BY VENERANDA LANGA

WHEN retired veteran broadcaster Maguire Godzongere was at primary school, his ambition was to become a teacher, a nurse, a policeman or a land development officer.

But a very popular 1974 radio programme, Jarzin Man, which aired every morning on the then Rhodesia Broadcasting Corporation, attracted him to broadcasting, where he was to interview very important personalities, including the late former President Robert Mugabe.

“My first job was in 1973 and I worked for a company called Lewis Construction. I must point out that by coincidence, my first job was located at the then Third Street and Baker Avenue, now Nelson Mandela Avenue. Funny enough, my retirement job at Parliament was also in the same street, Third Street and Nelson Mandela Avenue,” Godzongere said.

After completing his “O” Level studies, his application to join the police force was rejected because he was too short at 1,6m.

“They wanted giants. So in 1974 during my service at Lewis Construction, we were awoken every morning by the Jarzin Man jingle,” he recalled.

“One morning, they flighted vacancies for broadcasters (then referred to as announcers) for Radio Mthwakazi, which was to be established in Bulawayo. I stood out during the auditions due to my fluency in both Shona and Ndebele.”

Born on May 10, 1952 in Makokoba Old Location, Godzongere grew up in West Commonage. He did Sub A to Standard 3 at Mtshede Primary School in Njube high-density suburb.

“I am proud to mention that at that time, my headmaster was the late Josiah Zion Gumede, who was later to become the first black President of Rhodesia (United African National Council).

The late Canaan Banana was the first black President of independent Zimbabwe. By coincidence, Banana was also my principal at Matjinge Central Primary School in Plumtree, where I did Standard 4 to 6,” he said.

He said Gumede was an inspiration as he had married a beautiful nurse, a South African woman, and he also coached them to do drama.

Godzongere recalled the Tshaka Zulu play which Gumede had them stage and a song during the play which spoke about Tshaka’s prophetic words that white men would invade the country.

His high school education was partly at David Livingstone Memorial Mission and Selukwe Chrome Secondary School.

Godzongere boasts having been part of the teams that constructed buildings like Zimnat (then called Bude House in the 1970s) and the Southern Sun Hotel (now Monomotapa Crowne Plaza Hotel) while working at Lewis Construction.

When he joined Radio Mthwakazi in 1974, he met other veteran broadcasters like Harry Nleya, Maplot Jubane, Luke Nkandla, Ferdinand Sibanda, Cephas Chimhanga, Ray Watson Chirisa, Lovemore Chavhunduka, Edward Ndlovu, Clement Maphosa and John Masuku was to join them later.

The veteran female broadcasters at the time, he said, included Julia Shumba, Mavis Moyo and Shiyeka Khumalo.

“I do not know why there were very few females. I went through in-house training because there were no broadcasting colleges, but later acquired a Diploma in Journalism and a Degree in English and Communication,” he said.

Some of the very popular programmes that Godzongere aired on radio were Kwaziso/Ukubingelelana and the music programme Dzandakusarudzirai/Engilikhetele Zona.

Others were Zvinofamba Sei, which looked at prominent Zimbabweans, where he had an opportunity to interview Tizirai Gwata, who later became the first African mayor of Harare and Misheck Sibanda (currently Chief Secretary to the Office of the President and Cabinet), who was a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe in the 1980s.

Godzongere’s linguistic skills were demonstrated in a programme called Mumatare/Emthethwandaba, where he boasts that he coined words like nharembozha (cellphone), jengeta chando (for fridge) and gwambisa pfimbi (for a freezer).

“These words that I coined became widely used,” he said.

He said the programme ChiKristu Netsika, which was launched by Benjamin Chipere, taught him a lot. The programme juxtaposed Christianity and traditional African culture.

“There were lots of emotions between staunch Christians and traditionalists,” he said.

Another of his interesting radio programmes was Chakapfukidza Dzimba Matenga, propounded by the late veteran broadcaster Jabulani Mangena.

“Some of the stories on this programme were weird. One day, a lady phoned complaining that her husband was a traditionalist. She said he did not want her to bath until he came back from work. Thereafter, he would check her underwear and sniff them to see if there had been no other bull in the kraal while he was away,” he said.

