FC Platinum ended their Caf Champions League campaign in an embarrassing fashion after managing just one point in the group stages of the competition to become the team with the worst record in the campaign.

BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA

On Saturday, they were in Tunis, hoping to secure maximum points against Etoile Du Sahel to try and put a better reading to their group table, but true to their form, they lost 2-0, finishing the campaign with just two goals to their name, while they let in 11 and retained the worst goal difference across all the groups.

The Zimbabwe champions were playing in the lucrative group stages for the second time in their history, having taken part in the previous campaign under Norman Mapeza.

It was against this background that expectations were high among football stakeholders for the Zvishavane side to better their record.

However, the assignment proved to be too big for Pure Platinum Play who could only manage a single point after their 1-all draw with Egyptian Giants Al Ahly at Barbourfields Stadium. FC Platinum, now under the guidance of Pieter De Jong, who took over from Lizwe Sweswe, suffered a 1-0 defeat at home to Sudanese side Al Hilal Omdurman in their next match.

In the previous campaign, it was the first time the Zvishavane side were taking part in the group phase stage of the competition and their performance was understandable as they were still learning the ropes in the jungles of African football.

But an improvement was expected this time around, especially considering the resources that the club have at their disposal.

In comparison, Caps United who operate with lesser resources fared better than FC Platinum when they participated in the competition in 2016 under the tutelage of Lloyd Chitembwe.

Caps failed to reach the knockout phase, but they bowed out with dignity after they conjured up two wins to finish with six points, the same as Zamalek.

FC Platinum’s struggles have particularly been in the transfer market where they have failed to bring in the right players for such a high level competition.

To their credit, they have acknowledged their weaknesses and have moved to try and improve the situation by employing De Jongh who will start his own campaign in the next edition that kicks off in August.

For this edition, the former Highlanders coach presided over two matches against Al Ahly and A Hilal which they lost.

He will be going back into the market to shop for better quality after the club lost some of its top players to foreign leagues.

Considering the club only managed two goals from six matches he will look to sharpen his attacking departments ahead of the new campaign.

BY KENNETH NYANGANI

SMALL-SCALE miners in Manicaland province are up in arms against the Mines ministry over double allocation of gold claims which, they say, has led to disputes among miners.

This was revealed on Friday at a Green Governance-organised workshop with small-scale gold miners in Penhalonga where it also emerged that government officials were pushing hapless miners off their gold claims.

Addressing the gathering, Manicaland Miners’ Association chairperson Lovemore Kasha said corruption had reached alarming levels in the Mines ministry.

“We are worried about corruption in the Ministry of Mines. These days it is now worse maybe it is because of the struggling economy. We, of late, witnessed double allocations of gold claims,” he said.
“If you ask why they are doing that, they will say we have given it to brigadier so and so or a senior government official and you are forced into silence.”

Penhalonga Miners’ Association chairperson Tendai Mandonga also castigated the ministry for laxity as they were not educating small-scale miners on safety precautions.

“We are worried about the Ministry of Mines because they are not coming to carry out their duties because, as small-scale miners, we are supposed to be educated on security safety measures because we don’t want to see the loss of lives,” he said
“Yes, we need money, but we don’t want to see the loss of lives in the mining sector. Our Ministry of Mines officials in the province are not teaching us on safety precautions.”

Mandonga added: “There are many boundary disputes in the province. What happens if ministry officials fails to deal with these matters, then people will start to fight, leading to fatalities.”

Green Governance official Trevor James pledged to engage the Mines ministry over the allegations.

“We have noted all your points so our next step is that we are going to engage the ministry over the matter so that we can arrange a meeting with them,” he said. Manicaland provincial mining director Omen Dube mobile’s phone went unanswered when contacted for comment yesterday.

INTERVIEW:Moses Matenga

URBAN local authorities have been accused of failing to provide basic services over the years. Different reasons have been given on the failure, with the ruling Zanu PF party blaming the opposition MDC and vice versa. The MDC controls 28 of the country’s 32 local authorities. NewsDay (ND) Senior Reporter Moses Matenga spoke to shadow deputy minister for local government, Clifford Hlatshwayo, to hear his thoughts.

