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I choose to keep exploring: Tamy

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I choose to keep exploring: Tamy

BY WINSTONE ANTONIO

AFRO-POP songbird Thamsanqa “Tamy” Moyo (pictured) said she seeks to keep exploring and breaking new grounds in everything she does in her music career.

Tamy made the remarks in an interview with NewsDay Weekender Life & Style on the sidelines of her self-styled The Tamy Experience, a personalised show she organised, which also featured Ammara Brown and Gemma Griffiths.

The show was held on Thursday night at The Venue in Avondale, Harare.

Tamy proved her artistic prowess and pull factor as she managed to “fill” the venue at a time several music concerts — including some by big artistes — have failed to attract large
crowds due to the punishing economic situation.

“I just want more excellence and brilliance in everything that I choose to do, keep exploring, keep breaking boundaries and breaking new ground,” she said.

“I want to thank everybody who came to support me today. I really appreciate it. I did not expect this outcome, but it is more than a brilliant outcome, with this many people.”
The 21-year-old songbird said it was really demanding to prepare for the concert.

“It was very tense as it took a lot of time and effort to get here, a lot of sleepless nights as we had all-night rehearsals just coming to this point and I am grateful to my band as we have been together for three years.

Speaking on her white and gold concert outfit, Tamy said she wanted something that would allow her flexibility while on the stage, due to her repertoire of dance routines.

“My outfit was done by House of Stone. I wanted something fierce and very frail so I would be able to express how my body will be moving. I also wanted to look like fire, the gold and the white fire,” she said.

Tamy promised her fans more music and shows.

Ammara and Gemma warmed up the stage with unheralded songstress Spiwe Ndebele accorded the opportunity to rub shoulders with the stars.

Ndebele was the lucky teenager chosen from a social media contest on Tamy’s social media pages, where she requested contestants to forward a 45-60 seconds video on either Instagram or
Facebook hashtag #thetamyexperience.

Tamy, an accomplished guitarist in her own right, has been on the cruise since storming the local music industry and has rubbed shoulders with seasoned artistes, both locally and
internationally.

She has released songs that have won her many fans across the country, setting the bar high for many fellow female musicians.

Telecoms operators urged to take consumers’ grievances seriously

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Telecoms operators urged to take consumers’ grievances seriously

BY MISHMA CHAKANYUKA

POSTAL and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) director-general Gift Machengete has said telecoms operators should take consumers’ grievances seriously so that they improve on service delivery.

Speaking at the launch of the 2018 Consumer Satisfaction Survey Report, Machengete said Potraz would advance and safeguard the interests of consumers through various initiatives.

“This is why we are prepared to go for broke in order to ensure that the interests of consumers are advanced and safely guarded through various initiatives that include ensuring universal access to services at affordable prices and at the highest quality, both in terms of service delivery and customer experience; empowering consumers through education and awareness campaigns as well as conducting consumer satisfaction surveys,” he said.

In the 2018 survey, usage of fixed telephone services declined as only 2% of household consumers claimed to be using fixed telephone services compared to 3,1% recorded in the 2015 survey.

Usage, however, remained high among corporate consumers to the level of 53%, though that was a decline from the 74% usage reported in 2015.

Courier services usage on the market declined significantly, as 2% of household consumers were using the services compared to 2,4% recorded in the 2015 survey. Usage of mobile telephone services declined to 93% among household consumers from 99% recorded in the 2015 survey.

In the survey, usage of mobile telephone services declined significantly among corporate consumers to 53%, compared to 74% reported in 2015.

Usage of internet and data services on the market grew significantly, as 34% of household consumers were using internet and data services in 2018, compared to the 29% recorded in the 2015 survey.

Internet and data services usage remained very high among corporate consumers at 86%, compared to 83% reported in 2015.

Mobile network operators (MNOs) were largely used for data by household consumers: Econet (72%) and NetOne (15%).

Corporate consumers were skewed to internet service providers and internet access providers TelOne (35%), Liquid Telecom (15%) and ZOL (9%).

“All MNOs should always monitor critical network parameters, such as network quality, network availability and voice quality. MNOs should invest in technological innovation to bring more convenience through self-help mechanisms,” the survey noted.