“When other people phoned in to comment, they accused the woman of administering a love portion on the husband which backfired and resulted in such jealous behaviour from him.”

Other experiences included interviewing a homosexual during the 1980s, which was regarded taboo then.

He said the man had demanded to be aired on a live programme, but due to its sensitivity, it was pre-recorded and edited.

Godzongere said he was also one of the first broadcasters to do HIV and Aids programmes at a time when there were huge knowledge gaps about the condition and some of the infected thought they were just suffering from diarrhoea or had been bewitched.

“This programme also fortified many marriages and we had testimonies from many couples that said they were now living in harmony,” he said.

Godzongere said drama production was one of his strengths after attending training in Germany at Deutsche Welle (DW).

“We relied on Colgate Palmolive funding and groups used to stage dramas on radio. In order to include sounds on radio, I suggested that we improvise. For example, for a sound of a person being beaten up, we clapped hands. For a baby Jesus play, we included sounds of a baby crying,” he said.

After his long stint on radio, Godzongere retired in 2002 when former Information minister Jonathan Moyo ordered retrenchment at the State broadcaster.

“I then went into artisanal mining because I come from Shurugwi, but I am certainly not a machete-wielding MaShurugwi,” he said with a chuckle.

“Mining did not work out. I then joined the Parliament of Zimbabwe in 2006, where I have been working as a public relations officer and interpreter. I left on December 31, 2019.”

Married to Lucia Hamandawana Godzongere, a principal nursing officer at Sally Mugabe Central Hospital, Godzongere is a father of six — five boys and a girl — and has 15 grandchildren.

“Now I spend most of the time playing with my grandchildren,” he said.

His parting shot: “Broadcasters should not let popularity get into their heads or else they will lose their sense of direction. They should bear in mind that fame is temporary.”

VICE-PRESIDENT Constantino Chiwenga’s estranged wife, Marry, who is in custody over charges of allegedly assaulting her house maid, has accused her husband of engineering the allegations after his initial failed attempts to have her locked up for failing to surrender a second passport in the attempted murder charge.

BY CHARLES LAITON

Marry said Chiwenga was using State resources to ensure that she is incarcerated at all costs and even on flimsy charges. Marry said this in her bail appeal application filed at the High Court on Monday this week and the matter is set to be heard today.

Through her lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa Marry said: “She (magistrate Bianca Makwande) also misdirected herself in her failure to consider and take into account that the charges are mere allegations engineered by a disenchanted spouse (Chiwenga) and that the presumption of innocence still operates. She also erred and misdirected herself in equating allegations of common assault to attempted murder.”

“The applicant (Marry)’s husband had attempted to engineer a breach of her bail conditions by pretending she was in possession of a passport which was actually in his possession. The likelihood of his having engineered the assault charge in order to achieve what he failed to do by lying about the passport was a factor the magistrate ought to have taken into account.”

Last Saturday, Marry was remanded in custody by Makwande, who ruled that she had a propensity to commit violent crimes, an assertion dismissed by Mtetwa.

“She (Makwande) also erred and misdirected herself in her conclusion that two alleged incidents arising from circumstances where one spouse is fighting another constitute evidence of “propensity” to commit violent crimes, particularly where no evidence of such propensity was led in respect of incidents unconnected with the acrimonious end of marriage,” Mtetwa said.

In her defence, however, Marry said it was not possible for her to assault the complainant in the matter, one Delight Munyoro, taking into account that she has a swollen hand and also the sitting position of Munyoro who was in her vehicle at the time of the alleged assault.

“She further erred and misdirected herself when she failed to consider and take into account the visible festering wounds and a swollen hand displayed to her making it unlikely that such a swollen hand and arm would have been used to assault the complainant (Delight Munyoro). Any use of such visibly damaged hand and arm would have resulted in more pain for the appellant (Marry) than to the complainant, who is a stout and well-rounded woman,” Mtetwa said.

“She erred and misdirected herself when she failed to take into account the physical difficulties of a backslap on the left cheek using the left hand on a person who was sitting in a motor vehicle whose right cheek would have been nearer to the applicant”.