ND: How do you rate the performance of your local authorities across the country?

CH: We have striven to deliver prudent services under a debilitating national economic meltdown. The MDC has a smart city agenda in all urban local authorities and development and urbanisation of rural areas for the rural communities. These are clear developmental programmes for a better Zimbabwe.

These two programmes are guiding all our work in the several local authorities that we lead, thanks to the voters in the respective local authorities.

In March this year, our president, Nelson Chamisa, will be hosting a smart city summit, where we shall take stock of our successes and sculpt further strategies to enhance service delivery and strengthen some weak ends.

We are pleased with the progress we continue to make in the face of adversities such as a run-down economy and an Executive whose illegitimacy drives them to spurn good governance tenets and constitutional provisions. Central government has displayed an insatiable appetite for destruction and a penchant for interference in this crucial sector.

ND: You have been accused of failure as a party to address basic service delivery issues. How do you defend yourself?

CH: The economy has been bastardised by the illegitimate regime, which has thrown all sanity through the window.

Inflation is runaway, the dollar, or whatever name we give our currency, continues on a downward spiral of exponential value loss against the United States dollar and other currencies.

This has been exacerbated by an inept government. Electricity is scarce in the country while local authorities’ contingent savings have been eroded 20-fold by monetary policy misadventures.

Government has also centralised the procurement of waste chemicals because of the acute shortage of foreign currency. This is the hard reality of our macroeconomic situation and sadly, all the above economic ills disable service delivery.

We bemoan government failure over the past four decades to invest in water harvesting. Our raw water sources are inadequate for the urban population bulge.

The plans for Kunzvi Dam and the Zambezi Water Project remain stuck on the drawing board, while Zanu PF makes sonorous noises about these projects towards every election.

In addition, there has been deliberate strangulation of local authorities’ revenue streams, thereby setting up our councils for failure.

For example, you ask why road user licensing has been taken away from councils. You ask why the EMA [Environmental Management Agency] takes hefty fees from local authorities and you ask why government allocates a paltry 5% of its budget to sub national governments. It’s all choreographed to cause councils to fail.

Further, the abuse by central government of the Local Government Act, which is no longer fit for purpose, is a key ingredient of defunctionalisation of this sector. Local authorities are barred by central government from investing in innovation and reform.

They can’t re-engineer their service delivery models because there is the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe, Joint Venture Committee Act and a plethora of other archaic acts standing as hurdles on the way of improved service delivery.

We thank our deployees for a spirit of never say die, the result of which is reasonable services against a background of serious interference.

ND: Your performance in rural councils by-elections has been dismal. Why is that?

CH: The people of Zimbabwe love the MDC. What you are witnessing are not elections. People are being frog-marched and forced to do what they don’t want. Our rural communities are very much vulnerable and exposed to Zanu PF militia tactics.

There is organised rigging and manipulation of all processes. Food aid to vulnerable communities is done on a partisan basis, leading to a captive community in our rural areas. We have witnessed traditional leaders being used as presiding officers, rogue war veterans being used to threaten communities, government property and employees being used, drugs being used to buy votes, just to mention but a few.

Now, in the delimitation process that is coming, gerrymandering has already begun. No normal person in this time and age will soberly vote for Zanu PF.

ND: There have been reports of corruption in MDC-dominated councils. As a party, how have you dealt with corrupt elements in your midst?

CH: Corruption is a scourge that needs to be dealt with ruthlessly whenever and wherever its ugly head pops up.

We are known for our uncompromising attitude toward corruption. As a party we are allergic to avarice and sleaze. This is why each time our elected officials have been found with their hands in the cookie jar, they have been removed from office. We set an example in Chitungwiza in 2010 when we fired a whole council for corruption, the only party ever to do so in this country.