As for internet and data services consumers recommended the need for education around usage of internet, especially among household consumers.

Toyota sets aggressive new target for electrified cars

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Toyota sets aggressive new target for electrified cars

London (CNN Business) — Toyota is forming new partnerships with other carmakers and battery producers as it seeks to win the race to electric and autonomous cars.

In a show of its seriousness, the world’s second largest carmaker on Friday moved forward by five years its goal of having electrified vehicles account for roughly half of sales.

Toyota (TM) said Thursday that it would build a manufacturing platform dedicated to battery electric vehicles with Japan’s Subaru (FUJHF). The companies said in a statement that the industry is undergoing a “profound transformation,” the likes of which occurs only once every 100 years.

“Both Subaru and Toyota are required to conduct technological development with a sense of speed across a broader-than-ever spectrum of initiatives,” the statement said.

Cooperation with Subaru may help Toyota meet its new goal of dramatically boosting the number of hybrid or electric vehicles it sells to 5.5 million a year by 2025. Its previous target was 2030.

The company is also working to make sure it has enough batteries to power those cars, announcing Friday that it has agreed to partner with five new battery suppliers.

Three of the suppliers are Japanese companies, while two — Contemporary Amperex Technology and electric carmaker BYD (BYDDF) — are from China.
The trend toward cooperation has accelerated in recent months as carmakers come under increased pressure from upstarts such as Tesla (TSLA) and tech companies including Uber (UBER).
Germany’s BMW and Daimler (DDAIF) have formed a joint venture that will develop ride-sharing and charging services, while BMW (BMWYY) has agreed to work with Jaguar Land Rover on new electric engines.
Ford (F) and Volkswagen (VLKAF) are developing some new vehicles together.
Earlier this week, a proposed merger of Fiat Chrysler (FCAU) and Renault(RNLSY) fell apart after the French company stalled on making a decision.
Renault is already part of an alliance with Japan’s Nissan (NSANF) and Mitsubishi Motors that allows the companies to share technology and development costs.

British woman who killed her husband with a hammer after years of abuse won’t face retrial

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British woman who killed her husband with a hammer after years of abuse won’t face retrial

(CNN) — A British woman who served almost 10 years in prison for killing her abusive husband with a hammer will not face a retrial, a judge has ruled, after her murder conviction was quashed in February.

Georgina Challen, who goes by Sally, said she killed her husband, Richard, in August 2010 after he subjected her to years of emotional abuse. The following year, Challen, 65, was convicted of his murder and jailed for life.

In February, London’s Court of Appeal quashed her conviction and ordered a new trial, the Press Association reported, citing new information about Challen’s psychiatric state when she killed her husband.

Challen, who pleaded not guilty to the murder charge but admitted manslaughter, was subsequently released on bail ahead of a second trial scheduled to begin on July 1.

At a hearing at London’s Old Bailey Friday, Judge Andrew Edis accepted her plea of manslaughter, sparing her a second murder trial, the Press Assocation reported. Prosecutor Caroline Carberry said the decision was based on a psychiatric report that found Challen was suffering from an “adjustment disorder” at the time of her husband’s death.

She will be sentenced for manslaughter later Friday.

Challen’s heavily publicized case drew attention to coercive control as a form of domestic abuse. It became a criminal offense in England and Wales in 2015, and earlier this year in Scotland.

Teresa Parker, head of communication for the UK charity Women’s Aid, told CNN that her case “displays the long-term impact that coercive control has on survivors and the long-term trauma it can cause. It underpins the vast majority of domestic abuse and the term helps to explain the dynamics of power and control within abusive relationships.”

According to the campaign group Justice for Women, which supported her appeal, Challen said her husband bullied, humiliated and repeatedly cheated on her, forbidding her from socializing without him. He also controlled the couple’s finances.

On August 14, 2010, Challen killed him with a hammer in home in Surrey, southern England, planning to kill herself afterward by jumping from the Beachy Head cliffs.

After her murder conviction, her sons, David and James Challen and lawyer Harriet Wistrich, who co-founded Justice for Women, launched an appeal for her release, arguing that the abuse she withstood “was not properly recognized” in her initial trial.