Mtetwa further said the magistrate failed to consider and take into account the many weaknesses in the State allegations and instead treated the allegations as if they were proven fact in both cases.

“In all of these circumstances, appellant contends that the magistrate’s many misdirections led her to come to the wrong conclusion and that this court set aside her ruling as being based on the wrong bail principles and that the State provided no compelling reasons why she should not have been admitted to bail.”

In her chronological order of events, Marry said on January 28, 2020 she went to collect her children from school following the ruling by the High Court and when she got there, she saw Munyoro sitting in a vehicle in the company of security details from the army and the Central Intelligence Organisation.

Marry said she then asked Munyoro why she had instructed her (Marry) younger children not to speak to their siblings and Munyoro responded that she (Marry) should be grateful and thankful that she was caring for the children as Chiwenga could not look after them.

“Although there was a verbal exchange between them, there was no physical contact as complainant had armed personnel and was also sitting in the car,” Mtetwa said, adding her client was surprised to later learn that she was wanted by the police for questioning on charges of assault.

THE opposition MDC has hired independent auditors after $2 million allegedly vanished from its accounts last year, officials said yesterday.

BY MOSES MATENGA/ Richard Muponde

MDC treasurer-general David Coltart confirmed to NewsDay that a team of independent auditors would start work this week after unconfirmed reports that the money had been abused by unnamed top officials and individuals.

He could, however, not be drawn into confirming or denying the theft reports.

“We are starting an audit today because the party, at my request, has agreed to have an audit. We will have a standard audit and until maybe the audit reveals the irregularities, I am not aware of such,” Coltart said.

“Whether it is $190 000 or $1,9 million, I am not aware of any irregularities. I am not saying they are not there. I am not an auditor and that is why we have an audit. An independent firm will be doing the audit of the MDC books since 2019 and it is the first for the MDC and for any political party. It is the first time a political party has subjected itself to an audit.”

There have been concerns from within the party over allegations of abuse of funds in the opposition which prompted the audit.

MDC sources said there was proof that $1,9 million withdrawn from the MDC had been used for other unintended purposes.

“We are faced with that challenge whereby $1,9 million was stolen and used for other purposes,” the source said.
Last year, the MDC received more than $4 million under the Political Parties Finance Act.
Government released more than $12 million to both the MDC and Zanu PF to share according to the numbers garnered in the 2018 harmonised elections.

This is not the first time the MDC has been in the eye of a storm over alleged abuse of funds.
In 2014, the party split into two distinct camps amid accusations that donors were not happy with how the leadership had used funds.

As a result of alleged lack of accountability in party finances, the insiders said donors had withdrawn financial support to the main opposition following the 2014 allegations leading into a serious financial crisis.
It emerged back then that the party leadership was allegedly spending big on personal projects while the party was failing to pay its workers and fund key party programmes.

Meanwhile, MDC leader, Nelson Chamisa yesterday said he has been encouraged by the Malawian judiciary which exhibited courage in annulling the country’s disputed presidential election and urged Sadc and the African Union (AU) to draw key lessons from Malawi.

The Malawian Constitutional Court on Monday annulled the May 2019 presidential vote that declared Peter Mutharika a winner and ordered a re-run after an application from opposition parties cited irregularities.

Zimbabawe’s main opposition leader is still leaking his wounds after losing an election petition in which he challenged the 2018 election results. The ConCourt upheld the election of President Emmerson Mnangagwa and declared him duly elected.

Chamisa’s spokesperson, Nkululeko Sibanda yesterday said his boss was impressed by the judgment made by the Malawian ConCourt which he said was a lesson to Sadc and the African Union not to rush and endorse elections without fully applying themselves to the situation.

“The president (Chamisa) is very excited and encouraged by the judgment made by the Malawian ConCourt. It’s historic and unprecedented. The Malawian justice system has shown courage in nullifying the presidential election and ordering for a re-run. This shows that the courts are institutionalised and don’t play to the whims of politicians,” said Sibanda

He said Chamisa applauded Malawi’s security forces for their show of character in upholding their country’s Constitution.

