He was 34 and leaves behind a six-year-old daughter and a fiancée, according to his brother, Paddy Dzamara.
He (Dzamara) was scheduled to be operated by doctors following a successful fundraising by well-wishers who had up to the time of his death raised half of the required 28,000 USD.
Dzamara on numerous occasions had a brush with law enforcement agents here and was at one time abducted and severely beaten for his anti-government activism since the times of former late President Robert Mugabe.
But, taking to Twitter, other Zimbabweans like Edith Prisca have taken Dzamara’s cause of death with a pinch of salt.
“Is it me or there is a pattern to this madness? Detention by Zanu PF government, then colon cancer,” said Prisca.
Nigel Chanakira, a Zimbabwean business mogul and founder of the now-defunct Kingdom Bank, said ‘it is with profound sadness to advise you that Dr. Patson Dzamara has passed on this morning ahead of his scheduled cancer operation. Thanks to all those that had been contributing to the Fund where US$14k had already been raised. I am personally devasted.’
Dzamara’s brother, Paddy Dzamara, said ‘we are shocked and devastated as a family. We thank God for his life; we thank everyone who are standing with us and supporting us during this sad moment.’
Taking to Twitter, Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa said “I’m devastated. Just received bad news from the Dzamaras. The young Dr. Patson Dzamara gone too soon. This has been a terrible 2020!”
Itai, brother to the now late Dzamara went missing in March 2015 after suspected state security agents abducted him as he was having a haircut in the vicinity of his Harare home.
Since then, his whereabouts have remained a mystery.
Harare — Closer to a month after government foiled street protests, 24-year old Benson Chomuruva, a resident of Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, still winces because of injuries sustained from beatings by the country’s detectives who accused him of staging an unsanctioned demonstration.
But, when he was picked by cops, Chomuruva claimed he was only seated outside the gate of his house basking in the sunshine with his friends.
On the day of the protests, still in Harare, police also arrested Tsitsi Dangarembga, a Zimbabwean novelist who had decided to join the anti-government march.
She (Tsitsi) was charged with inciting public violence.
Yet, Zimbabwe’s Section 59 of the constitution allows peaceful demonstrations, which many like Benson only dream of enjoying.
“I’m not an activist, but still I can’t even risk watching demonstrations as they happen because police would beat me up even when I am within the vicinity of my home. I was arrested and beaten before; I don’t want that experience again,” Benson told Ubuntu Times.
As such, in Zimbabwe, fear of the government is growing every day.
For many like Jacob Ngarivhume, Zimbabwe’s opposition Transform Zimbabwe, now behind bars for inciting public violence after he made calls via social media for people to protest against the government, the right to freedom of speech seems long gone.
Yet, Ngarivhume had made frantic calls on Twitter for people to join the Jul.31 anti-government protests.
Civil society activists here have weighed in, blaming the Zimbabwean government of fueling human rights abuses.
“We are witnesses to the serious human rights abuses that the Zimbabwean government is perpetrating against its own people and now there is nothing like rights to talk about under Mr. Mnangagwa’s government,” Owen Dhliwayo, a civil society activist here, told Ubuntu Times.
A soldier armed with a gun is seen chasing a woman in the capital, Harare, amid the outbreak of anti-government protests in Zimbabwe, with other soldiers doing the same on other civilians. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Moved by the rights abuses here, in a rather frank letter to the Zimbabwean government, Catholic Bishops said ‘the country was suffering from a multi-layered crisis, including economic collapse, deepening poverty, corruption, and human rights abuses.’
“Fear runs down the spine of many of our people today. The crackdown on dissent is unprecedented. Is this the Zimbabwe we want? To have a different opinion does not mean to be an enemy,” read part of the Catholic letter addressed to the Zimbabwean government.
But, the Zimbabwean government has vehemently refuted claims of the existence of human rights abuses in the country, choosing rather to spew attack on the Catholic prelates.
Reacting to the Catholic Bishops’ letter, Zimbabwe’s Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa, said ‘its evil message reeks with all the vices that have perennially hobbled the progress of Africa.’
“It trumpets petty tribal feuds and narrow regionalist agendas so that it can sow seeds of internecine strife as a prelude to national disintegration,” charged the Zimbabwean Minister.
Ironically, to this, government earned a drubbing from one of its own commissions- the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC), which rebuked the regime about its violation of human rights.
“ZHRC calls upon the government of Zimbabwe to respect, protect, promote and fulfill all the rights enshrined in the Declaration of Rights as provided for by section 44 of the Constitution,” said the Southern African nation’s statutory body in a statement.
