding and unsatisfied. The applicant is aware that the third respondent is a member of the Air Force and is employed by the first respondent (Defence minister).”

The bank further said since the minister, through the SSB is obliged to pay a monthly salary to Pullen as the judgment debtor it is on that basis that the current application has been made.

“The applicant prays for an order compelling the first and second respondents to pay the sum of US$1 000 per month to it until the judgment debt is paid in full,” he said.

Sometime last year Pullen was arrested and charged with theft after which he was released on bail when he appeared before Harare magistrate Victoria Mashamba.

It was the State’s case that between May and September 2017 Cabs experienced challenges on its banking system, which resulted in the automatic crediting of clients’ accounts thereby allowing clients to access funds, but not being debited at the time.

Pullen is reported to have noted the system’s weakness and took advantage of it and stole $237 000, which he transferred to various Steward Bank and ZB Bank accounts. The application is pending.

BY NQOBANI NDLOVU

BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) has been urged to set up a system to handle ratepayers’ petitions amid charges that the local authority “has no clear-cut format” of handling grievances.

In a petition dated June 3, activist and Bulawayo resident Khumbulani Maphosa complained that the council has no system of submitting, handling and responding to petitions.

Maphosa argued that petitions he had so far submitted to the local authority on various occasions have been handled differently and by different departments, raising the need for a clear system.

“All the petitions I have submitted to the BCC have been handled differently, that is, responded to in different length and times and in different manner and this makes me believe that the BCC does not have a systematic manner of handling residents’ petitions and petitions from (other people and) groups,” Maphosa wrote in the petition addressed to town clerk Christopher Dube.

It was copied to mayor Solomon Mguni and other council departments.

Maphosa noted that the right to petition was critical for residents to enjoy the freedom of conscience as outlined in section 60 of the Constitution.

He also argued that establishing a system for petitions would also partially fulfil principles of public administration as espoused in section 194 of the Constitution.

“I, therefore, propose that the BCC establish a system/framework which will guide the format for submitting petitions to the local authority as well as the method of handling the citizens’ petition by the local authority,” Maphosa said.

“Critically, the system/framework should capture the structure of writing the petition, how and where to submit the petition, how and when the local authority should respond to the petition, and follow-up mechanisms for the petitioners among others.”

Contacted for comment, Mguni denied the local authority did not have a system for handling petitions.

He, instead, argued that the process of dealing with complaints was not an overnight event.

“We have a robust system that we have at play. For example, we have the public relations department which handles complaints from all our stakeholders who (may) want to engage council on anything,” Mguni said.

“What happens is that when petitions are submitted they are circulated through relevant departments before there is a response. It is not something that can be done overnight.”

BY WINSTONE ANTONIO

ORGANISERS of the inaugural Mafuwe International Festival (MIF) say they are going ahead with the arts extravaganza scheduled for August 16 to 18 in Harare.

This is despite the volatile economic situation in the country, which has significantly eroded people’s disposable incomes.

The fiesta comes at a time several such programmes have failed to take off due to the current economic meltdown.

The festival — a brainchild of Germany-based arts promoter Plot Mhako (pictured), Rwanda-based performer-cum-choreographer Brian Geza and Zimbabwean award-winning dramaturge and director Cindy Jaenicke — will be held under the theme Invisible Boundaries.

“We are constantly monitoring developments in the country and still engaging more support and partnerships, but so far we have had great commitment from key festival partners in the country and abroad,” Mhako told NewsDay Life &
Style.

“We are still mobilising resources and funds for the festival, and we remain very optimistic though we must say the funding prospects for culture in Zimbabwe have been further reduced. This has been worsened by the liquidity crunch.”

He said the festival — expected to unite various dancers, communities and artistes across the world — is a platform to advance, promote and celebrate the art
and culture of dance.

“We have received overwhelming applications from across the world. Over 60 applications from dance companies, productions and solos from all over the world who want to be part of the festival. We are completing the selection process for our programme,” he said.

Mhako said most of the applicants were drawn from the United Kingdom, Germany, Uganda, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

“We are partnering with the Dance Trust of Zimbabwe, the Reps Theatre and Bvukumbwe Theatre in Highfield,” he said.

The arts promoter said they were certain that the festival had the capacity to invoke imagination as well as provoke dialogue for national growth.

