BY SINDISO DUBE

Of all their well-known hits that made the waves last year, the protest song, Into Oyenzayo Siyayizonda became the theme song of the oversubscribed DJ Maphorisa and Kabza De Small show at Bulawayo’s BAC Leisure on Saturday night, as patrons protested over continuous power cuts and stoppages that disturbed the flow of the show.

Just after midnight when the most sought-after duo of Kabza De Small and DJ Maphorisa made their way into the packed venue, they had a torrid time navigating the DJ’s box as dozens of fans mobbed them.

Just after they got into the booth, the unexpected happened. Power was cut off.

The development triggered unrest among fans. Into Oyenzayo Siyayizonda became the “hit song” probably because it was the only Kabza song the fans could recite to register their displeasure.

After 10 minutes, everyone was happy, dancing to Amapiano after the back-up generator was switched on.

During those 10 minutes before partying resumed there was pushing and shoving with fans trying to get closer to the stage so that they could have a closer view of the artistes.

The pushing and shoving continued, prompting DJ Maphorisa to ask fans to relax and enjoy the entertainment.

“We came all the way from South Africa so that we can have a good time with you. We can’t have problems with you. We can’t be asking you to have fun with us. May you stop pushing and shoving so that we can start the party,” begged Maphorisa. After an hour of Kabza De Small taking fans into a journey of deep house, patrons were forced to chant “Into Oyenzayo Siyayizonda” again.

The impatient fans went on to wrestle bouncers who were manning the VVIP section close to the DJ’s box and destroyed the barricade.
After the dust had settled, the Mzansi duo took fans into a journey of music for at least three hours.

BY BURZIL DUBE

HWANGE – The flash floods that recently swept the coal mining town of Hwange, leaving a trail of destruction, might be gone but it served as a wake-up call in terms of preparedness and prevention of such calamities.

The rains of up to 139mm triggered havoc at the colliery’s high-density suburbs of Lwendulu and Sinderella, while Hwange Power Station — the country’s largest thermal power utility was not spared after also being hit by heavy rains. The power station is a subsidiary of Zimbabwe Power Company.

Some houses in Hwange Local Board’s Empumalanga suburb were not spared with household properties damaged by incessant floods.

Despite persistent warnings by the Meteorological Services Department (MSD) concerning the looming heavy downpour in the town, few families, especially in the colliery concession area, heeded and took it upon themselves to clean-up the heavily blocked storm drains in and around their properties. Such houses were least affected by the flash floods.

“Very little was done during the previous floods; and this time around we decided to take it upon ourselves following warnings by weather experts,” said a Lwendulu resident who declined to be named in an interview with NewsDay.

Four years ago, similar flash floods were experienced in Hwange and left a trail of destruction at the colliery and surrounding areas.

When the recent heavy rains hit Hwange, the Department of Civil Protection (DCP) was also caught flat footed, despite periodical meetings on disaster preparedness.

A total of 35 families were displaced from the colliery’s two suburbs and were temporarily sheltered at the company’s guest house and community halls. At the time of writing, some had gone back to their houses, while those whose properties such as beds, wardrobes, stoves and other related gadgets were extensively damaged, are still staying at the guest house in Lwendulu suburb.

Electricity generation was severely affected which resulted in some parts of the country experiencing an increase in load shedding after 400 MW of power was lost due to flooding of the entity.

Expansion work for the power station being done by Sino Hydro was also temporarily suspended after most structures were submerged in water.

After-effects of the floods are still being felt across the country as intermittent power cuts are now the order of the day as power utility Zesa tries to reboot Hwange Power Station which has beeen on and off the national grid.

Donations such as mealie-meal and other groceries have been trickling in to the affected families while those who lost household properties are still counting their losses.

“My double bed and fridge are beyond repair as well as stationery for my three kids and I really don’t know where to start,” said another resident who identified herself as Muleya.

Senior politicians from both Zanu PF and MDC visited the area and pledged to assist the displaced families.

Zanu PF chairman for Lwendulu branch, Reeds Dube, said his party will continue to assist affected families even if they are moved from temporary shelters to their permanent homes.

“The Speaker of Parliament (Jacob Mudenda) spent close to four days in Hwange assessing the needs of the affected families so that the party comes up with more ways of assisting the flood victims.

“We were among the first to come to the aid of the Department of Civil Protection with our donations which included hundreds of kilogrammes of meat among other necessities,” said Dube.

