Tag: News

ZIMBABWE DEVELOPS AN ALARMING RATE of murder in exchange for cash for human spare parts,..SHOCKING!

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Its interesting that in January 2017 a serial killer from Bulawayo Rodney Tongai Jindu (25) allegedly killed and dismembered victims including neighbour Mboneli Ncube (30), childhood friend Cyprian Kudzurunga (28) of Queens Park suburb and set the pieces on fire before burying them in four shallow graves at a vacant plot in Burnside.

Jindu claimed malayitshas offered him US$20 000 or a Toyota Quantum for human body parts belonging to people with a Ncube surname. My advice is if you are a Ncube, be careful whom you befriend,..Im just saying!

Jindu claimed he was digging pits to install water pipes yet he was actually digging four shallow graves on the vacant stand. It is known that victim bodies were handed over to cross border transporters who would dismember them remove hands, legs and heads before giving Jindu the bodies in plastic bags to burn and destroy evidence and bury the victim remains. Jindu was known to live an expensive lifestyle and drive flashy cars.

In June 2017 a mentally ill named Mduna from Gwanda was killed by Honest Moyo (22) cut off his head and testicles on order for US$20,000 cash from a Sangoma in South Africa.

On Friday last week a 20 year old man beheaded his sister at home in exchange for US$4,000 from a local businessman known as ‘Giant’. Shocked and angry residents burnt down the Karoi businessman’s shop.

There is a pattern developing of young killers with no bounds on who they will murder including family and friends. Life has now lost meaning in Zimbabwe and the love of money has brought an alarming rate of murder particularly by young men in their twenties. This is a silent example of the impact of the collapsed economy and corrupt leadership by Mugabe, Zim1 family, Zanu pf stalwarts and securocrats.

These are people who have spent the last 18 years of their life under the only president they have known in life, typically born and raised under Mugabe. They have faced a tough life, limited education, starvation, disease, no housing, water, electricity and no Service Delivery in all critical sectors of their lives. and now face a bleak future of mass unemployment and crime

It is easy to manipulate such desperate people as businessmen and Sangomas are doing. The law should be tougher on such youthfull murderers and those ordering the human spares or sending them to kill and offering a ready market for body parts. The law should hunt down and pursue all of them both in Zimbabwe and across borders.

We need to reclaim ownership of the motherland from the criminal and illegitimate Mugabe’s Zanu pf regime. These are but a few of the murders that come to light but we all know many more go unpublished.

The 2018 Plebiscite is just round the corner,..vote wisely! Mugabe must go! By Sibusiso Ngwenya. DISCUSS!
photo-Rodney Jindu

‘Tsvangirai has the right grassroots support and numbers, structure systems, infrastructure and experience to lead the opposition coalition’ -Patson Dzamara

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Morgan-Tsvangirai-with-Itai-Dzamara (1)
MPORTANT QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FOR THE WAY FORWARD
 
There is a lot of noise in the corridors of opposition politics regarding who is who and who should do what. The best way to help us map the way forward is posing critical questions and proffering answers to those questions.
 
Questions
 
1. Wrong as it may be, Zimbabwean politics and followeship are built around persons. Who has the most followers in opposition?
 
Answer – Morgan Tsvangirai
 
2. Experience and trajectory matter in politics and they constitute one’s equity. Who has more experience in opposotion politics?
 
Answer – Morgan Tsvangirai
 
3. Politics is a numbers game. Who has the numbers in opposition?
 
Answer – Morgan Tsvangirai
 
4. To thrive in Zimbabwean politics, one has to have grassroots support and systems. Who has grassroots support in opposition?
 
Answer – Morgan Tsvangirai
 
5. Without systems and infrastructure its hard to make headway politically. Who has the best systems and infrastructure in opposition?
 
Answer – Morgan Tsvangirai
 
6. Every domain has a face. In soccer, Lionel Messi is a face and definition of soccer. Who is the face of the opposition?
 
Answer – Morgan Tsvangirai
 
7. Of course, in every setting, we are equals but not equal. There is always bigger and smaller, like it or not. Who is the big brother in opposition?
 
Answer – MorganTsvangirai.
 
8. Sharing the same bed doesn’t culminate in sharing the same dream and strength. There are many figures on the opposition bed but who really poses a threat to ZANU PF?
 
Answer – Morgan Tsvangirai
 
9. At the end of the day, it all boils down to winning an election. Who has better chances of winning an election against Mugabe based on equity?
 