ZHRC is one of this country’s five independent commissions provided for under section 232 of the Constitution to support and entrench human rights and democracy in particular.
Nevertheless, even before conviction, journalist Hopewell Chin’ono who has reported intensively on corruption and human rights violations in Zimbabwe, and politician Ngarivhume, languish at Chikurubhi maximum jail as the State continues to deny them bail.
On the streets across towns and cities here, armed soldiers have become common features working alongside police, ready to thwart any anti-government protests.
To many like Benson, ‘the site of armed soldiers is chilling even as government claims to be maintaining order.’
Like ZHRC, human rights defenders like Claris Madhuku who heads the Platform for Youth Development has not minced his words in implicating the government in the country’s worsening human rights record.
Soldiers in Zimbabwe of late have been on the offensive, armed with guns violating human rights in the Southern African nation as they attack anti-government protesters. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
“Former President Robert Mugabe did worse things in terms of violating human rights, but the current regime has done the worst because now it heavily relies on the military to quell anti-government protests much as it relied on the same when it came to power,” Madhuku told Ubuntu Times.
For many jailed journalists like Chin’ono, even his right to legal representation has been snatched away from him by the Zimbabwean government, this after his lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa was barred from representing him.
This, prominent Zimbabwean law lecturer Alex Magaisa at Kent Law School at the University of Kent in the United Kingdom, has branded ‘lawfare’ being used by the Zimbabwean government to silence opposition.
“It is lawfare in which law is a weapon used by the Mnangagwa regime to suppress citizens. Dictatorships rely on a combination of guns and the law. They engage in warfare against citizens and bludgeon dissenters into submission,” Magaisa said recently in his weekly column called Big Saturday Read found on his blog.
But, to this also, ZHRC said it ‘calls upon the government to safeguard and advance human rights as dictated by international human rights’ law and the obligations imposed by treaties and conventions Zimbabwe is party to.’
Meanwhile, ordinary Zimbabweans like 76-year old Tinago Marweyi, a resident of Highfield high-density suburb in Harare has had no kind words for government here which he has accused of turning on its own citizens.
“My son, we now live in fear of our own government more than thieves and robbers because if we raise our voices complaining about anything that we think government is messing up, we are treated as traitors. Colonial governments here were better than what we see under Mnangagwa,” Marweyi told Ubuntu Times.
Harare — Amid a mounting political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe, pro-democracy activists and opposition leaders have dismissed prospects of rescue coming from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and African Union (AU).
In 2008, SADC helped to broker a government of national unity in Zimbabwe between then-President Robert Mugabe and his erstwhile political nemesis, late Morgan Tsvangirai of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change Party.
Although the MDC back then argued that it had won the 2008 elections, the opposition played out a junior role in Zimbabwe’s rather tense unity government.
Amid reports of rampant human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, South Africa which currently chairs SADC, recently sent an envoy to engage the leaders of the Zimbabwean government.
But, even as this did not irritate some members of the ruling Zimbabwe Africa National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF), other pro-democracy activists and opposition leaders have cast doubt on whether or not SADC would help end the political acrimony bedeviling this country.
Taurai Kandishaya, who is National Coordinator of the Zimbabwe Citizens Forum, a civil society organization closely related to the governing Zanu-PF, said ‘AU and SADC never said the government of Zimbabwe should stop rights abuses, but they only encouraged the government to continue respecting human rights.’
On South Africa dispatching a special envoy to Zimbabwe following reports of acute human rights abuses, Kandishaya said ‘the special envoys are expected to engage the government of Zimbabwe and relevant stakeholders to identify possible ways in which South Africa can assist Zimbabwe.’
Yet, even as Zanu-PF diehard supporters like Kandishaya try hard to cover up for their party, South Africa which is also the economic superpower of Southern Africa, through the country’s governing Africa National Congress (ANC), acknowledged Zimbabwe is riddled with political challenges.
Lindiwe Zulu who is one of the leaders of the ANC in South Africa went on record in the media claiming that there is a political crisis in Zimbabwe. Ms. Zulu is also South Africa’s Minister of Social Development.
In a statement released on August 4, AU encouraged the government of Zimbabwe to uphold the rule of law ‘allowing for freedom of the media, freedom of assembly, freedom of association and the right to information.’
Even as AU said ‘violations of these rights are a breach of the African Charter on human and people’s rights,’ Zimbabwe’s opposition leaders have called for more action from the regional body to extinguish the political flames in the country.
