BY CHARLES LAITON

Seed Co Zimbabwe (Pvt) Ltd, has approached the High court seeking an order to commit the ex-general manager of former President Robert Mugabe’s Gushungo Holdings, Stanley Nhari to prison after his failure to settle a US$36 062 debt.

The seed company issued summons for civil imprisonment against Nhari on April 30, 2019 and the latter is yet to respond to the litigation.

In its declaration, Seed Co Zimbabwe said Nhari was required to pay US$36 062 by virtue of a judgment which was obtained by the firm against him on May 9, 2018.

“You, the defendant (Stanley Nhari), are called upon to pay the plaintiff (Seed Co) the sum of US$36 062,18 with interest, thereon, at the rate of 5% per annum calculated from October 23, 2017 to the date of payment in full,” the firm said.

“You are required to pay this sum by virtue of a judgment obtained against you in the High Court on May 9, 2018, under which you were ordered to pay the sum of US$36 062, 18 and interest thereon….”

Seed Co Zimbabwe further said in the event that Nhari failed to pay the debt, he would have to appear before the High Court and explain his failure to abide by the court order.

“If you fail to pay the sum specified above, you must appear before the High Court at Harare …to explain why you have not paid it and to show cause why an order for your imprisonment shall not be made on account of your failure to pay.

“You should bring with you evidence of your financial position, and it will be in your own interest to give the court evidence of your income from wages, salary or other earnings, and any other income you may receive from any other source, your expenses for yourself and any dependents and any other liabilities you may be subject of.”

Mishma Chakanyuka

Guest Column: Mishma Chakanyuka

Abortion in Zimbabwe is illegal as provided for under the Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1977 [Chapter 15:10].

The Termination of Pregnancy Act restricts abortion and permits it only in cases of rape (incest), when the mother’s life is at risk, or when the child may be born with serious mental or physical disabilities. Breaking the Act attracts imprisonment of up to five years.

In most cases, the Pregnancy Act is justified by the argument that abortion should not be used as a birth controlling measure, as people should use the available measures and not resort to abortion.

Zimbabwe’s Pregnancy Act should be revised as it has forced many women to resort to risky backyard abortions. Abortion cases are most common with teenagers, sex workers and rape victims.

Although the Act defines certain circumstances in which abortion is legal, in some cases, the legal procedures that one has to undergo take a long period to be completed such that sometimes the pregnancy reaches a stage at which it can no longer be terminated.

There is lack of urgency around the processes of getting authorisation for an abortion. Time is an essential aspect during pregnancy.

The medically-approved timeframe for effective abortions is 20 to 24 weeks. After this period, the foetus is regarded to be too well-developed for termination and the process becomes riskier.

For example, a rape victim gets pregnant and wants to abort. For the process to be carried out, the person who has raped the victim should be arrested; the victim has to provide solid evidence to prove she has been raped; the matter has to go to the courts and a police report should be provided first before the doctor proceeds with the abortion process.

Sometimes, the perpetrators are not caught on time for the victim to go through the legal procedures and terminate the pregnancy on time.

Abortion in Zimbabwe can only be done at government hospitals and they have to be authorised by a medical supervisor and, in most cases, the authorisation process takes a long time.

As a result, abortion in hospitals is done at a later stage when the foetus has reached advanced stages of development, hence posing a risk to the mother’s health.

The Pregnancy Act does not cater for sex workers and teenagers or married women who get pregnant, but are not in a position to keep the pregnancy and take care of the child after being born.

Sex workers and teenagers constitute a bigger percentage of abortion rates in Zimbabwe, so it will be wiser if the law considers them.

Teenagers and sex workers have a higher risk of getting unwanted pregnancies, hence they have a higher rate of aborting.

Most sex workers and teenage girls resort to unsafe backyard abortions because they cannot go to State hospitals, where they can acquire safe termination of the pregnancy, as they do not have enough reasons to legally justify why they want to abort and enough money to pay for the procedure.

Some of the unorthodox abortion methods that teenagers and sex workers use include using hooked wires or wire hangers to break the uterus lining, drinking washing powder, taking an overdose of pills and shoving fresh chillies up their private parts.