On our part, very soon, we will be launching a hotline for all whistle-blowers on corruption in the councils that we run.

This coming month, we will be holding smart councillors accountability summits per province where our councillors will declare their assets and liabilities. This will be followed by periodic lifestyle checks and assessments.

Our president has established an integrity and accountability unit in his office, led by a renowned lawyer Advocate Thabani Mpofu. This is meant to sniff out rot in our councils.

Our councils are putting watertight systems to deal with corruption, which has been perpetuated by Zanu PF through space barons in markets and council properties and land barons linked to Zanu PF as revealed by a commission recently.

We will spare nothing in our quest for sustaining councils of high integrity, councils who stay the course to deliver superior services to all. There must be a social contract between the governor and the governed.

ND: Your councils seem to be relating well with the administration of President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Isn’t this a show of confusion on your part? Recognising ED as President in council and not recognising his legitimacy in Parliament?

CH: Mnangagwa is as illegitimate today as he has been on November of 2017 when he was foisted onto the people of Zimbabwe through a military coup.

He remains as illegitimate today as he was on August 1 of 2018 when soldiers killed peace-loving Zimbabweans on the streets of Harare.

He remains as illegitimate as he was on January 14 of 2019 when his marauding gangsters pumped live bullets into innocent citizens.

He remains illegitimate in central government as he does in provincial and metropolitan councils, spaces, where he has foisted his people to serve as Provincial Affairs ministers against the principle of devolution.

But as the MDC, we will neither allow nor give Mr Mnanagawa free reign on our zones of autonomy. It will be a travesty of justice to our voters if we were to abandon them and hand them over to a rejected and illegitimate President which they shunned in an election.

ND: Zanu PF has been mentioned as one of the biggest council debtors in Harare. What are your councils doing about that?

CH: The predatory instincts of Zanu PF are legendary. They are a serious pest that sucks its host to death.

This is wrong. They have bred a rotten culture of accumulation and impunity which needs uprooting.

Everyone must pay for services they get. The Zanu PF elite and their companies owe the people’s councils and they simply have to pay. Very soon, councils will start a process of sternly dealing with them so as to recover people’s money for better service delivery.

BY VENERANDA LANGA/ NIZBERT MOYO

WAR veterans have demanded that government creates their own ministry separate from the war collaborators and ex-political detainees, indicating that there should be a difference between freedom fighters and those who were assisting them during the war.

The mujibhas and chimbwindos (war collaborators) on Friday, however, told Parliament that the liberation war would not have been won without them and demanded equal treatment and compensation, saying that their plight had been ignored for too
long.

Outspoken ex-officio member of the war veterans association, Andrew Ndlovu, told NewsDay on Friday on the sidelines of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle 2019 Bill hearings in Bulawayo that the war collaborators and ex-political detainees do not have military training, hence they could not be called freedom fighters.

“We are military persons, while those are civilians who are (late former President Robert) Mugabe’s creation to combine us so that he could gain political mileage,” Ndlovu said.

“Some of these people (war collaborators) were too young during the liberation struggle and were herding cattle. They were not exposed to the risk that we were subjected to. We fought a guerrilla warfare against the National Treaty Organisations (NATO). This was a tough assignment and we did this just for the love of our country, not for money.
“We want that guerilla warfare structure to be maintained with its commanders and be treated as a special constituency.”

He said political detainees were in the country advocating for freedom, but were never in the forefront during the liberation struggle.

Dry Katsande, a representative from the Mujibha Chimbwindo Association during public hearings at Stoddard Hall in Mbare, Harare, said they were never given a chance to attain education, but the war veterans that did attain education were now mocking them and labelling them illiterate.

Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Defence and Home Affairs chairperson Levi Mayihlome said the Bill would, among other issues, eliminate any form of discrimination to military exposure, recommend four categories of liberation war fighters under Zanla and Zipra, non-combatant cadres, war collaborators, and ex-political prisoners and detainees.