“We continue to urge the AU to not only end issuance of statements, but to act decisively and save Zimbabwean lives,” Obey Sithole, MDC Alliance National Youth Chairperson told Ubuntu Times.
On SADC, Sithole said ‘their history of intervention doesn’t paint a good picture and that provides a justifiable reason for people to doubt their ability to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe.’
Lashing out at AU and SADC, Owen Dhliwayo a Zimbabwean pro-democracy activist said ‘these are mere regional bodies making rather regional pronouncements that have no consequence on the member state.’
Referring to SADC and AU, Wurayai Zembe, leader of the opposition Democratic Party in Zimbabwe, said ‘the regional and continental bodies have not been effective when dealing with Zimbabwe’s electoral problems.’
“The two bodies have been clubs of friends of nationalists who fought for independence from colonialism, some through armed struggles. So, member countries have not criticized one another on matters of poor governance,” Zembe told Ubuntu Times.
Even civil society activist, Claris Madhuku, who heads the Platform for Youth Development, concurred with Zembe.
“AU is run on the basis of comradeship and brotherhood of sitting heads of states. This does not make it easy for this club to seriously chastise a member who has strayed. Zimbabwean problems are complex and will not be solved by these regional blocks,” Madhuku told Ubuntu Times.
Of late, police in Zimbabwe arrested and jailed journalist Hopewell Chin’ono who had become vocal in exposing high profile corruption scandals in Zimbabwe.
They (police) also arrested and incarcerated opposition leader Jacob Ngarivhume on charges of inciting public violence after he coordinated a social media drive calling for the Jul.31 anti-government protests against corruption.
Harare, July 29 — Zimbabwe’s Minister of Agriculture, Perrance Shiri has succumbed to the novel Coronavirus at the age of 65, becoming the first government minister to be claimed by the virus.
Shiri, notorious for commanding Zimbabwe’s Fifth Brigade army unit that massacred thousands of civilians in the 1980s across western Zimbabwe when government cracked down on opposition Zimbabwe African National Union party (ZAPU), allegedly contracted COVID-19 from his driver who also recently succumbed to the dreaded disease.
Before becoming the country’s Agriculture Minister, he (Shiri), who was commander of Zimbabwe’s Airforce for 25 years, is also known for helping plot the military coup that overthrew the Southern African nation’s former late longtime President Robert Mugabe in 2017.
Without mentioning what killed his minister, turning to his official Twitter account, Zimbabwe’s President, Emmerson Mnangagwa tweeted ‘I am deeply saddened to inform the Nation of the death of the Minister of Agriculture, Air Chief Marshall (retired) Perrance Shiri, a longtime friend and colleague.’
Shiri is reported to have died in the early hours of Wednesday at a hospital in the Zimbabwean capital Harare.
Although Mr. Mnangagwa did not mention in his statement what killed the Minister, Zimbabwe’s local media said Shiri succumbed to complications from Coronavirus, which has so far infected closer to 3,000 Zimbabweans and killed 40.
On his Facebook page, Zimbabwe’s Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Vangelis Haritatos confirmed the death of his immediate boss.
“Sadly this is true. Hon. Minister Shiri passed on this morning,” Haritatos said.
Meanwhile, the 1980s army massacres, notoriously known as ‘Gukurahundi’ a word in Shona native language which means early rains that wash away the chaff—which Shiri led, remain a source of bitterness for this country’s people in the Matabeleland regions, many of whom lost loved ones during the genocide.
Harare, July 20 — Police in Zimbabwe on Monday stormed and broke into the home of Hopewell Chin’ono a top freelance journalist in the Zimbabwean capital Harare before they abducted him, this following another arrest earlier on of opposition politician Jacob Ngarivhume for inciting public violence.
Ngarivhume is the coordinator of the Jul.31 scheduled anti-government protests while Chin’ono has reported intensively on the scourge of corruption blighting the Zimbabwean government.
Earlier on in the day as cops stormed his home, Chin’ono tweeted, ‘they are breaking into my home. Alert the world!’
Prior to his arrest, Ngarivhume had also taken to Twitter claiming that hewas receiving death threats from persons sympathetic to the Zimbabwean government.
In arresting Chin’ono, detectives broke a glass door at his Harare home as they attempted to gain entry into the journalist’s house before they seized him while he was live-streaming the intrusion by the errant cops.
Later, Chin’ono was found at Harare Central Police Station despite the dramatic abduction.