These methods pose threats to their health as some of them may cause barrenness in future and some lead to death. Most women die or become barren due to carrying out risky backyard abortions.

In abortion cases concerning sex workers and teenagers, people often ignore their feelings and the reasons behind them resorting to abortion.

People tend to judge teenagers and sex workers who turn to abortion without digging deeper as to why they have made such decisions. Rather, they accuse them of being inhuman even though in some instances, those who abort really have solid reasons that just need to be heard.

For instance, when a teenager, who is definitely still in school, gets impregnated by a teenage boy who is more likely to be the same age with her, wants to abort, the law should let her do so.

Some of the reasons that will lead her to consider abortion include that she and her boyfriend are not financially stable to take care of the baby once it has been born and since the mother will still be in school, having a baby on the way will be an obstacle to her education, as most government and private high schools do not allow pregnant girls to continue coming to school in that condition.

Due to the aforementioned reasons, the only alternative for the teenage girl is abortion so that she does not ruin her future by dropping out of school.

Sex workers’ cases are slightly different since mostly they sleep with many men on a single day as party of their job. A sex worker may choose to abort because, in most cases, she does not know who made her pregnant.

For some of them, being pregnant will stand as a hindrance to their job, which mostly is largely their main source of income. Since the law does not allow them to abort, they end up turning to unsafe backyard abortions.

However, the law is not the only thing that needs to be revised so as to put an end to risky backyard abortions. Some of the issues that need to be revised include the prices charged at hospitals for abortions.

The prices being charged at hospitals are too high such that an ordinary person cannot afford. This has also proven to be one of the major challenges that are pushing women to resort to backyard abortions.

The issue of legalising abortion remains critical as it is viewed in different ways by different people who have different cultures and social and religious beliefs.

The legalisation of abortion will reduce the number of women who die daily and some who become barren due to unsafe backyard abortions.

 Mishma Chakanyuka is a University of Zimbabwe student. She writes in her personal capacity.

Guest Column: Emmanuel Zvada

RESIGNING from a job is one of the most stressful and uncomfortable things one will have to do in their career at one point. Let me put it clear that worrying about what other people think can often prevent you from doing what you know is right. Sometimes people take decisions that backfire and end up on the losing end after having already decided to resign. There are resignations that may have been done hastily. I pray that you do not become a victim of this.

There are some people who did not leave a job that they were supposed to, and now they are very unwell and full of regret. Sometimes we just get so entrenched with “pushing through” or “making it happen” to such an extent that we do not realise we are on a completely wrong path.

I am not saying if something does not feel right or does instantly work out that you should give up on it straight away. Carrying on is also brave and could be the right decision. But if you know that quitting something is the right thing to do, then do it. Do not be afraid to do so because of what others might think.

How you should resign from your job when it is time to move on, is tricky. It is, indeed, a skill. When you love your job, leaving because a better opportunity came along is not that easy due to fear of the unknown.

There are certain things you should not do when you turn in your resignation. In short, you do not have to burn your bridges. The job market is really bad right now. As a result, it may now be common that your job search can take a year or more. And even if your finances allow you to go without work for that long, simply being unemployed, especially for that amount of time, may make it harder to find your next job as employers tend to prefer to hire people who are already employed.

Do not quit because of emotions

Emotionally immature people are usually emotionally-driven, meaning their decisions could be based on emotions. If something happened and you are hurt or feel like you have had enough, take some days off and do something you enjoy. Try as much as possible not to think about work.

A lot of people frequently think of quitting when they get in a frustrating quarrel with a colleague, or when they do not get promoted quickly (and someone else does), or when they hate their boss’ attitude. In such cases, impatience will be just controlling and can lead you to quit your job. In your personal life, your reaction to stressful situations might make you start to think of quitting your job. That is not the right way to go.

Do not resign when you don’t have a plan

Quitting without a plan can cause unnecessary stress and panic. Not planning anything and just handing in your resignation is not encouraged as it can affect you. It is encouraged that you leave work with a plan about what you will do, where you will go next, and how you will provide for your income until you get a new job for yourself.
Resigning your job without any idea of what you will do next is not a decision to be taken lightly. With that said, it can also set you on the path to do what you are meant to. A smooth exit sometimes is needed. Whether you are moving on to a new adventure in your life, or quitting your job due to unhappy circumstances, you deserve to have a sense of closure before you leave.