“We demand that the Bill should stipulate equal treatment to mujibhas and chimbwindos because without us, the liberation war fighters would not have survived and we played a very important role to support them by carrying food, ammunition, clothes, spying and supplying information to them,” Katsande said.

“During the war, wherever there were bombings of the liberation war fighter, we mujibhas and chimbwindos were also bombed and we suffered in the same manner as the liberation war fighters.”

He demanded paid education for their children, farms, as well as positions to head companies.

“All war veterans must be exempted from paying tollgate fees and other taxes. The term ‘war collaborators’ is also vague and we want it changed in the Bill to ‘liberation war collaborators,” Katsande said.

But war veterans felt that when it comes to compensation, the Bill must state seniority of the different war veteran’s groupings.

Hoyini Bhila, the Harare province chairperson of the War Veterans Association, criticised lack of mentioning of seniority of war veterans in the Bill.

“Seniority must be based on one’s contributions during the liberation struggle and their sacrifices. It is our view that the degree of sacrifice by those who held arms and fought in the liberation war supersedes that of other groups,” he said.

Bhila also said there must be a 20% quota reserved for war veterans in all institutions, including seats in Parliament.

The Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Cadres Association said the Bill recognises veterans who fought in Mozambique and Zambia and ignores those who fought from Botswana.

Different war veterans criticised lack of implementation of Statutory Instrument 194/205, which stipulated that all categories that participated in the war must be compensated.

BY CHARLES LAITON

A FORMER Delta Beverages sales representative, Togara Chikonzo, has taken his ex-employer to the High Court seeking an order compelling the bottling company to pay him compensation for his 5 000 shares and to deliver to him 74 drinkage vouchers.

Through his lawyers Hungwe and Partners Legal Practitioners, Chikonzo recently filed a court application accusing Delta Beverages of failing to comply with a court order which compelled it to pay him after terminating his employment contract in 2013.

“I hold 5 000 shares in respondent’s (Delta Beverages) company under employee share empowerment scheme of 2008. The shares were allocated to me as a then employee of respondent,” Chikonzo said.

“Upon termination of the contract of employment with respondent, it did not settle the value of my shares in monetary terms. I have ascertained the value at the time of making this application to be $17 700 … despite demand, both verbal and written, respondent has failed, neglected, refused or failed to settle my 5 000 shares in the sum of
$17 700.”

Chikonzo also said upon termination of his contract, he agreed with his former employer through their lawyers that Delta Beverages would give him 74 drinkage vouchers and the agreement was recorded by Labour Court judge Justice Godfrey Musariri, who handled his labour matter.

In his founding affidavit accompanying the court application, Chikonzo quoted Justice Musariri as having said: “I record herein that the parties’ attorney agreed that respondent shall deliver to applicant (Chikonzo) drinks worth 74 vouchers. Accordingly, the item was dropped from the calculations.”

Chikonzo, however, insisted that the vouchers in the current case are claimable as a matter of agreement (contract) which was made between legal practitioners representing him and his former employer and, as such, it was still binding and enforceable.

The matter is yet to be set down for hearing.

BY BLESSED MHLANGA

THE Zanu PF youth league says it will today release a list of corrupt captains of industry and Zanu PF leaders it says are in bed with cartels involved in economic sabotage.
The youths claim to be in possession of a damaging dossier which could bring things to a head in the ruling party and government.

Politburo member and Zanu PF youth league deputy secretary, Lewis Matutu, who is leading the crusade, told delegates at a youth empowerment programme in Marondera at the weekend that they had been silent hoping action would be taken by responsible authorities, including the
Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc).

“If we keep quiet, we become accomplices, because when you are in leadership, you have to act to protect the nation and the people and that time has come for us to again step up that fight against corruption,” he said.

Matutu said after naming a number of Zanu PF leaders, and businesspeople last year who included the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Mangudya, party secretary for administration Obert Mpofu and other ministers, no action was taken, forcing them to engage in a new name and shame wave to keep the topic alive.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa in June 2019 appointed a Zanu PF commission made up of central committee members to investigate the corruption allegations and submit a report, but more than six months later, no action has been taken.