David wrote on Twitter Friday, “As a family we are overjoyed at todays verdict and that it has brought an end to the suffering we have endured together for the past 9 years.”

“Our story has become the landmark case society needs to recognise the true severity of coercive control,” he said.

Teresa Parker called the judge’s ruling “fantastic news,” adding, “We now need everyone working in the criminal justice system to receive regular, up-to-date training on what coercive control is and how to use the legislation.”

He was arrested at 13. Now Saudi Arabia wants to execute him

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He was arrested at 13. Now Saudi Arabia wants to execute him

By Muhammad Darwish, Tamara Qiblawi and Ghazi Balkiz, CNN

(CNN) — A group of boys on bicycles gather on a dusty side-street in eastern Saudi Arabia.

Foot on pedal, 10-year-old Murtaja Qureiris is about to lead the group of around 30 children. In video footage obtained by CNN, he is wearing rolled up denim jeans and black flip-flops on his feet, and grinning at the camera recording the event. It may look like a regular bike ride, but the group is staging a protest.

Moments after they set off, Qureiris gets lost in the sea of boys, struggling to keep up as he lifts a megaphone and presses it against his lips. “The people demand human rights!” he shouts.

Three years after he was filmed taking part in the bike protest, Saudi authorities arrested Qureiris, then just 13 years old. He was traveling with his family to Bahrain when he was detained by Saudi border authorities on the King Fahd causeway that connects the two countries.

Now, at the age of 18, Qureiris is facing the death penalty after being held for almost four years in pre-trial detention, CNN has learned.

Qureiris was 10 years old when he committed at least one of those alleged crimes in his charge sheet, CNN has learned. He was charged with accompanying his activist brother, Ali Qureris, on a motorcycle ride to a police station in the eastern Saudi city of Awamiya, where Ali allegedly threw Molotov cocktails at the facility.

The age of criminal responsibility in Saudi Arabia is unclear, but in 2006 the kingdom told the Committee on the Rights of the Child that it had raised it to 12, according to Human Rights Watch.

Saudi Arabia has also previously told the United Nations that it does not impose the death penalty on prisoners convicted of crimes before the age of criminal responsibility.

Qureiris is currently being tried at a terror court, where the prosecution has accused him of belonging to “an extremist terror group.” He faces other charges ranging from violence allegedly committed during protests – including helping to construct Molotov cocktails — to shooting at security forces and marching at his brother’s 2011 funeral.

Qureiris has denied the charges and said that the confessions, which the prosecution has largely relied on, were obtained under duress, CNN has learned.

Saudi Arabia has not responded to CNN’s request for comment on his case.

Murtaja Qureiris was 11 when his brother died taking part in protests that the kingdom described as violent.

In videos of the older Qureiris brother’s funeral obtained by CNN, mourners chanted anti-government slogans as the procession filled a thoroughfare.

The video showed the slain activist’s father, Abdullah Qureiris, leaning over the shrouded body, openly pleading with God to help him deal with the absence left behind by his son’s death. He is seen kissing him one last time before the body is carried away by a sea of mourners.

Though the prosecution has not held Qureiris responsible for any loss of life, CNN has learned that it is seeking to impose the harshest form of the death penalty, which may include crucifixion or dismemberment after execution. Prosecutors argued that his “sowing of sedition” warranted the worst possible punishment, according to the kingdom’s strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.

A charge sheet recommending the death penalty was presented to Qureiris just months before his 18th birthday. Another of his brothers has also been jailed, and his father was detained last year, according to activists.

At least one year and three months of Qureiris’ detention has been spent in solitary confinement, CNN has learned.

In 2016, the UN Working Group for Arbitrary Detention discussed the case of a jailed Saudi minor whom it did not name, but whose information matched the details CNN collected about Qureiris.

His birthdate, as well as his place and date of arrest, were consistent with Qureiris’ case.

The UN Working Group said at the group’s 77th session on November 2016 that it believed the minor had been tortured, his confessions “extracted” and that his arrest was arbitrary. It also said that the detention violated international norms, according to its published findings.