Don’t leave a job solely on the basis of higher salary

Following your passion doesn’t always translate into a high-paying job. Money isn’t the only thing that motivates someone to perform well at their job, but it certainly factors in. Of course, a lot will argue here since what motivates many employees in a bad economy is the need for more money.

Considering that there is no stability in the economy, monetary gain may be good in the short-run, but if this new job can’t promise you a good career path or one that allows you to pursue higher positions, then you are setting yourself to a gold mine with a dead end. Finding a job that pays well is awesome, but you have to consider some other factors by weighing the pros and cons of a new, high-paying job. You will be choosing between making money and doing what you love and job satisfaction must be the centre of it all.

Don’t leave before you need to leave.

It is encouraged that you take time to look for a new job before you actually hand in your resignation. You can use your leave days or lunch times to attend interviews so that you do not disturb your current job. Please, also keep that to yourself as you do not know where it will end, especially in a workplace.

On a different note, if you are planning to quit and start your own business, you can start growing your business, while you are at work, but not affecting your current job. Continue building and growing your business and only leave when you have a stable customer base, and a solid revenue trajectory.

Organise your finances and your savings

It is also crucial to bear in mind that when you resign, you also have to pay your bills. Even if you have savings, they might not last as long as you need them to, so you need to have enough savings to keep you going. Keep in mind that it will be harder to apply for loans once you leave your job, hence you need to have some savings tucked away to support you over the next few months or to cater for emergencies that may happen.

We only have a limited amount of time and yet a limitless number of different paths to go down and explore. Do not waste your time on one job that is compromising happiness.

Find something new and avoid much stress. We all quit something at some point, so don’t fear the stigma. Do what brings you happiness to your work life.

All the same, quitting a job and starting a new one all over again for a reason that is not worth it, or for a reason that was not properly meditated, is such a big cost to bear. It can be career destabilising and may affect your personal life.

So, thinking twice before you quit your job is really necessary.

 Emmanuel Zvada is a human capital consultant/international recruitment expert and author. He writes in his personal capacity.

Between the Lines: Beniah Munengwa

Title: Friend Billy and the Msasa Avenue Three

Author: Margaret Gloria Mucheri

Publisher: Longman Zimbabwe (1989)

ISBN: 0 908308 65 6

When routinely going through my library, there are books that I can’t just ignore re-reading. This time, it was my all-time best teenage literature piece, Friend Billy and the Msasa Avenue Three.

In some instances, I then grow to regret ever doing so, but passing through this read is an infinite exception. However, in whatever season, I stand responsible for justifying my view of all the lines that follow.

Filled with natural adventure and set during the school holidays, this text becomes a handbook through which teenagers and parents, alike, can learn from and be able to become responsible teenagers or even parents of responsible teenagers.

Bored during a school holiday like this, Billy and friends engage in escapism and track down the suspicious events unfolding in their eyes. Following a presidential amnesty, criminals well known for burglary in the persona of Snake, Shake-Shake Vila, Big-Boy Mpabanga and Tommy Geva are released and embark on a trail of criminal activities, arousing the interest of the boys.

These activities seem to be having one end-point in the form of a house situated besides Mrs Gurney’s house. Sipho, Billy and Tonde then strategically offer to help Mrs Gurney. The intention here is to establish finer details of what really happens at Shake-Shake Vila’s home.

Fortunately, Sipho and crew gain Mrs Gurney’s trust and are, therefore, entrusted to watch over her house as she visits Bulawayo for a week. To the boys, this is a welcome development, and an avenue through which they can play their detective work and probably be able to watch over the house next door, with the primary intent of gathering vital information that could save the community and the country at large from the wrath of thievery caused by Snake’s crew.

This marks the beginning of a beautiful adventure where confronting danger and one’s fears culminate in glory. For early teenage boys to put the welfare of the nation at heart, enough for them to risk their lives and safety, is an act reckless adults of today should pick lessons from.

The book, though of significance to adults, plays a great role in reconfiguring the way today’s children are wired, especially during this decade, where distractions like virtual games, television and the internet take charge of how they spend their time during school holidays and beyond.