“The commission appointed by the President has not yet done anything. It has not even met for whatever reason. This is what has forced us to come out, saying it is taking forever to take action while cartels are using those in political power to hide from the long arm of the law. We can’t have that! It’s not the Zimbabwe we envisage,” Matutu said.

He said the youth league would name and confront the corrupt today regardless of the consequences.

“It is our responsibility as young people to end this cancer called corruption. Corruption has taken so many things away from our country. We have been disadvantaged for so many years because we have a few individuals with long (fingers). It is not easy to talk about it, but it’s possible. This Monday, we have a big bombshell. We are going to stand our ground and tell them that enough is enough,” the Zanu PF youth league second-in-command said.

“We can’t allow three or four people to loot everything while we watch, it must end. I don’t care what will happen on Tuesday, even if I am no longer in my position by Tuesday, but you will have heard what I would have said, that’s what is critical.”

Since taking office in 2017, Mnangagwa has insisted that fighting corruption would be his number one priority, but it appears he is losing the battle, as the public and his own party appear to have lost confidence, especially in Zacc.

In its central committee report at the conference held in Goromonzi last year, Zanu PF said the perception that “government lacks commitment to tackle the endemic problem of corruption has been posing a serious threat to party mobilisation efforts”.

Matutu said corruption had become commonplace and a way of life which need radical engagement to eradicate, saying politics must not stand in the way.

“Corruption is everywhere and it’s now a culture that people are now used to, for so many years, but it must end with our generation. How does it end? If you are at an institution, say at school, but you see certain things happening and you can’t even speak out against such things, how do we expect you to be able to speak out against bigger things when you grow up?” he said.

MDC youth assembly leader Obey Sithole, however, dismissed the Zanu PF youth league as attention-seekers without the courage to name the real corrupt people.

“Naming or not naming, it remains fundamentally inconsequential because we have seen this happening before, but no decisive action was taken against the so-called corrupt people. Zanu PF are the authors of corruption and expecting them to genuinely fight corruption is tantamount to expecting to see an igloo in Al-Aziziyah,” Sithole said.

Al-Aziziyah is a town in Libya.

He said nobody in Zanu PF was clean.

“Absolutely, no one in Zanu PF has the moral ground to speak against corruption because it is their unifying lifestyle. I take the said naming and shaming slated for today as a well-orchestrated and desperate attempt by Zanu PF to divert the nation’s focus on real issues bedevilling the nation,” Sithole said.

“We have the topical issues around the increase in tuition fees against the background of low remuneration of civil servants. We have another serious issue of doctors who are still demanding better working conditions. These are the issues that they are afraid of addressing, hence they want to divert our attention for a moment.”

BY BLESSED MHLANGA

OPPOSITION leader Nelson Chamisa, who turned 42 yesterday, has said he wants to lead Zimbabwe before retiring from public life and politics.
In his birthday message yesterday, Chamisa, who will only serve two terms as MDC leader, said he had a dream of carrying the country out of poverty, human rights violations to a true democratic path.

“It is my humble desire and cherished pledge to build, create and lead a new Zimbabwe before I ultimately retire from active public life. I have this strong vision and drive to make Zimbabwe great. We will make Zimbabwe a powerful, successful and wonderful nation,” he said.

The MDC congress held in Gweru last year passed a resolution limiting all its leaders, including president, to two terms each, leaving Chamisa with just the 2023 polls as his only realistic hope to achieve his dream.

Chamisa said he was a very difficult man to please, calling himself a perfectionist, who is driven by excellence.

“But I have a confession to make. I am a perfectionist. I’m difficult to please. I even hardly please and satisfy myself. I keep trying to be better. Excellence is my goal. I carry this infinite craving for knowledge and insatiable curiosity for wisdom. I love learning and books. I cherish knowledge, information and education. I love the Bible and the word of God. I love peace and bringing people together. I love gathering rather than scattering. I cherish uniting,” he said.