He added that the Speaker was also appraised on the pollution of the nearby Deka River following flooding in the mining town.

Communities living along the Deka River have in the past complained about the contamination of the river through acid from the mine. The situation was recently made worse by the flash floods. Deka River is among the several rivers which flow directly into the Zambesi River.

Thulani Moyo, spokesperson for Hwange Central legislator — Fortune Daniel Molokeli, said the MDC had sourced groceries and other related material which were, however, yet to be delivered.

“Most of the sourced material is currently in Bulawayo and we are in the process of mobilising transport so that we hand them over to over the Department of Civil Protection for disbursement,” he said.

He added that the local party leadership was also seized with the matter so that they come up with a comprehensive report that will in future assist the DCP whenever a disaster of such magnitude happens.

While the flash floods have gone; it remains to be seen whether Hwange and the nation at large will again not be caught napping if such type of disaster was to recur. As for Hwange, lessons should have been learnt in 2016 when similar floods wrought severe disaster in the same high-density suburbs.

BY PRECIOUS CHIDA

BUDDING Afro-pop artiste, Isheanesu “Ishan” Chigagura was the toast of the night at Saturday’s Zimbabwe Music Awards (Zima) ceremony held at the Country Club in Newlands, Harare, after walking away with three prizes.

Ishan, who hogged the limelight with his hit song Kure last year, scooped the Best Male Artiste of the Year, the Best Newcomer and the Best Afro-pop Musician awards.

“This is my first time receiving an award and I am so grateful to my family who have been supportive since day one. I’m really happy and grateful to Zima for giving me this recognition and to my fans, thank you for the support,” said the ecstatic artiste.

Zima chief executive officer, Reason Sibanda, urged people and corporates to help develop music in the country.

“As we try to improve the Zima, we are open to criticism. I urge all corporates and people to come on board and let’s build Zimbabwean music together and grow in music,” he said.

Dancehall musician Freeman scooped the Best Video (Ngaibake), Album of the Year (Gango) and Best Zimdancehall Artiste gongs.

Freeman and Ishan also went head-to-head in the tussle for the Song of the Year award as their tracks Ngaibake and Kure battled for honours with Winky D’s Mugarden.

Although all the songs dominated throughout the year, Winky D scooped the gold after getting the highest number of public votes. The award came with a prize money of $10 000 which was sponsored by Cash Box.

Artistes who picked up awards included Gemma Griffiths, Mambo Dhuterere, DJ Stavo, Janet Manyowa, Takura, Blaqs and Andy Muridzo.

The late Chiwoniso Maraire and Simon Chimbetu posthumously won the Zimbabwe Icon Retro Artiste Award while Andy Brown clinched the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Several other artistes won awards in absentia.

It was a night of glitz and glamour as celebrities and music enthusiasts set fashion trends with their styles.

Jah Signal, Sulumani Chimbetu and Chengeto Brown were among those who provided entertainment. The awards bounced back this year after a four-year-long sabbatical.

INTERVIEW: Veneranda Langa

Chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines, Edmond Mkaratigwa (Shurugwi South MP, Zanu PF), says it is the prerogative of the security services to curb the lawlessness that has become a menace in Zimbabwe’s gold mining areas, where there have been several killings by machete-wielding gangsters known as MaShurugwi.

The machete gangs have been linked to ruling Zanu PF leaders, who are alleged to be sponsoring the violence while looting the country’s gold reserves, but Mkaratigwa alleged that this was strategic lawlessness bent on disturbing President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s vision of achieving a US$12 billion mining target by 2023. Below are excerpts from an interview between NewsDay (ND) senior Parliamentary reporter Veneranda Langa and Mkaratigwa (EM) on legislative interventions that can help curb the violence:

ND: Do you think provisions in the current Mines and Minerals Act are sufficient to curb the MaShurugwi violence at mines?

EM: Your question is very difficult to answer because it is not the prerogative of the Mines and Mining Development ministry to curb violence in the mining sector. It remains the role of the security services to quell lawlessness in the country, especially at the level to which it has escalated.

The Mines and Mining Development ministry recommends action, but the security forces enforce the directive. In the Mines and Minerals Act, there are gaps that provide room for conflict, which is why we have been pushing for implementation of the Computerised Cadastre System that is currently still being piloted.

ND: So what do you think is the cause of violence in mining?