That kids, who cannot get off electronic gadgets, may draw inspiration from the heroics of the Msasa Avenue Three and begin by respecting and helping elderly people. This in a world that is fast degenerating into an individualistic, survival of the fittest kind.

For these four, their acts of courage are deservingly rewarded by the President of the country.

However, my realistic orientation and understanding of the African world reminds me to highlight the lack of investment and recognition of either the works or the efforts of the young by their leadership. This trait has, in many ways, made the African youth feel rejected and unwanted in their own countries of origin.

Mucheri’s expressions are, therefore, nuggets that serve as agenda-setting props, meant to help governments tilt from a slant of negligence to that of care.

To a greater extent, Mucheri’s writing illustrates the ideal policing State, wherein the police and the public work hand-in-hand to eliminate corruption.

Unlike present day names that depict corrupt police officers like Mutema, Inspector Magaramombe stands as one who, together with Headman Chapungu, relentlessly protect the community against some evil-minded people.

The simplicity and smoothness of Mucheri’s writings make it a timeless read, even three decades later. Msasa Avenue Three is a book that can stand and awaits its day to be adapted into a television series or movie format, especially with the industry starved of competent content.

All what is written in this text unfolds into all forms of imagery, helping the reader blend well with the flow of content. The onerous to uplift this expression of writing mastery is on today’s writer, who stands challenged to produce texts of a similar nature.

In a world where motion pictures are preferred over print media by millennials, this twitch may do the magic and be able to pass on the zeal and moral that ooze endlessly in Mucheri’s work.

As the book concludes, “all is well that ends well”, our society can be reformed and rewired, if maybe our ideological State apparatus that rewires the young generation along paths of pure hearts and love through reviving interest in this book.

BY NIZBERT MOYO

An armed robber was recently arrested after police officers found two spent cartridges and a stolen radio at a crime scene, where a motorist was attacked in Bulawayo.

This was heard when Christopher Danda (35) appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Franklin Mkhwananzi, facing an attempted murder charge on Thursday last week.

Danda was implicated by his alleged accomplice, who was found in possession of a pistol that after a forensic ballistic examination matched the spent cartridges recovered at the scene.

In refusing his bail application, the court noted that Danda was not gainfully employed and his record showed that he was a habitual offender, thus he was likely to continue committing violent crimes.

The court was told that on March 18, 2019 Danda in the company of five accomplices and armed with pistols, approached an unnamed resident who had just parked his car outside the gate of his home in Pumula South.

Danda allegedly produced a pistol, intending to rob the complainant who, however, subsequently took off at high speed after noticing them.

The court heard that the robbers gave chase in a white Mercedes Benz C200 getaway car, which had its number plates covered and fired two shots at the fleeing car.

The resident escaped, but his car had two bullet holes on the driver’s door and another on the boot.

BY DESMOND CHINGARANDE

The trial of businessman Wicknell Chivayo, who is facing bribery allegations after he allegedly transferred $10 000 into former ZPC board chairperson Stanley Kazhanje’s bank account to influence him not to cancel a power contract won by his company was postponed again to allow the State to summon Kazhanje as a co-accused.

Chivayo, who appeared before magistrate Hosea Mujaya, was remanded to May 24 for trial.

Kazhanje is already on trial on allegations of not declaring his interests to his superior after he was given a contract by Chivayo’s company, Intratrek Zimbabwe, which had won the ZPC tender to do consultation work on a 100 Megawatt Solar Panel Station project.

Allegations are that sometime in 2013, ZPC called for bids for the construction of the Gwanda Solar Project and Chivayo, through his company, Intratrek Zimbabwe, responded.

The State alleges on October 22, 2015 the ZPC board held a meeting in which Kazhanje was the board chairperson and during the board meeting, he directed the ZPC management to proceed in signing a contract with Intratrek Zimbabwe on the Gwanda Solar project.

It is alleged on October 23, the contract was signed between ZPC management and Intratrek Zimbabwe, with Intratrek Zimbabwe not providing a bank guarantee.