Answer – Morgan Tsvangirai
 
10. Who therefore should lead the coalition if its necessary anyway?
 
Answer – Morgan Tsvangirai
 
Admittedly, Morgan Tsvangirai and his party have fumbled several times along the way but the bottomlime is that they remain the best vehicle through which realistic change can happen. They are very much a cardinal part of the quest to a better Zimbabwe.
 
I would love to see more young and untainted faces taking up positions of leadership in the forthcoming elections. That is necessary and probably all that Tsvangirai and his party needs other than some spent or clueless forces who do not even have followers but want to tell him not to be a big brother. All that is done in the name of our adulterated understanding of democracy.
 
He is the big brother, period. Lets work together Zimbabweans. We can’t have everyone wanting to be a president of an opposition coalition even those ‘virgins’ in opppsition politics who were actually a part of the monster called ZANU PF not long ago. A coalition must happen and lets allow Tsvangirai to lead us into a new Zimbabwe.
 
In the new Zimbabwe, under a better system and in a better environemt, we can have anyone battling it out to prove their mettle for the presidency. For now our primary focus should be to ‘delete’ Mugabe and his minions. Let’s cross over.
 
A new and better Zimbabwe is possible in our lifetime.
 
Patson Dzamara is a leadership coach, author, political activist and analyst based in Zimbabwe.
photo-Nehandaradio Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai seen here with Itai Dzamara after a meeting before Dzamara was abducted by State security

Children who do not attend Early Childhood Development ECD, at registered institutions will no longer be able to proceed to Grade 1

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Sylvia-Utete-Masango (2)
THE Government has announced that pupils who do not attend Early Childhood Development at registered institutions will no longer be able to proceed to Grade 1 countrywide and this new system comes into effect next year.
 
The move is in response to the mushrooming of unregistered child day care centres in most cities and towns.
 
Speaking at Mpumelelo Primary School in Mpopoma suburb after presenting it the Secretary’s Bell award for 2017, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education permanent secretary, Dr Sylvia Utete-Masango said all parents who took their children to unregistered centres were wasting their children’s time as they would be forced to start afresh at conventional schools.
 
Dr Utete-Masango said: “Because so many parents have turned out here today, I want to say this very clearly so that those who did not know will no longer use ‘I did not know’ as an excuse. Do not take your children to bogus ECD centres. These ones that have sprouted around cities that are not registered are causing problems. They are so cunning and inviting and purport to be elitist and uphold so called high standards like being English speaking only institutions. Be warned!”
 
“Children from such centres will not proceed to Grade One. They will need to go to a conventional institution and start from ECD level. Imagine a child who is seven or eight years old, joining four-year olds in the ECD A class because of his or her parents’ decision,” she said.
 
Dr Utete-Masango took the opportunity to urge school heads and their school development committees to prioritise infrastructure development for ECD pupils, which she said was yet to reach the required standards at most schools around the country.
 
“Put your priorities right. There should be proper infrastructure at all schools, especially for our ECD pupils. Pupils are learning in makeshift classrooms yet schools are busy buying buses, which cost around $200 000 each. Yes, it is true, we have seen it happening, ” said Dr Utete-Masango.
 
She applauded Mpumelelo primary school parents for supporting activities at the school as demonstrated by their attendance at yesterday’s event.
 
“I am glad that the parents here came in their numbers to support their children unlike what I witnessed at some schools where such events were held,” she said.
 
Mpumelelo Primary School opened its doors in 1961 with seven teachers and 201 pupils. Today, it has a 33 teachers and 1 315 pupils.
 
It received the Secretary’s Bell award for the first time.
 
The prize comprised 45 laptops for an e-learning classroom, a Projector and an interactive board, all worth $10 000. The prize was sponsored by FBC Bank. Andile Tshuma, Chronicle
photo-Dr Sylvia Utete-Masango
 

‘The State is not obliged to establish polling stations in the diaspora so all Zimbabweans are free to travel back to cast their ballot’-‘Constitutional Court

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President Mugabe pose for a photograph with Chief Justice Luke Malaba and his wife Eunice after being sworn in at State House in Harare yesterday. Picture by John Manzongo
The State is not obliged at law to establish polling stations outside the country and all Zimbabweans in Diaspora who decide to live away from home for personal reasons were free to travel back to respective native bases to cast their ballot, the Constitutional Court has ruled.
 
Giving reasons for a 2013 court order dismissing the request for postal ballot by foreign-based Zimbabweans, Chief Justice Luke Malaba said the right to vote was not absolute and that limitations to the right were justified.
 