The UN Working Group said the minor was likely detained in connection with “his participation in peaceful demonstrations calling for justice for some protestors who were killed and in the funerals of those martyrs.”

The UN Working Group for Arbitrary Detention and the UN Special Rapporteur for Torture did not respond to CNN’s request for comment on the case.

UK-based Saudi activist Mohammad Daman, who was present at several 2011 protests Qureiris participated in, told CNN the demonstrations were peaceful. He said Saudi Arabia has not produced video or photographic evidence of violence committed at the time.

But Saudi authorities have frequently characterized anti-government demonstrations in the country’s Eastern Province as violent, saying that demonstrators attacked both security forces and civilians.

Activists say that pro-democracy demonstrations were often met with brute force, and that the movement was eventually all but quashed by a crackdown on activists.

If Saudi Arabia sentences Qureiris to death, he would join at least three other prisoners executed this year for crimes allegedly committed before the age of 18.

CNN reviewed court documents that detailed the cases of two of three men who were minors at the time of the commission of alleged crimes. Abdulkareem al-Hawaj, Mujtaba al-Sweikat and Salman Qureish were part of the mass execution of 37 men, most of whom were Shia.

All three were arrested for violence the government says was committed during protests around the time of the Arab Spring. But the prosecution relied heavily on confessions which the prisoners said were extracted from them. In the court proceedings, they said that they were tortured, the confessions made under duress.

In Saudi Arabia, the death penalty can only be enforced by order of King Salman or his authorized representative. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is frequently characterized as the King’s deputy.

A crackdown on Saudi dissidents has intensified since 2015, when King Salman ascended the throne, appointing his son, Mohammed bin Salman, to several powerful posts. The young prince has spearheaded a drive for social and economic reforms in the kingdom, and has sought to consolidate his rule in the process.

The 33-year-old crown prince has ordered the rounding up of scores of high-profile clerics, analysts, businessmen and princes, as well as women’s rights defenders who were allegedly tortured and whom authorities accuse of having “suspicious contact” with foreign entities. The Saudi government has repeatedly denied allegations of torture.

In one of the videos of Murtaja Qureiris obtained by CNN, the boy is seen standing next to his father who is addressing a crowd of protesters.

Most of the demonstrators are masked. Murtaja and his father are barefaced, something that may have made it easier for the family to become ensnared in the government’s crackdown on activists.

“Murtaja (Qureiris) was one of the only people who didn’t wear masks during the protests,” recalled activist Mohammad Daman. “And he was always with his dad (Abdullah).”

In the footage, Abdullah is dressed in a brown thobe normally reserved for the elders of an Arab tribe, and speaking into a megaphone while another protester holds a Quran over his head.

“We pledge to the martyrs that we will continue our marches,” says Abdullah Qureiris.

Standing next to him is Murtaja Qureiris with a ski mask on his head, having apparently removed it from his face. He glances at the camera, smiles, and walks away, unaware of what was to face him in the future.

Breaking: Journalist arrested for taking pictures

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Breaking: Journalist arrested for taking pictures

BY JAMES MUONWA

Police in Kadoma have arrested (today May 7) NewsDay correspondent Nunurai Jena for allegedly shooting pictures at a police roadblock.

According to the scribe, the law enforcement details confiscated his phone which he was using to take the images, before hauling him to Rimuka Police Station.

At the time of writing, Jena said police were preferring charging him for “disorderly conduct.”

“The police officers are saying I will be charged for disorderly conduct. I have since sent a distress call to all relevant media partners so that they facilitate my release for this unlawful arrest.

As we speak I am being held at Rimuka Police Station,” he said in a telephone interview.

Jena is a Mashonaland West-based correspondent with NewsDay and Standard, both publications under the Alpha Media Holdings stable.

(MORE TO FOLLOW)

MDC on diplomatic offensive

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MDC on diplomatic offensive

BY BLESSED MHLANGA

The opposition MDC party has embarked on a diplomatic charm offensive to force Zanu PF and President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government into talks, which the party says should help move the country forward.