EM: Unfortunately, … the violence experienced in the country appears to be strategic lawlessness that is targeted at tarnishing the country’s image, to destabilise markets of its strategic resource (gold) and ultimately, the US$12 billion target.

ND: What are the legal gaps that your committee has noted?

EM: In fact, relative to violence that I have termed low level, there is limited protection of the marginalised or vulnerable groups such as women and youths and, there has been no respect of other property rights. Mining laws appeared to be superior to other investment interests, yet land as a factor of production is vitally multi-purpose; for example, it is key to our agricultural sector too. There is also limited recognition of small-scale miners to the extent that only established companies are, to a large extent, viewed as legal against the government thrust to also nurture small-scale businesses hence the need for their formalisation.

All those factors can lead to violence in a country, but let me reiterate that this nature of violence is high level and not a result of any of the sanity issues I have noted above. The violence being perpetrated at the moment can be adequately addressed through revocation of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, implementation of which should be sufficient to put order in the mining sector and country at large.

ND: What new laws do you propose to curb mining violence?

EM: The Committee on Mines and Mining Development is pushing for amendment of the Mines and Minerals Act and there are other views that this Act needs a complete revamp than the endless patchwork.

However, with regards to violence as stated earlier, it is about our security forces tactically upping the game. This is a threat to national security, national vision as well as a resurgence of lawlessness by the enemies of the State whose agenda is yet undying. What the committee currently views as the solution to this, is to raise the level of sentencing so that it becomes more deterrent like what is prevailing to cattle rustlers that has seen cases going down drastically.

ND: As the Legislature, what is your role in curbing the MaShurugwi violence?

EM: We have a number of roles that we perform as legislators. One, we are part of the communities and we are community leaders. In that regard, we support and work with communities against these terrorists and whenever these lawless people are caught or seen, we can help to ensure justice is transparently executed on them.

I am saying that from the background that these people have been working in cahoots with some of the members of the security forces and judiciary services to the extent that corruption can save them from facing the full wrath of the law.

We are, therefore, conscientising communities to always remain alert and shun crime, as well as to always report such people to the police or nearby leadership where police posts are far away. We oversee the different ministries in which all those government departments are supposed to ensure State efficiency.

We have, therefore, always fought for the ministries to get enough budgets for their tasks and we would require from them the reasons why they are failing to fulfil their mandate both through Parliament question time, in committees and through calling for a ministerial statement from government.

We are in the process of supervising the amendment of various Acts and we consider the Bills before they are passed into law. This is a new challenge and we will consider this lesson in dealing with Bills that are on their way to Parliament with a view to avoid such eventualities in future.

The fourth point is that the inquiry, whose processes are ongoing, should come up with a report that must help today and in the future, towards eradicating seedbeds of such lawlessness on time.

ND: Are there any other witnesses to be grilled by the Mines Committee on MaShurugwi?

EM: The committee wants a full explanation from the different government ministries whose roles should lead to curbing this menace. From the Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage ministry, the Finance and Economic Development ministry, and Fidelity Printers and Refineries (Pvt) Ltd as well as the Gold Mobilisation Unit.

Dominant groups in mining areas shall also be heard, together with different representative groups such as the Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) and the Chamber of Mines. Follow-ups shall be made to other government ministries whenever their participation is also found necessary, even if they have escaped our initial invitation list.

We have already stated that we will invite several stakeholders among them the police, miners themselves through their representative groups like ZMF, civic society organisations, investigative journalists (in camera where necessary), the Mines ministry and many others. However, in the course of gathering evidence, if we see the need to invite anybody who we think will enrich the enquiry, we will do so.

ND: What are the social and economic impacts of the machete violence?

EM: The citizens of Zimbabwe are being physically, psychologically and emotionally harmed, hence need for psycho-social support on affected people.

They are living in fear and many other crimes are now being imputed to this group of people by those who are also taking advantage of the widespread fears, even in urban areas.

Economically, at a personal level, citizens are losing their hard-earned wealth to these unscrupulous people, with other far-reaching consequences.

Families are losing breadwinners and their livelihoods, with downstream effects on the indigent, women and children, among other vulnerable groups and the (possibility of) food insecurity and malnutrition rising in affected areas.

ND: You are Shurugwi South MP, what impact has this violence had on your constituency?

EM: To the people of Shurugwi, this is causing some stereotypes and stigmatisation on them, which is a very dangerous trajectory that has to be reversed through deliberate name cleansing efforts.