Senator David Coltart of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance later took to Twitter writing, ‘I’ve just been informed by a reliable source that Hope is safe and that this is being done by one faction of the government, but it’s an action not supported by others in authority.’
Now, unbeknown to which faction of the government he belongs, upbeat about the journalist’s abduction, Zimbabwe’s Permanent Secretary for Information, Nick Mangwana also took to Twitter writing ‘there is no profession which is above the law. Journalists are not above the law. Lawyers are not above the law. Doctors and nurses are not above the law…’
In a statement, Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s Director for East and Southern Africa said “the arrests of Hopewell Chin’ono and Jacob Ngarivhume are designed to intimidate and send a chilling message to journalists, whistleblowers, and activists who draw attention to matters of public interest in Zimbabwe.”
Chirundu — Outside Chirundu border post which stands out at Chirundu, a border town between Zimbabwe and Zambia, a fleet of haulage trucks loaded to the brim with various goods line up as they slowly drive out of the border town heading to Harare, the Zimbabwean capital.
As some of the trucks slow down about two kilometers outside the border, desperate commuters looking for transport scramble to catch the first haulage truck that grinds to a halt before they quickly jump in straight to the driver’s side.
One of the drivers, busy picking passengers at Chirundu border post hesitantly peers through the window, with a face mask partially concealing his face.
“15 USD to Harare my brother; just wear your mask and come and fit in and we hit the road home,” the driver said to Ubuntu Times.
Hesitantly revealing his name as 46-year old Justin Makuvire, he said ‘there are no cross border buses during this lockdown and as drivers, we have to cash in on the situation before the lockdown is lifted.’
As Makuvire was bending his head down through the window of his truck, about nine passengers streamed in his truck straight to the driver’s compartment and none of the passengers donned face masks even as the government here has made it a rule for everyone to wear face masks in public.
Cross border haulage truck drivers like Makuvire apparently are not afraid of contracting Coronavirus owing to myths he has come to believe.
Haulage cross border trucks head to South Africa, lining up at the border between the two countries. Zimbabwe’s cross border truck drivers stand accused of smuggling in and out more cases of Coronavirus. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
“COVID-19 only infects white people; I have personally not seen a black person who has suffered from the disease, and so I don’t give transport to white people,” Makuvire told Ubuntu Times as he laughed off and drove away with his newfound treasure—the passengers to Harare.
With many desperate Zimbabweans in neighboring countries like Zambia and South Africa desperate to travel home by whatever means available, for cross border haulage truck drivers like Makuvire, this has become their turn to cash in on desperate travelers.
Heavy cross border trucks in Zimbabwe are considered essential services providers and therefore even as public transport remains banned during the lockdown in this Southern Africa nation, the trucks have taken advantage of the void left by public transport operators to cash in on desperate cross border travelers.
So, even undocumented cross border travelers like 25-year old Millicent Chatsauka who headed to Zambia back to her job as a housemaid on the 19th of June, she had nothing to worry about.
“As soon as I get on the truck, I know I will be sure to reach my destination; police don’t even bother passengers on the trucks because they just get bribes from the drivers,” Chatsauka told Ubuntu Times.
As such, according to healthcare officials working in Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health like Jonasi Sibanda, ‘truck drivers have money to spare and on getting at any roadblock they just pay their way through even if they may be transporting passengers already COVID-19-infected.’
To Sibanda, ‘this means then it’s easier for cross border truck drivers to smuggle in and out cases of Coronavirus.’
So, although nothing much is being done to stop cross border haulage truck drivers from smuggling in and out more cases of COVID-19, the government here is aware cross border truck drivers like Makuvire are only helping to derail the slight gains made in the fight against Coronavirus.
A fleet of heavy trucks head to South Africa from Zimbabwe at a time public transport for passengers was suspended by the government here to curtail the spread of the disease and as a result, desperate travelers are having to board cross border trucks with the help of cross border truck drivers. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
“Yes, we know cross border truck drivers are smuggling travelers in and out during the national lockdown meant to surmount COVID-19, and police are on the ground watching out for any suspects into that business of bringing and taking out suspected cases of Coronavirus,” a top government official who spoke to Ubuntu Times on condition of anonymity because he was unauthorized to speak to the media, said.
With Coronavirus pounding thousands across the African continent, child rights activists like Hilary Muchina highlights, ‘underage children have become the latest victims of trafficking by cross border truck drivers.’