BY BBC

A two-year-old boy has been killed by a leopard in South Africa’s Kruger National Park.

The leopard managed to access a fenced off area of the park and grab the boy, who was the son of an employee.

Family members rushed the boy to hospital but he was pronounced dead on arrival.

The park said in a statement that such attacks were “very rare”, but rangers killed the leopard to “remove the danger”.

Ike Phaahla, a spokesman for the park, said the exact circumstances of the toddler’s death remained unclear.

He said that animals were naturally afraid of human beings and did not usually get close to them.

“In parks like the KNP predators do interact with tourists and staff and at times it may result in species like leopard getting habituated to people and losing their fear,” Mr Phaahla said.

Park visitors followed strict rules to stay safe from animals, such as locking gates and travelling in groups, he said, adding that a leopard would be “very brave” to attack a fully grown adult but might “take a chance with a child between two to six years old”.

Leopards can get into fenced off areas by climbing trees
He said that people visiting and working in the park were given as much protection as possible with accommodation fenced off to keep animals out, but said they found ways of getting in.

“We have to respect that they are wild animals,” he said.

The Chief Executive Officer of South African National Parks, Fundisile Mketeni offered “prayers and thoughts” to the child’s family.

“This is the risk we live with on a daily basis as we help conserve our species for the benefit of all,” he said.

The Castle Lager Premier Soccer League’s man-of-the-moment, striker Clive Augusto is in no hurry to make any moves outside the country, saying he is focused on winning the Golden Boot and help the GameCocks clinch the championship this year.

BY FORTUNE MBELE

The 24-year-old has scored in each of the eight games that Chicken Inn have won and at the weekend, he dismantled Caps United at the National Sports Stadium with a treble.

He took his tally to 11 goals in 10 matches and expectations are high that South African clubs will start sniffing around.

The former Ngezi Platinum Stars forward said he had reached one of his targets, which was to hit double figures and now wants to win the Golden Boot.

“My target has always been a double-digit. I am glad I have already done that, but I want to remain focused and score more goals for Chicken Inn. I want to be among the Soccer Stars of the Year and win the Golden Boot this year and I think that is achievable,” Augusto said.

He said it’s his dream to play outside the country, but he thinks he is not yet ready for such a move.

“Every football player has ambitions of playing abroad and for me, I want to play in France, but I don’t think I am ready for that now. I just want to concentrate on playing locally and building my career until I am mature enough,” he said.

Chicken Inn has exported a number of players, but on Augusto, club secretary Tavengwa Hara said they would take their time.

“This time, we are going to take a different direction. Enquiries might come as is expected, but we have not received any. We will tell him (Augusto) to be patient. Recently, strikers who have gone outside the country, especially to South Africa, have struggled and it is our feeling that they have been hurried. We want to be very careful about his career,” he said.

Bantu Rovers’ Bukhosi Sibanda left the country mid-way through the season in 2017 with 10 goals from 14 starts to join Ubuntu Cape Town FC in the First National Division in South Africa.

Highlanders’ Prince Dube also left in the same year for SuperSport in the Absa Premier Soccer League.

Both players struggled and returned home to Highlanders, while last year’s Soccer Star of the Year and Golden Boot winner, Rodwell Chinyengetere, formerly with FC Platinum, is yet to find his feet at Baroka FC in South Africa.

FORMER Springbok wing Tonderai Chavhanga has expressed his gratitude to the sponsors of the Zimbabwe Academy side for their support to the team during their participation in the SuperSport Rugby Challenge in South Africa, describing the team’s training camp in Cape Town as one of the best local players have ever experienced in their careers.

BY DANIEL NHAKANISO IN CAPE TOWN

The Zimbabwean team, nicknamed Young Bucks, has been based in Cape Town for the last six weeks, using False Bay Rugby Club as their training base during their participation in South Africa’s tier two competition.

The Zimbabwe Rugby Union, in collaboration with the Sables Trust, headed by newly-appointed Sports and Recreation Commission board chairman Gerald Mlotshwa, has ensured that the team is catered for after roping in a strong line-up of sponsors to bankroll the team’s participation in the highly-competitive tourney.

The main sponsors of the Zimbabwe Academy side are international mining investment company Zerttew Resources, along with South African commodities and energy trading company Portnex International and Zimbabwean attorney firm Titan Law.