“Sadc, AU and Zimbabwe should draw key lessons from Malawi. As for Sadc and the AU the lessons are that they shouldn’t just endorse elections which will later be nullified as they put themselves in an awkward position as is the case in Malawi. Sadc and the AU should be above local systems and institutions and stop delegitimising themselves,” he said.

CONSTITUTIONAL Lawyer and National Constitutional Assembly leader Lovemore Madhuku’s claims that opposition parties, alongside the government, were responsible for the country’s debilitating problems are most unfortunate as they deliberately seek to protect the actual culprits while apportioning the blame elsewhere.

NewsDay Comment

The Zanu PF government is responsible for crafting national policy which directs its operations and can therefore not seek to have blame for its own failures laid elsewhere. It is not the responsibility of opposition political parties to provide government with solutions as these are competitors for the same political space.

What is true, however, is that the Zanu PF government has dismally failed to provide solutions to the crisis bedevilling the nation. Quite clearly, the Mnangagwa administration is bereft of workable ideas, and this explains the ruinous path the economy has taken since it came to power.

It is quite laughable that Madhuku would have us believe that Polad — itself a loose grouping of failed politicians that fared terribly in the last elections and therefore have no mandate from the public or anyone — could provide ideas that will take this country forward. Polad is a useless gathering of failed politicians and does not inspire confidence or hope at all.

The late former President Robert Mugabe used to chastise the “Madhuku Syndrome” of making money — and clearly the man is trying hard to get the most out of Mnangagwa’s desperation.

What the Mnangagwa administration should do, upon realisation that all they have is power but not ideas, is to embrace the opposition and find viable ways of working together within a formal and legally recognised arrangement rather than seek to milk ideas in the dark and present them as their own during the day. This is only done by those seeking to gain cheap political points.

The toxic nature of our politics has bred suspicion and mistrust between the ruling party and the opposition.
When Zanu PF decided to contest the elections, it was because it believed in its ability to deliver, and deliver it must, without mortgaging its failure to the opposition which is not in government. What is quite obvious is that it is presiding over a deepening socio-economic crisis and it has demonstrated that it has no solutions.

Zimbabweans, however, would recall that officially bringing in the MDC-T and MDC-M in the government of national unity in 2009 through a recognised formal system and sharing power helped stabilise the economy. This is unlikely to happen with this joke called Polad, set up just to sooth some politicians’ ego and present a fake image that there is some inter-party dialogue going on to help Zimbabwe out of its mess. We do not buy that ruse and only the deluded believe it is anything, but a gathering of the dumb.

WARRIORS defender Alec Mudimu is confident that the team can navigate their way through a very difficult 2022 Fifa World Cup qualification phase and qualify to the world’s most prestigious football tournament to be held in Qatar.

BY HENRY MHARA

Zimbabwe are in Group G together with Ghana, neighbours South Africa and Ethiopia. The top team in the group will progress to the final knockout round and will be pitted against one of the nine other group winners for a contest played over two legs.

Five winners from those ties will represent Africa at the 2022 Qatar Fifa World Cup finals.

Ghana are being widely tipped to top the group, while South Africa have been doing well of late and are capable of anything. Zimbabwe will start as the dark horse, and Ethiopia are widely regarded as the weakling of the grouping.

Mudimu, who moved to Moldovan club Sheriff Tiraspol in December last year from Cefn Druids of Wales, admitted it is a hard task ahead of them in their quest to make history, but is confident that the Warriors are capable of producing a miracle.

“It’s a difficult draw for us, but this is football,” Mudimu told NewsDay Sport.

“Nothing comes easily. I’ve said it a number of times and I will continue to let everyone know that we have a quality team physically and technically in depth. We play tough draws in the hunt for World Cup qualification, but all is well. It will take serious concentration and hard work to succeed, which I’m very confident we can do also,” he added.

Mudimu is one of the Warriors players who currently play in one of the top leagues in the world, and their experience would be of immense beneficial to the team.

There are a lot other Warriors stars who have sprouted in top leagues around the world of late, and they would be expected to form the backbone of the team.