“Highways are less busy during lockdown which gives an advantage to truck drivers who then smuggle in and out some unaccompanied minors even as COVID-19 cases are rising every day,” Muchina told Ubuntu Times.
Muchina claimed that ‘the people whom truck drivers smuggle, straightaway go in to blend with communities without being tested for Coronavirus because they avoid such processes hesitant to be quarantined.’
The Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) has also been on record in the local media claiming those truck drivers transporting maize from Zambia and South Africa were picking up passengers, creating fertile grounds for the spread of COVID-19.
GMAZ is a voluntary organization that represents the interests of local, large, medium, and small scale grain millers in Zimbabwe.
“The conduct of cross border truck drivers here violates the rules of the lockdown; they (cross border truck drivers) accelerate the spread of Coronavirus,” said Garikai Chaunza, the GMAZ spokesperson.
But, travelers like Chatsauka hear nor see any evil about what cross border truck drivers are doing.
“Everybody knows public transport for ordinary travelers is hard to come by during the lockdown and so cross border truck drivers are helping us and they make it easy for us to reunite with our families than getting detained at quarantine centers where people returning home from other countries are kept like bandits,” said Chatsauka.
Now, despite rising cases of Coronavirus virus across Africa, and in Zimbabwe in particular, in the absence of buses amid lockdown measures to curb the spread of the disease, travelers have switched to using trucks.
In Mutare, east of Zimbabwe, a border town with Mozambique, residents like 52-year old Dheliwe Ngwenya bewail the presence of cross border truck drivers ‘who move freely about endangering the communities in the town.’
Harare, July 7 — Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has eventually expelled the country’s Health Minister Obadiah Moyo after he was implicated in a 60 million USD corruption scandal related to COVID-19 material bought for government.
The arrest follows mounting pressure on Mr. Mnangagwa to quit by members of opposition political parties and civil society organizations who have set July 31 for crippling protests calling for the Zimbabwean leader to step down.
The disgraced Zimbabwean Minister’s alleged corrupt dealings were linked to Drax International LLC and Drax Consult SAGL, companies Zimbabwean prosecutors claimed were illegally awarded contracts by the country’s health ministry without a competitive tender process.
As Minister Moyo faced the boot, Delish Nguwaya, a local representative of Drax International, who had also been arrested as part of investigation into the Health Minister’s case, was on the same day granted bail of 50,000 Zimbabwean dollars by a Harare High Court Judge.
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s son, Collins, is said to be closely linked to Drax International which has grabbed tenders to supply other COVID-19 material to the country’s Ministry of Health, but no moves have been made as yet to bring the President’s son to book.
Meanwhile, the now former Health Minister here was alerted of his expulsion from his ministerial post by Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Misheck Sibanda in a letter.
“Please be advised that His Excellency the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Cde ED Mnangagwa, has in terms of section 340, subsection (i), paragraph (f), as read with section 104, subsection (i) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe removed you, Obadiah Moyo from the office of Cabinet Minister and Minister of Government with immediate effect for conduct inappropriate for a Government minister,” said Sibanda in the letter to Moyo.
He (Moyo) becomes Zimbabwe’s third government Minister so far expelled from government during Mr. Mnangagwa’s reign, this after former Tourism Minister Prisca Mupfumira and also former Deputy Information Minister, Energy Mutodi.
But opposition political supporters doubt Mr. Mnangagwa’s sincerity after he dismissed his Health Minister.
“He (Mnangagwa) will only be taken seriously if his son also involved in the COVID-19 scandal is arrested,” said Gilbert Mugari, an opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance backer in Harare.
Gweru, June 23 — A Chinese gold miner based in Zimbabwe’s Midlands Province this week shot and injured two of his black Zimbabwean workers following a wage dispute before he was arrested by police facing attempted murder charges.
Zhang Xuelin, a 41-year old Chinese national, who doubles as owner and General Manager of Reeden Mine in Gweru, allegedly shot and injured 31-year old Wendy Chikwaira and Kennedy Tachiona aged 39, both of whom are Zimbabweans of African descent.
The two black Zimbabweans, Chikwaira and Tachiona were said to have confronted Xuelin demanding their dues before they got into a fight that made the Chinese national use a 9mm pistol to shoot at them.
Tachiona, one of the mineworkers, was said to have sustained several gunshot injuries and was admitted to a private hospital in Gweru, the capital of the Midlands Province while his colleague, Chikwaira was treated and discharged.
Following the shooting incident, the Chinese business community in Zimbabwe’s Midlands Province visited the family of one of the injured, Tachiona whom Xuelin reportedly shot three times in both legs.