A truck driver based in South Africa, Mr Tavengwa Bukaibenyu filed a constitutional application in 2013 challenging the validity of Section 23(3) of the Electoral Act, which removes from the voters’ roll names of those who spend at least 12 consecutive months outside their constituencies.
 
He was also seeking the striking down of Section 71 of the same Act, which limit the right to postal voting only to people sent outside the country on Government business and their spouses.
 
Mr Bukaibenyu, through Advocate David Ochieng, argued that the pieces of legislation were discriminatory and unlawfully violated his right to vote.
 
Chief Justice Malaba sitting with eight other judges dismissed the court application through a court order in 2013.
 
However, the detailed reasons for the decisions were availed this week under Judgement Number 12 of 2017.
 
Part of the judgment authored by the Chief Justice reads:
 
“The Constitution did not place an obligation upon the State to make arrangements for voters, who for personal reasons, were unable to attend at the polling stations to vote…”
 
Chief Justice Malaba defended Section 23(3) of the Electoral Act.
 
“Section 23(3) required that a voter be resident in the constituency in which he or she was to vote for purposes of being qualified for registration on the voters roll for that constituency.
 
“If the voter became absent from constituency in which he or she was registered as a voter for a continuous period of 12 months, his or her name had to be removed from the voters’ roll of that constituency,” reads the judgement.
 
The Chief Justice said the Legislature was within its powers to enact the two contested sections of the Electoral Act.
 
“There could be no serious argument that the Legislature acted unlawfully in enacting the two sections, when the Constitution specifically vested it with the power to impose residence qualifications on voters and thus limit the exercise of the right to vote,” he said.
 
Postal ballot was not meant for all people living outside Zimbabwe but only for a specific group of those out of the country on national duty.
 
“The postal ballot was reserved for a specific class of registered voters who, because they would be on duty in the service of the Government, would be forced to be absent from their constituencies on the polling days in the election.
 
“The class of registered voters with the right of access to use of postal ballot was clearly defined.
 
“The applicant and other registered voters who would have been outside the country on polling days in the election and unable to attend personally to cast their votes at the polling stations in the constituencies they were registered as voters, are excluded because they did not satisfy the prescribed criteria for the members of the class entitled to the use of the postal ballot,” the court ruled.
 
Voters who stay outside the constituency for at least 12 consecutive months, according to the Zimbabwe electoral system, are deemed to have lost touch with the constituency.
 
They are presumed to be people with insufficient information about the candidates’ ability to address developmental problems of the constituencies. Daniel Nemukuyu, chronicle
photo-chief justice Luke Malaba

Mujuru says ‘WE need a paradigm shift on politics of ownership and personalities to allow convergence of ideas’ in apparent reference to Tsvangirai

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PROSPECTS of an opposition coalition against President Robert Mugabe continue to hit turbulence, with National People’s Party (NPP) leader, Joice Mujuru yesterday distancing herself from claims by MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai that a pact would be in place by month-end.
 
The former Vice-President, who signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Tsvangirai in April this year, has been looking elsewhere for electoral pacts, saying the deadline set by Tsvangirai was unrealistic.
 
“I think the deadline was an issue that they gave themselves because they did not want to go about it blindly,” Mujuru said yesterday after signing an MoU with Democratic Assembly for Restoration and Empowerment (Dare) president, Gilbert Dzikiti.
 
“But what I see with my peers is that the things that we need to get to a point where people will be satisfied that everything is in good order; July 31, would it be a practical date, is it feasible to meet our needs?
 
“It is not about that date, no, but we are saying the ingredients that will make a coalition possible should be in place. We are well aware of the need to do it timeously.”
 
Mujuru’s utterances which sharply contrasted Tsvangirai’s, came soon after MDC-T secretary-general, Douglas Mwonzora said his party was ready to go it alone, in claims that suggest matters were getting to a head for the formation of the much-touted coalition to break Mugabe’s 37-year hegemony.
 
Mujuru said the two political parties – NPP and Dare – were coming together from different ideologies and could not be expected to converge in just a few weeks.
 
“We were facing the other direction and they were facing another direction and, for us to converge, we need time,” she said.
 
Mujuru said there was need for a paradigm shift on politics of ownership and personalities and allow convergence of ideas, in what others could conclude was an attack on Tsvangirai.
 