International sports brand BLK is the official kit sponsor.

Chavhanga has been impressed by how the South African training camp and participation in the SuperSport Rugby Challenge has impacted on local players.

“We’ve been very fortunate, from a sponsorship point of view. I think Zerttew, Titan Law and Portnex International have been phenomenal in making sure that the team is adequately taken care of,” Chavhanga said.

“You can see from the place where we are staying, it’s been absolutely amazing. All the guys in this camp have certainly said that this is the best camp that they’ve ever been in and the fact that we’ve had one base and everything pretty close to us,” he said.

The former Free State Cheetahs, Stormers, Western Province, Golden Lions, Sharks and Welsh side Newport Gwent Dragons wing said he was hopeful that similar training camps would be held for the team ahead of other international matches.

“The biggest challenge that we face is that if you look at the composition of this team, the majority of the guys are playing all over. So, in the past when we were preparing for tournaments, we had about three or four days to prepare for the games. In the future, it would be great if we could get more time to get the team together and make sure that everybody is on the same wave length,” he said.

“Obviously having had the guys for the last six, seven weeks we’ve got a nice foundation and going forward it’s going to be somewhat a lot easier.”

ZIMBABWE…..0

ZAMBIA…….0

(Zambia won 4-2 on penalties)

Khama Billiat and Admiral Muskwe both missed from the spot during a semi-final penalty shootout against Zambia, with the Warriors Cosafa Cup title defence attempt ending in disappointment at the Moses Mabhida Stadium last night.

BY HENRY MHARA IN DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA

Billiat slipped and scuffed his shot which was saved by the goalkeeper Sebastian Mwange, while Muskwe skied his effort and Zimbabwe never recovered.

Marvellous Nakamba and Tendayi Darikwa converted their spotkicks, but it was not enough for Zimbabwe as Zambia were clinical, scoring all four of their penalty kicks.

The match had ended goalless after 90 minutes, with Warriors goalkeeper Elvis Chipezeze saving a penalty in regulation time.

The Warriors will now play Lesotho in a third and fourth play-off on Friday, while Zambia meet Botswana in the final the following day.

Zimbabwe, without coach Sunday Chidzambga who had to abort the tournament following the passing on of his father, dominated proceedings for the larger part of the match.

They could have gone in front in the 12th minute, but Muskwe failed to connect a cross from Devine Lunga after good interchanges, while Thabani Kamusoko’s effort was saved.

At the other end, Chipezeze made two blocks in quick succession in the first half.

At this point, Zambia were beginning to see much of the ball, but couldn’t make full use of their possession.

Skipper Musona had been anonymous so far by his huge standards, but burst to life on the 38th minute when he roasted his marker twice before he was hacked down inside the box as he prepared to open fire.

Comoros referee Ali Adelaid ignored the appeals from the Zimbabwe team. A minute later, he pointed to the spot at the other end for an infringement inside the box.

Austin Muwowo took responsibility, but Chipezeze stretched to his right and blocked the penalty kick.
The start of the second half was a balanced affair, and Gumbo decided to shake things up by bringing on Billiat just after the hour mark, whose introduction was greeted by a huge roar inside the stadium.
Immediately, the Warriors seized control of the match, and should have gone in front on 66th minute when Musona beat his marker and took aim at goal, but his shot was pushed around the post by the goalkeeper.
Zambia sat back for the remainder of the game as they denied Zimbabwe space, but their defence was opened up by Billiat, crossing for substitute Tino Kadewere, who inexplicably curled his shot wide from inside the box in the referee’s optional time.

The missed chance proved to be the last major highlight of the match, and a penalty shoot-out to decide the team to progress to the finals on Saturday, ensued.

Teams

Zimbabwe: E Chipezeze, T Darikwa, D Lunga, A Mudimu, T Hadebe, M Munetsi (M Nakamba, 85’), T Kamusoko, T Chawapiwa (T Kadewere, 85’), T Kutinyu (K Billiat, 61’), K Musona, A Muskwe

Zambia: S Mwange, A Chama, L Kambole (E Chabula, 87’), B Sakala, E Mbewe (B Musakanya, 90’), A Muwowo (W Muzaza, 57’), T Kaseba, T Mwape, J Chirwa, C Mulashi, M Phiri