Chamisa’s newly-elected deputy Tendai Biti is currently in the United Kingdom and yesterday met Minister of State Harriet Baldwin to discuss the current crisis the country is facing, including the way forward with Zimbabwe edging closer to the brink of civil unrest as the economy tanks.

On her official Twitter account, Baldwin confirmed meeting Biti, pledging that the UK would continue to engage and listen to both Chamisa and Mnangagwa until a solution is found for the Zimbabwean crisis.

“Good discussion with MDC vice-president Biti today on the current situation in Zimbabwe. We continue to listen to the views of Zimbabweans on all sides of the debate,” Baldwin tweeted after the meeting.

Chamisa’s spokesperson Nkululeko Sibanda said the meeting gave the MDC a chance to give its side of the story and how they see things unfolding if the issue is not handled.

“Honourable Tendai Biti met with the Honourable minister of African Affairs in the British government, MP Baldwin,” Sibanda said.

“They discussed a number of things, including the current socio-economic and political situation. The UK government had already put out an elaborate statement the day before that meeting about the human rights situation in Zimbabwe, indicating that it had worsened since 2016-17.

“So the UK government had already taken a position from its own research, that Zimbabwe is drifting and falling into the abyss of human rights abuses.”

Biti, according to Sibanda, said he was concerned about the human rights abuses in the country, which has seen the arrest and harassment of civil society members.

He said Biti emphasised the need for Zimbabwe to progress through the stabilisation of the economy and observing human rights.

Speaking at Chatham House in London, where he was launching his book Making Africa Awake, Biti said Zimbabwe was suffering from the crisis of legitimacy because the 2018 general elections were still contested.

“… the election of 2018 remains contested. The crisis of legitimacy remains at the fore of the crisis in Zimbabwe as I talk to you right now,” he said.

“Six months after the elections, we have a huge crisis; the crisis of legitimacy. We have a huge political crisis in which political space is being closed. As I speak to you right now, there are seven political activists that are languishing in prison. Their crime was to have a democracy meeting in Maldives. As I speak to you right now, leaders of civil society, including trade union leaders, are visited and harassed by State security agents.”

Biti said Zimbabwe was facing hyperinflation of over 300% owing to a serious dislocation of monetary policy, where the country was using four platforms of pricing systems, while salaries remained static.

Biti also added that there was a possibility that Mnangagwa could face an internal revolt as pressure mounts amid allegations of divisions in the regimes cockpit.

We are under siege: MDC

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We are under siege: MDC

By Garikai Mafirakureva

MDC Alliance, Zimbabwe’s main opposition is increasingly becoming wary of the safety of its members, after it emerged that members of Police Internal Security Intelligence (PISI) are looking for details of their newly-elected leadership in every province throughout the country.

It is believed President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government, currently grappling with various economic tribulations, fears countrywide uprisings as prices of basic goods continue to skyrocket, with fuel and power supplies dwindling by the day, threatening to bring the country to its knees.

The director in the MDC’s organising department, Farai Chinobva has since written to all party provincial chairpersons warning them of the ongoing exercise being carried out by PISI.

Part of the internal circular dated June 4, 2019, gleaned by the NewsDay, reads: “Ref: confidentiality of party information

“It has come to our attention that members of the police force specifically from PISI are moving around requesting details of our elected leadership and party structures.

“Kindly be advised that no such information must be given to anyone, except if only requested by the national organising department. Be guided accordingly.”

MDC national organiser, Amos Chibaya admitted that the circular sent to all provincial chairpersons was generated from MDC, saying it was meant to keep their party members alert.

“Yes, that circular was generated from our office, but what they (police) are doing is very wrong. They want to harass our members because of fear of the unknown. Obviously the situation in the country is unmanageable, especially when you talk of the economy itself yet, it is not about the MDC, but it is about the people of Zimbabwe.

“If the people of Zimbabwe are not happy about how the country is being run, they have the right to demonstrate peacefully. That right is actually enshrined in the Constitution. I am sure you are aware that Section 59 of the Constitution allows the people to demonstrate peacefully, and also gives them the right to petition. So, there is no need for the police to actually target MDC members.