“Others are so full of themselves, they are always saying they are the centre of everything, they are forgetting that we have a history of people who split from their parties and these are the same people now seating on the coalition table,” she said. “We don’t want to be sucked into those battles of the past, as we try to settle for this grand coalition.”
 
In the clearest sign that coalition talks could stall over jostling for positions, Mujuru dismissed attempts to try and force the endorsement of Tsvangirai as the coalition leader.
 
“Look at the people who spoke over the weekend even in the MDC-T, what percentage of the people do they represent? Are they the end-all of these talks?
 
“To me, it is just a fruit that is ripe on one side, while the other is still raw,” she said.
 
MDC-T refused to comment on the matter, saying they will not talk about coalitions in the media.
 
“Our trajectory on coalitions has always been made abundantly clear,” party spokesperson, Obert Gutu said.
 
“We will never, ever negotiate and/or discuss coalition issues in the media or in the public domain.
 
“There is something that is called quiet diplomacy, believe you me, when you are cutting coalition deals, quiet diplomacy is more effective than megaphoning.
 
“President Morgan Tsvangirai is personally handling all our coalition deliberations and, to date, we are perfectly happy with the progress that has been made.”
 
Mujuru’s MoU with Dare becomes her second outside her pact with Tsvangirai, after signing another with Zimbabwe Union of Democrats (Zunde) leader, Farai Mbira last week on the day she was supposed to sign another with People’s Democratic Party leader, Tendai Biti.
 
The former Finance minister snubbed the meeting, citing the need to iron out sticking issues first.
source-newsday

SIX BULAWAYO FOUNDERS form three and four boarding girls have fallen pregnant: Ministry probes Founders High School

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THE Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has dispatched an investigating team to Founders High School in Bulawayo following a report that six boarders at the school have fallen pregnant.
 
A source said someone from the school wrote an anonymous letter to the ministry alerting it of the cases.
 
Bulawayo’s Provincial Education Director Mrs Olicah Kaira confirmed that the ministry was investigating the matter.
 
“All I can say is that we received the allegation through an anonymous letter. And we have already constituted an investigating team to get to the school to unravel the allegations, come up with findings and recommendations, then I will know the next course of action to take,” said Mrs Kaira.
 
A source said school authorities have not talked to the pupils who are suspected to be pregnant as they want to first engage their parents.
 
Authorities fear that since the pupils are boarders, they may run away from the school if the matter is not handled properly.
 
“There are six pupils who are suspected to be pregnant at the school. Some of them are in Form Three while others are in Form Four. The pupils are said to be behaving in a way that has led some female teachers to assume that it could be pregnancy related illness. Last week on Tuesday there was a staff meeting at the school to discuss the matter but no concrete resolution was made,” said a source who declined to be named.
 
“These kids are boarders so if the school adopts a rushed decision they might end up running away. It’s a delicate matter that needs to be cautiously handled. Right now the children are writing examinations so the school does not want to disturb them.”
 
Some time last year, a 17-year-old Sobukhazi Secondary School student gave birth in a school toilet and tried to hide the baby behind the same toilet. A teacher heard cries of a new-born baby and questioned the pupil who admitted that the baby was hers.
 
The juvenile’s aunt said she had observed that her niece had gained weight, but she never suspected she was pregnant.
 
Last year, in September a Form Four pupil at Nemane Adventist High School in Tsholotsho secretly gave birth at school and dumped the baby in a Blair toilet.
 
The pupil allegedly successfully hid the pregnancy until she gave birth in the toilet and was cornered into admitting after she left blood stains in the ablution facility Nqobile Tshili

TOUGHER SENTENCES: 60 years imprisonment if convicted for raping minors and the disabled, and 40years for sodomy

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CRIMINALS convicted of raping minors and the disabled risk 60 years imprisonment after Cabinet yesterday came up with principles on the proposed Amendments to the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform Act Chapter 9:33) on minimum mandatory sentencing for rapists.
 
This is a strong signal that the Government is upset with the prevalence of sexual violence.
 
In a statement yesterday, Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Dr Christopher Mushohwe said the decision followed widespread concerns over a surge in sexual violence or rape.
 
“Following widespread concerns over the rising of the heinous crime of sexual violence or rape, Cabinet considered a proposal on the above matter and resolved to come up with more deterrent measures to stamp out the crime.
 
“Accordingly, the Government resolved as follows: (a) that a sentence of 60 years of imprisonment be imposed for cases of rape of minors between 12 years of age and the disabled; and (b) that a sentence of 40 years of imprisonment be imposed for the rest of the cases of rape or sodomy,” said Dr Mushohwe.
 