Chamisa became one of the youngest Cabinet ministers post-independence during the 2009-2013 inclusive government.

He was also thrust into Parliament in 2003 to replace the late Learnmore Jongwe, who died in 2002.

“I have sworn to dutifully and loyally serve my beloved country, Zimbabwe. I have been an MP and a Cabinet minister (inclusive government) and an advocate in the superior courts of Zimbabwe. I have served in the three arms of the State. I have served my country to the best of my ability in the Legislature, Executive and the Judiciary. I have also served internationally through representing Zimbabwe in the ACP-EU [African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States-European Union] in Brussels, Belgium. I thank God’s grace in all this,” he said.

Chamisa said he would retreat to Gutu, Masvingo province, once he retires from public life and would want to be buried there.

“My rural home in Gutu shall be my retirement home. Where I was born, there I shall retire and there I shall finally rest. We must all be our best then rest. I must retire before I tire and get tired,” he said.

In his reflections, Chamisa wants to become a mentor of young leaders, helper of the poor and an author.

“I often ask myself: What’s next and why? Who next and why? When next and why? When I die, what next? I care about the ‘hereafter’ and the ‘henceforth’. For the next decade, God willing, I hope to be serving my country and the wonderful people of God in Zimbabwe before finally exiting national duty and the public space. Thereafter, I settle to focus on leadership coaching and youth mentoring, philanthropy and winning souls for the Kingdom. I believe leaders must lead and leave. Leaders must leave and live,” he said.

Drought, Cyclone Idai and “policy missteps” drove Zimbabwe’s economic contraction in 2019, the first in over a decade, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says.

— newZWire

The IMF projected the economy to slump by 7,1% in 2019, before recovering by 2,5% in 2020. The drought, said by the United Nations to be the worst in 40 years, hurt agriculture and power generation, and combined with poor government policy to lead the country to the first economic contraction since 2008.

“Our preliminary estimates . . . indicate that gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2019 will be steeply negative as the effects of drought on agriculture and electricity impact, the impact of Cyclone Idai and policy, some policy missteps present headwinds to the economy,” IMF spokesman Gerry Rice told reporters in Washington on Thursday.

He said the IMF remained in contact with Zimbabwe on its reform plan, including through the Staff Monitored Programme (SMP) and a recent meeting in Davos between Finance minister Mthuli Ncube and IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva.

“The IMF has a staff monitored programme with Zimbabwe. We had a mission to Harare in December to conclude discussions on our regular annual economic consultation, the Article IV,” Rice said.

“And Kristalina Georgieva actually met with the Finance minister of Zimbabwe just a few days ago in Davos and they discussed latest economic developments there too. So we are in close contact with the authorities to assist and co-ordinate reform and stabilisation efforts.”

Missed targets

The drought has decimated Zimbabwe’s crop, leaving over seven million Zimbabweans at risk of starvation and forcing government to increase spending on grain imports.

In 2019, the government abandoned the 1:1 currency peg, partially floating the Zimbabwe dollar. This set off the currency depreciation that, together with the drought and forex shortages, have driven inflation, which has risen to over 500% by some estimates.

An SMP agreed with the IMF in 2019 was seen as a key step to help Zimbabwe get back on the path to fiscal reform. However, the economic crisis has forced Zimbabwe off many of the targets under the programme. A report on the IMF’s last Article IV mission is expected shortly.

“But again we are engaged with Zimbabwe and looking to support Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwean people as much as we can,” Rice said.

The IMF’s 2019 projections were mostly in line with those of the United Nations and World Bank, although the UN does not expect a recovery this year due to continuing drought and government economic policy. The UN saw Zimbabwe’s economy down 5,5% in 2019 and expects that it will fall by a further 2,5% 2020.

The World Bank says the economy fell 7,5% in 2019, but may rebound 2,7% in 2020. Government projected a 6,5% decline in 2019 and 3% growth in 2020.