“Prices have been rising on a daily basis and are now beyond the reach of every Zimbabwean and now they fear that people might demonstrate. So, by taking the details of our structures they want to harass them,” Chibaya said.

However, national police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyati, said he could not comment on another organisation’s internal communication.

“I haven’t seen the circular. I am sure it was their internal communication. So, I cannot comment on another organisation’s internal communication,” Nyathi said.

Abduction dents EU-Zim talks

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Abduction dents EU-Zim talks

BY XOLISANI NCUBE

SUSPECTED security agents allegedly abducted and tortured Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) leader Obert Masaraure for leading a teachers’ strike, dealing a blow to President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s bid to re-engage with the European Union (EU).

ARTUZ yesterday alleged that Masaraure was on Wednesday abducted and tortured by security agents, who told him to stop leading a strike by disaffected teachers.

Pictures of Masaraure with evidence of torture went viral yesterday and EU’s ambassador to Zimbabwe, Timo Olkkonen, tweeted that the kidnapping and torture was “unjust and unacceptable”.

“ARTUZ has been leading a just-ended three-day nationwide strike over low salaries and high cost of living. This was a legally protected strike and a 14-day notice had been given to the State,” the union said.

“At least six men with masked faces and heavily armed with AK-47s abducted him from his Waterfalls home in view of his wife and children.

“They took all cellphones in the house. He was taken to a remote area along Seke Road, where he was stripped naked, severely assaulted and interrogated for hours about ARTUZ’s industrial action and told to stop mobilising teachers to go on strike.

“They asked him why he was still working as a teacher when they had suspended his salary. The line of questioning shows a clear link between the persecution of teachers by the employer through withholding of salaries, intimidation and torture as punishment for legitimate union activities.”

The alleged abduction has brought into question the Mnangagwa administration’s sincerity to curbing human rights abuses, with activists saying attacks had become worse than during former President Robert Mugabe’s dark era.

Zimbabwe and the EU on Wednesday kicked off their first formal dialogue in 17 years to draw a line under Mugabe’s confrontational approach to diplomacy with the West, which Harare hopes would thaw frosty relations and lead to resumption of direct aid to its battered economy.

The talks zeroed in on the regime’s poor human rights record and the need for critical political and economic reforms and development cooperation.

The EU has not directly funded Zimbabwe since the turn of the millennium, and has said any direct resumption of aid would be predicated upon Harare’s willingness to reform.

MDC spokesperson Jacob Mafume said Mnangagwa was shooting himself in the foot by allowing his security agents to abduct and torture Masaraure soon after opening a new chapter with the EU.

“He is a patriot who is demanding better public delivery of education services. It is quite clear that he is being targeted for his dissenting views,” Mafume said.

“The dark days are still with us. Even signs of goodwill from the EU are being washed down the drain by reckless and ruthless behaviour. The MDC demands an end to the terrorisation of civic society organisation’s and union leaders.”

“Abduction and torture of Obert Masaraure is strongly condemned. ZLHR [Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights] is very disturbed that suspected State agents continue to commit international crime of torture,” the rights lawyers said.

But police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said he was unaware of Masaraure’s abduction.

“Can I get back to you, say after 30 minutes. I need to check with Harare province if ever such a case was reported?” Nyathi said.

He was not answering his mobile, thereafter.

The attack on Masaraure comes as seven civil society activists are languishing in remand prison for allegedly plotting to unseat Mnangagwa after they attended a workshop in the Maldives funded by a Serbian non-governmental organisation, which authorities claim was aimed at equipping them with skills to topple the government.

The activists include George Makoni, Nyasha Mpahlo, Tatenda Mombeyarara, Gamuchirai Mukura, Farirai Gumbonzvanda, Stabile Dewa, and Rita Nyampinga.

They are in remand prison for attending a workshop organised by the Centre for Applied Non-Violent Action and Strategies (CANVAS) in Maldives.

In a statement issued yesterday, CANVAS said the arrest of the seven was illegal.

“CANVAS would like to inform Zimbabweans and the international community that the charges against these activists are blatantly false. The charges include: ‘Subversion’, ‘counterintelligence’ and ‘being trained in use of small arms’,” read the statement.