The Chinese government, shaken by the incident which they hoped would not dent the relations between Zimbabwe and their country, through their Embassy in Harare, issued a statement over the incident.
“Any possible illegal acts and persons who violate the law should not be shielded. China and Zimbabwe have long-standing friendship and cooperation. We call upon all relevant sides to safeguard it jealously and carefully,” read part of the statement.
The shooting incident by the Chinese miner follows a litany of incidents that have made international news headlines, with the case of George Floyd in the US top on the list followed by widely reported Chinese violence against Africans in the Asian country.
Harare, June 21 — Zimbabwe’s Health Minister, Obadiah Moyo who had been widely reported to have been fired after he was implicated in a 60 million USD corruption scandal related to COVID-19 material bought for government, is in fact still having his job.
Minister Moyo was arrested recently after he was implicated in a Coronavirus equipment procurement scandal which has since been termed Covidgate in this Southern African nation.
The Zimbabwean Minister’s alleged corrupt dealings were linked to Drax International LLC and Drax Consult SAGL, companies Zimbabwean prosecutors claimed were illegally awarded contracts by the country’s health ministry without a competitive tender process.
He (Moyo) was arrested on Friday facing three counts of criminal abuse of office.
The previous week, Delish Nguwaya, a local representative of Drax International, was arrested as part of the same investigation and was denied bail by a Harare magistrate.
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s son, Collins, is said to be closely linked to Drax International which has grabbed tenders to supply other COVID-19 material to the country’s Ministry of Health, but no moves have been made so far to apprehend the President’s son.
Collins stands embroiled in a one million USD Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) dispute while the president’s top bodyguard, Valdano Brown, clinched lucrative contracts to supply COVID-19 equipment to the country’s Ministry of Health without properly going to tender.
Now, Minister Moyo, who is very close to the Zimbabwean President, despite his alleged underhand dealings with a company linked to the Zimbabwean strongman’s son, was released from police custody and allowed to sleep at his home only to appear in court the following day.
In court, the state alleged that the Minister had awarded a tender to a company linked to a terrorist group, but with the National Prosecution Authority not opposing bail, the Zimbabwean politician was released on 50,000 Zimbabwean dollars bail, which is 2,000 USD.
The matter was remanded to 31 July 2020.
Following his appointment as Zimbabwe’s Health Minister two years ago, Moyo was exposed by different publications to have fabricated his education qualifications as a medical doctor.
Harare, June 17 — Clobbered into submission by simmering discontent among its civil servants, the Zimbabwean government today offered what it branded a COVID-19 allowance of 75 USD and a fifty percent salary hike to its workforce of over 500,000.
All government pensioners will also be paid a COVID-19 allowance of 30 USD on top of their 600 Zimbabwean dollars monthly payout, about 24 USD at the official exchange rate with the USD.
The monthly wages for the Southern African government workers have also been revised upwards by 50 percent, but remain in the local currency which is fast deteriorating in value against the USD.
Officially, 1 USD is equal to 25 Zimbabwean dollars, but trading at 1 USD at the equivalence of 82 Zimbabwean dollars on the parallel market, popularly known as the black market.
Zimbabwe’s lowest-paid government worker before the recent increment earned 2,033 Zimbabwean dollars, which would mean after the latest pay rise, a lowest-paid government worker would now earn 3,050 Zimbabwean dollars.
Zimbabwe’s police known for violating human rights in the country are set to benefit from the government’s offer of a 75 USD monthly COVID-19 allowance and a fifty percent salary hike. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Inflation is hovering around 765 percent in this country, according to statistics from the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT), the statistics agency of Zimbabwe.
Confirming the development, Nick Mangwana, the Zimbabwean government spokesperson, said ‘with immediate effect, all civil servants’ salaries will be adjusted upwards by 50 percent. Additionally, all civil servants are to be paid a flat non-taxable COVID-19 allowance of 75 USD. All government pensioners are to be paid a COVID-19 30 USD allowance.’
Despite the government announcement of the latest adjustments, Zimbabwe’s civil servants including police and army officers were today shocked to find their June salaries had been slashed, triggering tensions in the public service sector.
Ordinary Zimbabweans have taken the recent wages adjustment with a pinch of salt.