Marvelous Nakamba, who plays for Aston Villa, in the English Premier League — widely regarded as the best league in the world — leads that cast, while Marshal Munetsi plays in the French Ligue 1 for Stade de Reims, which is one of the top national leagues, currently ranked fifth in Europe.

Le Havre star striker Tino Kadewere will soon join Munetsi in the French top league after making a big move from the Ligue 2 side to join giants Lyon last month.

Defender Teenage Hadebe plays for Süper Lig club Yeni Malatyaspor in Turkey, while the team’s skipper Knowledge Musona has resurrected his career at CAS Eupen in Belgium’s top division.

Other players who play at the high level include right-back Tendayi Darikwa, who turns out for Nottingham Forest in England’s second division, and there are indications that England born striker Macauley Bonne, who also plays in that division for Charlton Athletic, would have been naturalised to feature for Zimbabwe by the time the qualifiers begin later this year.

Khama Billiat remains the team’s superstar and poster boy despite playing for Kaizer Chiefs in South Africa.
Warriors’ new coach Zdravko Logarušić would be expected to assemble his team around these stars and form a very formidable side capable of facing any team in the continent.

“I can’t tell our chances (of qualifying) since we haven’t played any games yet, but I’m very confident in the players, technical staff and everyone else involved in the national team. It’s a great time to be a part of this special team because we have very special players among the squad, if not everyone in the squad,” Mudimu said.

But before they can think of the World Cup qualifiers, the Warriors have a little matter of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifying campaign to deal with.

Zimbabwe are in Group H of the Afcon qualifiers, where they currently lie second behind African champions Algeria after two rounds of games.

Zambia and Botswana complete the group, with the top two teams qualifying to the finals, set for Cameroon next year.

The Warriors will resume this campaign with a back-to-back clash against Algeria in March, which would be Logarušić’s first assignment as Warriors coach.

The Croat was appointed Warriors coach last week and he will be assisted by Joseph Antipas, Lloyd Chitembwe and Tonderai Ndiraya.

POWERSPEED Electrical Limited (PEL) will seek to adopt a share option scheme involving 10% of the company’s shares for the purpose of employees and directors at its annual general meeting next month.

BY BUSINESS REPORTER

In a notice issued yesterday announcing the AGM slated for March 5, 2020, the company said that 38 million shares would be put up for the share option scheme.

“That 10% of the issued share capital, amounting to 38 000 000 shares of the company be placed under the control of the directors, who shall have the authority to issue them to employees and directors for the purpose of a staff share option scheme,” PEL said.

“The ZSE [Zimbabwe Stock Exchange] approved share option scheme rules will be made available for inspection at least 14 days prior to the date of AGM.”

Typically, under a share option scheme, an employer grants to an employee an option to buy a specified number of shares at some future time at a price fixed on the date on which the option is granted.

PEL will seek to approve with or without amendments, the authorisation in advance, in terms of section 79 of the Companies Act (Chapter 24:03) and Article 52 of the company’s Articles of Association, the purchase of the company’s own ordinary shares, which: “In aggregate in any one financial year, shall not exceed 10% (ten percent) of the company’s issued ordinary share capital, for the company cancelling them, subject to the availability of sufficient revenue reserves to undertake the transfer to a capital Redemption Reserve Fund as required by the Companies Act (Chapter 24:03); value of such purchased ordinary shares shall not exceed the net asset value of the company.”

And: “The maximum price at which such ordinary shares may be acquired will be not more than 5% above the weighted average of the market price at which such ordinary shares are traded on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, as determined over the five business days immediately preceding the date of purchase of such ordinary shares by the company.”
A Press announcement will also be published as soon as the company has acquired ordinary shares constituting, on cumulative basis in the period between annual general meetings, 3% of the ordinary shares prior to acquisition.
PEL will also seek authority to pay the transaction costs for shareholders who, in terms of the share buyback scheme, hold less than 1 000 shares.

“It will be recorded that in terms of the Companies Act and the regulations of the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, it is the intention of the directors of the company to utilise this authority at a future date provided the cash resources of the company are in excess of its requirements and the transaction is considered to be in the best interest of shareholders generally,” PEL said.