CANVAS said its mission was building strong societies through non-violence.

Warriors in Super Eagles test

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Warriors in Super Eagles test

BY HENRY MHARA IN DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA

The Warriors take their next leg of the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals preparations to Nigeria, where they are set to play the hosts in a high-profile friendly match tomorrow.

A 26-member delegation comprising players and officials was set to arrive in Nigeria last night from South Africa.

Having used the Cosafa Cup tournament as part of their preparations, the Zimbabwe senior national men’s football team will up the ante with the Super Eagles collision, as they fine-tune their play for the continental showcase.

They will kick off the campaign against Egypt on June 21 in Cairo.

Zimbabwe also have the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda in Group A.

The Nigeria match will be the last international match that the Warriors will play ahead of the tournament curtain raiser.

Having failed to breach Zambia’s defence in the Cosafa Cup semi-final on Wednesday night, with the match ending in a nil-all draw in regulation time before the penalty shoot-out, won by

Zambia, the Warriors will be looking at correcting some of their shortcomings when they take on a strong Nigeria side that is likely to feature, among others, Leicester star Kelechi Iheanacho.

Nigeria technical adviser Gernot Rohr said he is looking to give players that were not getting much game time at club level a run against the Warriors.

The Warriors will see the arrival of striker Nyasha Mushekwi, who is expected to spearhead the attack in Egypt.

Mushekwi, who is based in China, has not been involved with the national team since the 2017 Afcon finals in Gabon in 2017.

He is likely to start the Nigeria match as the technical team look to settle on their combinations for the Afcon finals.

At the Cosafa tournament, some of the regular players did not get a chance to play together as the coaching department sought to give fringe squad players a chance to stake their claim for a place on the plane to Egypt.

The Warriors technical team has already settled on a squad for the finals, which has seen striker Knox Mtizwa, whose position looked vulnerable, managing to hold onto his spot.

Thabani Kamusoko and goalkeeper Elvis Chipezeze have formed the main story of this squad after they came in from the cold to clinch places in the squad.

Assistant coach Rahman Gumbo is happy with the team’s Africa Cup of Nations (finals) preparations despite coming short in the Cosafa Cup.

Gumbo was in charge of the Warriors in the absence of coach Sunday Chidzambga, when they fell to Zambia.

Gumbo reckons that the clash against the Super Eagles will help them assess how far the team has progressed, and if they are ready to face the best of the continent.

“We are happy with the preparations, and we are going to play Nigeria in our next friendly match at the weekend. Now we want to test our team against the big boys and see what happens from there,” he said.

Nigerian media reported yesterday that of the 25 players invited by Rohr for the final phase of the preparations, only defender William Ekong was expected to arrive yesterday.

Defender Abdullahi Shehu and forwards Ahmed Musa and Alex Iwobi arrived on Wednesday, as did forward Odion Ighalo, top scorer in the entire qualifying campaign.

After tomorrow’s game, the Nigeria contingent will fly to Egypt on Sunday, aboard a chartered flight, for another week of intensive strategy and tactics perfection.

The Warriors will also travel to Cairo to continue their preparations.

The two nations must submit the final list of 23 players to the Confederation of African Football by Tuesday next week.

John Obi Mikel is in line to play his first official match for Nigeria in 12 months against the Warriors following his return to the squad after a self-imposed sabbatical.

Rohr is, meanwhile, sweating over the fitness of Leon Balogun ahead of the international friendly against Zimbabwe.

Warriors Afcon squad

Goalkeepers: George Chigova, Edmore Sibanda, Elvis Chipezeze

Defenders: Tendai Darikwa, Ronald Pfumbidzai, Divine Lunga, Alec Mudimu, Teenage Hadebe, Jimmy Dzingai

Midfielders: Danny Phiri, Marshal Munetsi, Marvellous Nakamba, Talent Chawapiwa, Ovidy Karuru, Khama Billiat, Thabani Kamusoko, Knowledge Musona, Tafadzwa Kutinyu, Kuda

Mahachi

Strikers: Evans Rusike, Tinotenda Kadewere, Knox Mutizwa, Nyasha Mushekwi

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