Commenting on Twitter, one DocLawo, wrote ‘a regime with an insatiable appetite to loot can never pay more than 300,000 workers a monthly cushion of $USD75 in an economy that is not producing. Mark this tweet. This is another lie…’
Striking Zimbabwean government workers last year wave placards in the Zimbabwean capital Harare as they deride their poor earnings while demanding improved wages. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Trade unions in the country are equally displeased by the recent developments because they were taken by surprise.
“Just on the 28th of May 2020, there was an undertaking from government that they would refrain from policy pronouncement without involvement of the TNF (Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF). The government has just dropped a bombshell, announcing civil servants incomes with far-reaching implications, minus the involvement of the TNF,” said Japhet Moyo, Secretary-General of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).
Enacted by the Parliament and the President of Zimbabwe in 2019, TNF is a platform that brings together government, business, and labor to discuss challenges affecting the country.
Harare, June 15 — Zimbabwe’s youngest parliamentarian, 27-year old Joana Mamombe along with her other female opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance activists, Netsai Marova and Cecilia Chimbiri were on Monday denied bail by Harare magistrate Bianca Makwande.
The trio stands accused of faking an abduction last month.
Their arrest last month followed their abduction after they led a demonstration organized by the youths from their party against the government’s failure to provide social protection for the poor during the current COVID-19 lockdown.
Now, the trio has been remanded in prison at the Chikurubhi maximum jail, Zimbabwe’s notorious prison until the 26th of June.
The MDC Alliance activists have leading positions in their party, with Marova as the Deputy Organizing Secretary and Chimbiri as the opposition party’s Youth Assembly Vice Chairperson while Mamombe is the legislator for Harare West Constituency.
In denying bail to the trio, Harare magistrate Makwande said the accused face very serious charges and are likely to be given custodial sentences if convicted, which may force them to abscond or commit a similar offense.
Apparently melancholic, one of Zimbabwe’s opposition MDC Alliance activists, Netsai Marova appears in court where together with her accomplices they are denied bail. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
“It (bail) can only be denied if there are compelling reasons,” she said before postponing the case to 26 June.
State Prosecutors also argued that Mamombe and her accomplices committed a very serious offense and were likely to flee if granted bail.
To the magistrate, therefore, ‘the court is of the view that the State’s opposition for bail in the respect of propensity to commit a similar offense is acceptable.’
Following the denial of bail to Zimbabwe’s abducted opposition activists, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Southern Africa, Muleya Mwananyanda, said ‘the continued arbitrary detention of Joana Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri, and Netsai Marova amounts to persecution.’
“These women are victims of escalating crackdown on the right to freedom of expression and criminalization of dissent. Instead of persecuting them, the Zimbabwean authorities should focus their efforts on holding those suspected to be responsible for their horrifying abduction, torture, and sexual assault to account,” said Mwananyanda.
“Justice has been turned on its head. We expected the perpetrators of the abduction of these women to be brought to book. The State is at war with its citizens,” said Mahere.
Rutenga, June 5 — On a dusty plain, aging shops lie in a file opposite each other, abandoned, with few signs of life around, yet with few impoverished villagers selling trinkets to passing motorists by the roadside.
Rutenga stands out west of Masvingo, Zimbabwe’s oldest town and at this rural township domiciled in the country’s Mwenezi district, several shops have over the years stopped operating, beaten into submission by the country’s marauding economy.
A significant village in Masvingo Province, Rutenga has been commonly dubbed defacto capital of Mwenezi rural district, boasting of a railway station connecting the remote township to Sango border post between Zimbabwe and Mozambique and a local town called Zvishavane.
But, even as the township stands on vantage ground, there is no more life here.
Even 73-year old Hebert Chitova, who used to run one of the grocery shops at Rutenga Township, has not been spared by the life here as the once vivid township rides to extinction.
At Neshuro Township, not far from Rutenga, it is equally another tale of demise as the once-thriving township faces its eventual fall.
Once popular Mushambadzi Supermarket lies derelict and shutdown at Neshuro rural township in Zimbabwe’s Mwenezi district in Masvingo Province. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
For Tobias Mbiriyazvo who has worked as a bartender at one of the properties at Neshuro Township, the remote business center has become a shadow of its former self.
“There is no life at shops here now. What is left is for them to eventually curve in and collapse because there is no more activity taking place under these roofs,” Mbiriyazvo told Ubuntu Times.
Chitova, who has apparently traversed a rugged path to rugs-from-riches, said, ‘the economy over the years left me out of business and this means the township soon may be no more.’
Around 1997, Zimbabwe’s economy started to die away at the parceling out of thousands of dollars compensations to the country’s liberation warfighters, meaning the rural townships were not spared by the economic inferno.
