. Country music star and philanthropist Dolly Parton has been awarded a $100m (£84.8m) prize by Jeff Bezos.The multi-billionaire founder of Amazon announced the award alongside his partner, Lauren Sanchez.Ms Sanchez described Parton as “a woman who gives with her heart and leads with love and compassion in every aspect of her work”.The Bezos Courage & Civility Award recognises leaders who “pursue solutions with courage and civility”.”We can’t wait to see all the good that…

VICTOR MATEMADANDA labels Owen Ncube a ‘Grade 7 primary school dropout’ FORMER Zanu-PF political commissar, Victor Matemadanda has advised fired State Security Minister Owen ‘Mudha’ Ncube to sit for Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council (ZIMSEC)’s Grade Seven examinations in the latest round of factional fights within Zanu-PF over control of Gokwe district in Midlands. A leaked audio of Matemadanda fuming after being attacked by the Gokwe-Kana legislator at a rally at Gokwe Centre, meant for those…

MATEBELELAND AND MIDLANDS Chiefs resist renaming of Gukurahundi genocide A GOVERNMENT official allegedly tried, though without success, to convince Chiefs into dropping the nomenclature ‘Gukurahundi’ in reference to the genocide of the 1980s, and replacing it with a ‘less problematic one’ during a Bulawayo State House meeting, Chief Khulumani Mathema of Gwanda has revealed. Chief Mathema was addressing delegates at the launch of Centre for Innovation and Technology’s (CITE) We Will Crush Them, a documentary…

ZIMBABWE Govt bars Chinese ‘brick plant’ deal in a gold rich area in Harare. This brings to memory, how truck loads of soil would constantly be moved across the Beitbridge border post to South Africa under the pretext that it was for the purpose of soil tests yet they knew they were shifting diamonds. It took a long time before the government and people realised there were diamonds in Chiadzwa…. here we are again, wake…

JUSTICE MINISTER Ziyambi Ziyambi says Nelson Chamisa is a “pathological liar” in an angry outburst against the opposition chief who told journalists Thursday his blocked prison visit was reportedly ordered by the Zanu-PF top official. Chamisa was Thursday left disappointed after another failed attempt to see jailed lieutenants Job Sikhala, Godfrey Sithole and 16 party activists who have all been languishing in remand prison at Chikurubi since June, charged with the violence that rocked Nyatsime…

PRESIDENTIAL SPOKESPERSON , Charamba, has poured scorn on Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC) leader, Nelson Chamisa’s Chikurubi visit, telling the opposition leader he can meet his party members at their next court appearance. Prior to Charamba’s remarks, Chamisa was denied access to visit incarcerated lawmakers, Job Sikhala and Godfrey Sithole, among other detained CCC activists, at Chikurubi Maximum Prison Thursday. In a post on Twitter, Charamba said authorities would not compromise national security just to…

ZIMBABWE is among 20 countries whose citizens are increasingly living under authoritarian rule, according to the latest 2022 World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law Index. The report says lack of adherence to the rule of law in the country had worsened in the past year. According to the findings from 140 surveyed countries, Zimbabwe’s overall rule of law score decreased by less than 1%. The country was ranked 124th after rising three positions from…

HARARE FERTILITY DOCTOR complaints by several couples Reports reaching this reporter indicate that couples in Harare are mobilizing a petition to the Health Services Board and the Health Professions Council seeking an investigation and subsequent disciplinary action against one Dr Tinovimba Mhlanga a fertility specialist in Harare. Ten (10) couples are reported to have complained over the doctor’s conduct, professionalism and success rate of his procedures. A couple who spoke to this reporter on condition…

VIC FALLS CHINOTIMBA Grade 7 pupil (13) gives birth, writes exam from hospital bed SHE is 13 years old but already a mother of a one-month-old baby girl. The girl, of Mkhosana in Victoria Falls, shocked all and sundry when she wrote part of her Zimsec Grade Seven general examinations on a hospital bed soon after giving birth at Victoria Falls Hospital last month. She was heavily pregnant when she sat for her first paper…

SOUTH AFRICA PRESIDENT Ramaphosa slams US for ‘panic-driven’ Sandton terror alert President Cyril Ramaphosa has criticised the US, saying it jumped the gun by issuing a terror alert for Sandton, Johannesburg, before speaking to local authorities. The US embassy on Wednesday posted the alert on its website and identified the potential target as Sandton, a suburb in the country’s financial hub of Johannesburg. Sandton, a collection of high-end shops and lofty office blocks and banks,…