Nationally the name of the country is put to disrepute, the government is perceived as condoning the illegality and in support of lawlessness if this continues without full abetment, hence loss of market confidence including protection of investors’ interests, reduced productivity and revenue and finally, failure to meet set international and national objectives and obligations, hence lowering the national credibility rating.

BY VANESSA GONYE

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has said he will take a leaf from guiding principles of Zimbabwe Assemblies of God (ZAOGA) pastors — as read out by church founder and president Ezekiel Guti — to give direction to Cabinet who are “out of line” as he seeks to find ways to redeem the country from the current mess.

He was speaking at the ZAOGA Forward in Faith 49th international pastors deeper life leadership conference at the Ezekiel Guti International Conference Centre in Harare yesterday.
The event was attended by ZAOGA delegates from over 150 countries around the world.

Mnangagwa said he was inspired by the 97-year-old religious leader who imparted leadership values to pastors within his church and that he would do the same to his own Cabinet ministers who have been presenting a wayward behaviour.
“Archbishop Guti, what you have read for your pastors has motivated me; I will read this to my ministers. They have been acting out of line lately and this has taken a toll on development. They should be honest and hardworking, for the scripture says we should eat of our own sweat. They should also seek further knowledge as well as to live humble lives,” he said.

The President, who took the opportunity to showcase his preaching prowess, said people should focus on the goodness of their actions and follow what the Bible says.

“God created us in his own image, not a Zezuru, Ndebele or Kalanga; we should be one; not to be violent towards one another. Let us be peacemakers. I am happy to be talking to a congregation that focuses on preaching peace,” said Mnangagwa, who has been accused of gross human rights abuses.

Addressing the gathering, Mnangagwa said government was committed to upholding freedom of worship as enshrined in the Constitution.

He urged the pastors to be torchbearers in the fight against ills, such as corruption, that have rocked the country plunging it into a banana republic.

“I challenge you to be leaders (good shepherds) for we are in a season where we need God-fearing leaders; those who are visionary and can take the church and nation to another level… The voice of the church must continue to inspire, motivate, guide and harness men, women and the youth as we gird and strengthen ourselves to grow our economy, to rid ourselves of corruption and end poverty,” he said.

The country is facing an economic crisis which has been aided by rampant corruption and exacerbated by poor corporate governance.

Speaking at the same event, Guti pledged his church’s continued support in nation building and development initiatives that uphold economic empowerment.

He urged pastors within his church to be exemplary for the benefit of younger age groups.

“We need to keep learning so as to teach the younger generation, let us practise humility at all costs and drop the ‘I know it all attitude’; take advantage of entrepreneurship initiatives to develop your life and the country at large and above all uphold love and unity,” he said.

BY WINSTONE ANTONIO

LOCAL praise and worship music outfit, Spirit Praise Choir has incorporated 24 new voices following their recent oversubscribed auditions held at Houz of Bruv Studios in Harare.

Choir director Learnmore Tawengwa told NewsDay Life & Style last week that initially they were searching for nine new members.

“We are happy to have started our new year with a successful search for new talent that has joined our Spirit Praise Choir. We had called for all singers, sopranos, tenors and altos to come and try-out their singing expertise and indeed it was an oversubscribed audition,” he said.

Tawengwa said they were bringing in new ideas and new music as well as diversity to help strengthen their brand.

“The brand is growing. Due to our products, One Voice Concert and Worship Moments, we are seeing a lot of people following our progress as shown by the number of people who came to register for auditions,” he said.

“We wanted only nine voices, but ended up taking 24 voices because the registered number was too much given the number of gifts who came. We were left with no option, but to increase the numbers.”

He said as part of artistes’ development programme at a Spirit Praise Choir they give their members an opportunity to feature on their DVD programmes every year.

The choir launched its brand to corporates and stakeholders at a red carpet event held in Harare late last year.

“Understanding what you are called to do, seeing where you are going and knowing where you want to go has always given us the strength to achieve something in life,” he said.

The choir’s productions include One Voice series that has seen them recording two music albums, Yatokwana Nguva and Vatatu Mumwechete and two live DVDs, Worship Moments Series 1 and 2.

By NQOBANI NDLOVU

BEITBRIDGE Municipality has revealed plans to develop a solar farm on land measuring about 100 hectares to ease rolling electricity outages that are being experienced across the country.

Zimbabwe is failing to generate enough electricity to meet local demand, a situation that has seen consumers going for more than 18 hours daily without electricity.