The State alleges on January 21, 2016 Chivayo, who well-knew Kazhanje was the ZPC board chairperson and had actually deliberated in favour of awarding the contract to Intratrek Zimbabwe, transferred $10 000 bribe money into Kazhanje’s personal Barclays Bank account.

It is alleged after the payment of $10 000, Kazhanje later influenced the ZPC board to pass resolutions in favour of the accused in connection with the ZPC contract.
Brian Vito appeared for the State.

By Stephen Chadenga

Gweru City Council has moved to revamp its beer concern, Go-Beer Breweries, after unbundling it into three business units expected to be operational by the end of the year, a senior council official has revealed.

Acting finance director Owen Masimba said the three business units had since been registered as subsidiary companies.

“The first stage of unbundling of former Go-Beer company into strategic business units has been completed with the registration of three companies,” Masimba said during the first quarter budget review meeting last week.

“The three (companies) are Go-Beer Farming Private Limited, Progress Private Limited and Progress Manufacturing Private Limited. All the strategic business units are to be operationalised during this year.”

In 2017, council announced that it was looking at partnering a private investor to revive Go-Beer Breweries, which closed five years ago after facing viability challenges.

Since the country’s economy was dollarised in 2009, the cash-strapped council has to date bankrolled the beer concern to the tune of $2 208 914, money channelled towards payment of former Go-Beer creditors and employees, who had sued the council.

The beer concern also lost equipment and cattle, which were attached to cover retrenchment costs, although council last year, however, managed to pay packages for all the retrenched workers.

Masimba said council would develop a world-class vegetable market to accommodate the growing number of informal traders in the city.

He said the local authority had since signed a memorandum of understanding with a private partner and the project is expected to start in the second quarter of the year.

BY BBC

Boeing has admitted that it knew about a problem with its 737 Max jets a year before the aircraft was involved in two fatal accidents, but took no action.

The firm said it had inadvertently made an alarm feature optional instead of standard, but insisted that this did not jeopardise flight safety.

All 737 Max planes were grounded in March after an Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed, killing 157 people.

Five months earlier, 189 people were killed in a Lion Air crash.

The worldwide fleet of 737 Max planes totalled 387 aircraft at the time of the grounding.

The feature at issue is known as the Angle of Attack (AOA) Disagree alert and was designed to let pilots know when two different sensors were reporting conflicting data.

The planemaker said it had intended to provide the feature as standard, but did not realise until deliveries had begun that it was only available if airlines purchased an optional indicator.

It said it had intended to deal with the problem in a later software update.

Boeing maintained that the software problem “did not adversely impact airplane safety or operation”.

Analysis

Theo Leggett, business correspondent

Boeing has admitted it was aware of a flaw on board the 737 Max months before the first accident, involving a Lion Air jet off the coast of Indonesia.

But was that flaw a factor in that accident? Would a working “AOA Disagree” alert actually have made any difference?

It’s highly unlikely.

All it would have told the pilots was that the two angle-of-attack sensors aboard the plane were giving very different readings.

This mattered, because the MCAS system, which has been implicated in the crash, relied on data from a single sensor. A fault in that sensor may well have been the trigger for the crash.

But the pilots were not even aware that MCAS existed. It was a system designed to improve the handling of the aircraft and to operate in the background.

So the knowledge that a sensor had failed would probably not have helped. In fact, it might even have increased confusion in the cockpit.

Nevertheless, this will add to the pressure on Boeing – because despite being aware of an issue with the 737 Max, it initially chose not to inform airlines.

Boeing insists the AOA Disagree alert was not necessary for safe flight.

But critics will be asking whether the company was complacent – and whether there is anything else which the company has chosen not to pass on to its customers, affecting this type of aircraft or its other models.

Presentational grey line
The US Federal Aviation Administration told Reuters news agency that Boeing had not informed it of the software issue until November 2018, a month after the Lion Air crash.

The FAA said the issue was “low risk”, but said Boeing could have helped to “eliminate possible confusion” by letting it know earlier.

The flight angle of the plane has been identified as a factor in the disasters. Boeing has said that in both fatal crashes, erroneous AOA data was fed to the jet’s Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), an anti-stall system which has come under scrutiny since the crashes.

Boeing is developing new software for MCAS.