“In considering cash availability, the directors will take account of inter alia, the long-term cash needs of the company, and will ensure the company will remain solvent after the re-purchase.”

THE Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera) has for the second time extended the duration of fuel licences by one month, saying it is consulting with its stakeholders on the new framework, sparking anxiety among players.

BY FIDELITY MHLANGA

Fuel dealer’s licences, whose lifespan is one year, expired on December 31, 2019.

The fuel regulator communicated the move to fuel players through a circular dated January 31, gleaned by NewsDay Business.

“Please be advised that the validity of the petroleum sector licences has been further extended to February 29, 2020. Zera will advise of any changes before the new expiry date,” Zera said.

Fuel dealers fear that the energy regulator will increase the fees to obscene levels and elbow out up-and-coming indigenous operators.

The delay in issuing fuel import licences has created anxiety among indigenous fuel players, who feel that a stage has been set to hike fees, a move that will weed out small fuel dealers and create a monopoly in the sector.

Zera acting chief executive Eddington Mazambani said the extension was influenced by the need to continue with consultations with players.

“We are still to finalise the 2020 licensing framework consultations with relevant stakeholders,” Mazambani said.
Efforts to get a comment from the Indigenous Petroleum Association of Zimbabwe (Ipaz), a grouping of local fuel companies, were fruitless yesterday.

Zimbabwe has six major oil-importing companies which include Ipaz, Zuva Petroleum, Puma Energy, Total Zimbabwe, PetroTrade (Pvt) Ltd and Engen Petroleum Zimbabwe.

Sakunda and Redan were some of the key members of Ipaz until they were taken over by Singaporean-based Trafigura group, one of the world’s leading commodity trading companies, and Puma Energy — which are related companies — respectively.

Zera increased fuel prices last month for the first time in two months to $19,55 for diesel and $18,28 petrol.
The vital liquid has remained short on the market, with desperate motorists spending hours in long winding queues countrywide.

Mushrooming unregistered fuel dealers have taken advantage of the fuel crisis to sell fuel on the parallel market predominantly in hard currency.

On a daily basis, the oil companies and Ipaz would need to collectively import 4 254 285 litres of diesel and 3 231 428 litres of petrol.

According to Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya, fuel gobbles 45% of total foreign currency receipts annually.

Mangudya blamed the spike in demand for fuel to the growing vehicle population in the country, which has jumped 50% to 1,8 million as of 2018.

To benefit from huge volumes of fuel shipped in the country, Treasury in the 2020 budget resolved to ring-fence 5% of fuel excise duty revenue collected on fuel towards the construction and rehabilitation of the dangerous Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu Highway.

A HARARE court yesterday heard that the police were reluctant to bring to court a detailed report on MDC activist Hilton Tafadzwa Tamangani, who was allegedly assaulted to death by law enforcement agents while in custody.

BY DESMOND CHINGARANDE

Tamangani was one of the 11 vendors who were arrested near the opposition MDC headquarters in central Harare in October last year during a police crackdown that followed the discovery of old police helmets at a nearby building.

The State, represented by Lancelot Mutsokoti, said they were still to receive a report from the police of the account of his death so that they could open a sudden death docket for an inquest to be carried out.

Meanwhile, MDC activists, who were arrested for criminal nuisance after they gathered to hear party leader Nelson Chamisa State of the Nation Address at the party’s Harare headquarters, have filed a notice to apply for removal of remand.

The activists — Godfrey Karembera (42), Shoko Zindoga (42), Victor Maramba (20), Honzeri Zondai (37), Gift Ben (30), Rose Chitsungo 30) and Maria Tinago (36) — through their lawyer Marufu Mandevere, said the State failed to provide them with a trial date.

According to the State, the seven connived with accomplices, who are still at large, and gathered outside the Morgan Richard Tsvangirai House along Nelson Mandela in the central business district waiting for an address by Chamisa.
The State alleges that the police had not cleared the gathering.

It also alleged that they blocked the free movement of traffic, which resulted in the police dispersing them and they allegedly started throwing missiles at the police singing: “Hatidi zvekupihwa order nemasascam.”
It is alleged several people were injured when police fired teargas at the group and used sjamboks as they charged at the crowd.