Imports from countries such as South Africa and Mozambique have not eased the power crisis.

The Beitbridge Municipality said it intends to develop a solar farm to not only ensure a steady supply of electricity at the border town, but to also meet its ambitious goal to reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2030.

“Municipality of Beitbridge has released an expression of interest as part of a plan to develop a new solar farm project. The proposed solar farm project is planned to be located within the Municipality of Beitbridge farm and generate renewable electricity to meet the (town’s) power needs.

“Municipality of Beitbridge is committed to reducing its net carbon emissions to zero by 2030,” the municipality said in a statement.

Solar energy farms are large-scale commercial power plants that use photovoltaic solar panels to convert sunlight into clean energy, providing a source of safe, locally produced renewable energy for years after construction.

Large solar farms can be built in just a few months — compared to several years for a coal or hydro power plant.

A number of African countries are diversifying their energy sources by going green and investing in solar farms some of which have since been incorporated into the national grid.

Morocco is home to one of the biggest solar projects, Noor Solar Complex, which generates 500MW. It is the biggest concentrated solar power plant project in the world.

“The proposed (Beitbridge) solar farm is one initiative designed to help meet this ambitious goal. The establishment of a new onsite solar farm project to help generate power is one practical way for the municipality to cut its greenhouse gas emissions and tackle climate change,” the municipality added.

“The proposed site is between 67-100 hectares of land to build and operate this plant. Municipality of Beitbridge will lease land for an agreed number of years. Closing date for the submission of expressions of interest is February 14, 2020.”

BY MOSES MATENGA

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government has been sent into a panic mode after American billionaire George Soros pledged US$1 billion for a new university network project to fight the erosion of civil society activism in a world increasingly ruled by “would-be and actual dictators”.

Speaking in Davos at the World Economic Forum last week, the philanthropist said he was donating $1 billion to fund a new global network of universities designed to promote liberal values and his vision of an open society.

Soros said humanity was at a turning point and the coming years would determine the fate of some rulers.

“We live at a transformational moment in history. The survival of open societies is endangered and we face an even greater crisis: Climate change,” Soros was quoted as saying, describing his plan of the Open Society University Network (OSUN) as “the most important project of my life”.

He said the initiative will be an international platform for teaching and research that existing universities all over the world would be able to join.

“To demonstrate our commitment to OSUN, we are contributing $1 billion to it,” said Soros in his traditional annual Davos address in which he also took a swipe at US President Donald Trump who he described as the “ultimate narcissist”.

Soros said his project was more needed now at a time open society was at more risk than ever.

But the gesture irked Zimbabwean authorities with presidential spokesperson George Charamba yesterday saying this was targeting to influence regime change in Zimbabwe and other countries perceived as anti-democratic.

“Soros gives $1 billion to fund universities and stop drift towards authoritarianism. This huge amount is meant to subvert world sovereignties, Zimbabwe included. The Hungarian born American has been meddling in Zimbabwean politics at multiple levels,” Charamba said.

He added: “Has he (Soros) ever been a friend of Zimbabwe? Don’t you know the works of (Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa) Osisa? Who funds Osisa? Has it ever contributed to our liberation as a people? So to us it is a war chest.

“He is only criticising America as a way of trying to confuse the gullible. They know essentially that this is a fund for regime change and after all that is why they started. It is there in the records. There is nowhere Soros can be related to any transformation which is meant for global underdogs.

“His altercations with America are just a false dramatisation, (but) in reality he is actually pushing their agenda.”

However, political analysts dismissed government’s paranoia over Soros’ offer.

“George Soros is a well-known global philanthropist who has supported issues of democratisation throughout the world. His foundation has supported human rights and victims of rights abuses, rape and has supported environmental programmes and development programmes. So instead of looking at such initiatives as a threat, I think the Zanu PF government must actually look at such initiatives as an opportunity and find ways to work with such foundations to strengthen the democratisation processes in Zimbabwe,” analyst Rashweat Mukundu said.

“The challenge with such statements (by Charamba) is that he falls within the Zanu PF narrative of always identifying enemies to justify their repression of human rights defenders.
If anyone is then to be associated with the foundation Soros has set up throughout the world, then the labelling has already started on what they call regime change activists who are sponsored by outsiders. But, for me, the world has already moved away from such dichotomy of them and us which Charamba seeks to promote. The world is now multi-faceted and people have to find ways of interacting.”