Cabinet noted that there was a need to protect society.
 
“These drastic measures have become necessary as a means to protect our society against perpetrators of this inhuman crime,” said Dr Mushohwe.
 
President Mugabe has spoken strongly against sexual abuse on several occassions.
 
In 2014, he called for a nationwide campaign against abuse of women and children saying imposition of stiffer penalties on perpetrators alone was insufficient to curb the crime.
 
President Mugabe said his weekly briefings from Police Commissioner-General Dr Augustine Chihuri showed disturbing child sexual abuse statistics.
 
“We are given reports about children who are sexually abused. In some cases they are raped by their relatives, in other cases by their fathers for ritual purposes. I don’t know why this is happening.
 
“It’s a real epidemic, every Monday when we get a report from the Commissioner-General you have children who would have been abused, abused by the elders and in some cases by the fathers. A child of four months or three months!
 
“And then there are rapes of teenagers and rapes of grown-up persons then even women of my age. An innocent grandmother. Why? That is very bad,” said President Mugabe on March 26, 2014.
 
He was speaking at belated International Women’s Day commemorations in Harare.
 
In 2013, President Mugabe had again bemoaned the continued abuse of women and children.
 
Addressing guests at a dinner hosted by the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing to celebrate the official opening of the First Session of the Eighth Parliament, President Mugabe said: “Men be very careful. We are going to make it very, very tough for you. Chiefs, warn men who rape children. They do so on claims that doing so treats some illnesses, or it makes them lucky or to get rich, warn them to stop. No molestation of youngsters, no molestation of women. We are going to increase sentences.” Chronicle

Masvingo man working in South Africa killed his wife’s boyfriend after he found him lying on their matrimonial bed in Beitbridge’s Dulibadzimu suburb.

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A Masvingo man working in South Africa allegedly killed his wife’s boyfriend after he found him lying on their matrimonial bed at their rented single room in Beitbridge’s Dulibadzimu suburb.
 
The injiva had allegedly abandoned his family and suddenly resurfaced after his wife had moved on.
 
Clever Dhambara (39) of Nyikavanhu area fatally struck Onisimo Mudzipurwa (31) using a broken piece of a mirror on the collarbone after he found him in his bedroom wearing a pair of jogger shorts.
 
Dhambara appeared at the Bulawayo High Court yesterday before Justice Nicholas Mathonsi facing a murder charge. He was remanded in custody to today for judgment.
 
Prosecuting, Mr Trust Muduma said on December 23 in 2015 at around 8PM, Mudzipurwa went to his girlfriend who is Dhambara’s wife, Ms Chipo Mushonga’s workplace at a sports bar in Dulibadzimu.
 
He requested for keys to Ms Mushonga’s room but his girlfriend told him that she had left the keys at her sister’s place.
 
The court heard that Mudzipurwa went to Ms Mushonga’s rented house and gained entry into her bedroom through an open window.
 
“On the same day at around 9.30PM, the accused person who had already collected the keys to their room from his sister in law proceeded to the house,” said Mr Muduma.
 
On arrival, Dhambara met his wife in the corridor just as she walked in from work. The accused person unlocked the door and found Mudzipurwa lying on their matrimonial bed.
 
Dhambara confronted his wife before assaulting her and she fled to her sister’s house with the accused pursuing her. Dhambara’s sister in law, Ms Tadirai Mushonga intervened before he surrendered the keys to her and went back to their place of residen“When Dhambara returned home he found Mudzipurwa still lying on the bed and he confronted him and the two exchanged harsh words,” said Mr Muduma.
 
The altercation degenerated into a fight during which Dhambara picked a broken piece of a mirror that was lying on a kitchen cabinet. He stabbed Mudzipurwa once on the right collarbone.
 
Mudzipurwa bolted out of the room with blood gushing out of the wound and he collapsed a few metres away from the scene of the crime.
 
A female motorist discovered Mudzipurwa lying by the roadside and she rushed him to the police station before taking him to Beitbridge District Hospital where he died an hour later.
 
According to post mortem results the cause of death is stab wound and assault.
 
A report was made to the police leading to the arrest of Dhambara. He was found hiding at a friend’s house in Dulibadzimu.
 
In his defence, Dhambara who is being represented by Mr Vezokuhle Ndlovu of Mlweli Ndlovu and Associates said he acted in self defence after Mudzipurwa provoked him.
 
“I fought the deceased after I found him in my bedroom lying on my bed. I had no intention of killing him but he provoked me by attacking me after I had enquired on why he was having an affair with my wife. I retaliated by fighting back during which I picked a piece of broken glass and threw it at him,” he said.
 
Chipo, in her testimony, said Dhambara deserted her and the children and went to South Africa and never bothered to send money or food for one year.
 
“The deceased proposed love to me and I accepted because I wanted someone to take care of myself and the children after my husband abandoned us in 2014 when he went to South Africa to look for employment.
 
He spent a year in South Africa during which he never bothered to send money for our upkeep,” she said.
 
Chipo said when her husband left he was not working and they were evicted from their rented house.
 
She told the court that the deceased is the one who looked for alternative accommodation for her and was paying her rentals.
Mashudu Netsianda
 

‘MAN (20) beheads his sister on oder from Karoi businessman identified, as Giant for human spares, (head) for US$4000’

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Charamba-Charity
Angry villagers burn down businessman’s shop after he ordered woman’s beheading
 
Following reports that a Karoi businessman identified as Giant allegedly sent a 20-year-old man to behead his sister in exchange for $4000, local residents allegedly ran riot last night and destroyed his shop.
 
The businessman allegedly asked for the head for ritual purposes, and had to be rescued by the police on Friday last week as villagers bayed for his blood and demanded that he meet the same end as the deceased 40-year old woman.
 
It is alleged that the 20-year-old suspect, whose name is being withheld as investigations continue, took advantage of the absence of other family members who had gone to a prayer meeting. The young man allegedly entered his sister’s bedroom and decapitated her. He reportedly placed the head in a satchel and went to Zvipani Business Centre and left it in a Toyota Camry believed to be owned by the businessman.
 
When their mother returned from church, she discovered her daughter’s headless body in a pool of blood. The suspected killer joined other mourners at the homestead but bloodstains on his clothing raised suspicions. He reportedly claimed the stains were a result of a fist-fight with his brother.
by Simbarashe Sithole.

Air Zimbabwe (AirZim) boss Ripton Muzenda sidelined :And thats how you run a family business,..Air ‘Simbabwe’

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Air-Zimbabwe-airways

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe’s son-in-law Simba Chikore has effectively displaced through the back door the Air Zimbabwe (AirZim) boss Ripton Muzenda after he and Transport minister Joram Gumbo travelled to Malaysia to seal the troubled airline’s aircraft lease agreement.
This comes on the backdrop of reports that Chikore, who was appointed as AirZim chief operations officer (COO), has been carrying out executive duties, politically sidelining Muzenda.

Sources said Chikore and Gumbo are currently in Malaysia to finalise a deal which will see Malaysian Airways partnering the struggling AirZim.

“Chikore and Gumbo are already in Malaysia but, surprisingly, they did not go with the Air Zimbabwe chief executive officer Ripton Muzenda and not even the board chairperson Chipo Dyanda,” said a source.

As reported by this newspaper, the struggling flag carrier is on the verge of concluding a wet lease with the Malaysian airline after it emerged that a 10-member team comprising key personnel from the bankrupt airline flew to the southeast Asian country to oversee the planning of the ferry flight to Zimbabwe.Sources close to the developments said the 10 senior staffers, including manager-in-charge of flight operations Tawanda Chitsike, senior engineer Lawrence Mashoko, Martin Gwafa (technical services) and Solomon Musikavanhu (flight operations), travelled to Malaysia last week.

“The team will oversee the planning of the ferry flight to Zimbabwe, meaning flying the aircraft from one position to the other without passengers or cargo. Government has negotiated a wet lease as part of its plans to turn around AirZim,” a source familiar with the developments said.

Sources also said the deal was being facilitated by Chikore and Gumbo to the exclusion of other senior AirZim executives.

Cabinet recently gave Gumbo the nod to seek private partnerships for the US$330 million debt-ridden national carrier. Gumbo has also said his ministry has been engaging potential partners including Malaysian, Kenya, Ethiopia, Singapore and Turkey airlines. At the ailing airline, Muzenda has virtually been rendered redundant as Chikore is doing the day-to-day running of the state-owned company.

“Chikore has effectively displaced Muzenda because of his proximity to the first family. He takes instruction from the family and enjoys direct access to the minister,” one source said. “The First Family should not be involved, but it seems they are giving him ideas and instructions because everything he does is said to be having the blessings of President Robert Mugabe’s family.” Source – the independent

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