Economists like Denis Chioko based in Masvingo, Zimbabwe’s oldest town, said ‘the 2000 land seizures by Zimbabwe’s war veterans did not bring good news to remote townships that thrived on farmworkers employed by displaced white commercial farmers.’
To Chioko, ‘remote townships lost business as white farmers lost their land because farm laborers who fed into the townships for goods and services were now out of work.’
Zimbabwe’s rural townships are falling apart at a time rural-to-urban migration has been on the rise here, according to development experts.
“Many Zimbabweans have been over the past years flocking to the cities in search of better life, meaning remote townships have been gradually deserted as well, hence the dilapidation,” Agness Msipa, a development expert in Zimbabwe, told Ubuntu Times.
A deserted and closed grocery shop stands out aging at Neshuro rural Township in Zimbabwe’s Mwenezi district in Masvingo Province. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Such is the dilapidation hitting Chachacha Township, a rural shopping center in Shurugwi in Zimbabwe’s Midlands Province.
Although Chachacha township has a 12 km tarred road which was constructed by a Chinese company called China-Gansui, it is riddled with potholes while the buildings have aged and unkempt.
Yet, a few years back Chachacha Township was bigger than some of the small towns neighboring Shurugwi in the Midlands Province before deterioration pounded it owing to Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown.
Neshuro rural township, west of Zimbabwe in Mwenezi district in Masvingo province, has also not been spared by the dereliction pounding remote townships, this despite the township being an administrative center for the district.
Here, several shops have been abandoned and closed although the remote township used to act as one of the largest business centers in Zimbabwe’s drought-prone district.
A group of aging shops at Rutenga rural township in Zimbabwe’s Mwenezi district lies out on a dusty patch not far from the country’s popular Harare-Beitbridge highway. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Further west of Neshuro Township, still in Mwenezi district, is Maranda rural township, also crumbling, but ironically commonly known as Number One.
Number One (Maranda) is a small remote business center on the northern edge of Mwenezi district in this Southern African nation, home to the late popular musician Paul Matavire.
Dotted with crumbling buildings, Maranda rural township however still boasts of being a center of trade in Mwenezi district, with people coming to sell their cattle in week-long trade fairs while the township despite its fading structures also houses a clinic and the government agriculture and water offices.
Also known for being the rendezvous of village clubbers, Maranda Township has over the years been a destination for villagers descending on the business center to dance to sungura music from Zimbabwean singers like Alick Macheso and Khiama Boys.
With little or no business, most shops at Rutenga Township stand out on the dusty unpaved ground apparently awaiting their eventual collapse. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Sungura is the local genre of the Zimbabwe music industry which became popular in the early 1980s, pioneered by Ephraim Joe and his band Sungura Boys.
But, with the township now falling apart, so is the sungura mania at Maranda Township, according to local traditional leaders in Mwenezi district.
“The township is just dead now; most shops have long ceased to operate and this means our people now find little pleasure at the township,” headman Maranda, told Ubuntu Times on telephone.
Yet, Zimbabwe in 1980 established growth points which helped in the curtailment of rural-urban migration through the decentralization of services to the country’s remote areas, creating employment opportunities for the rural dwellers.
MARANDA, May 19 — 46-year old Livious Nhundugwa of Maranda township in Zimbabwe’s Mwenezi district and his one-time friend, 43-year old Taguta Chikondo, are now sworn enemies despite the two belonging to the country’s ruling Zimbabwe Africa National Union Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF).
On 16 April this year, the two staunch Zanu-PF supporters exchanged blows at the remote township in their village, drawing a sizable crowd that was apparently surprised to witness the two die-hard Zanu-PF supporters pounding one another savagely.
What sparked their brawl was an argument about corruption which the former-Nhundugwa, blamed on party stalwarts, with the later-Chikondo having none of it, rather pinning the blame on the country’s biggest opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance (MDC Alliance).
“You are getting lost, I know you want to stray to MDC Alliance,” Nhundugwa shouted at the top of his voice in the midst of his argument with Chikondo.
“MDC brought sanctions to our country,” added Nhundugwa.
But, irate and impatient, Chikondo would have none of it.
“Everyone knows here that Zanu-PF leaders are corrupt and have kept us in this economic messy over the years stealing from us; we vote them into power because they have managed to sustainably lie to us, but this won’t last,” Chikondo told Ubuntu Times later after his brawl with Nhundugwa which was broken up by onlookers.
Yet, as the two little known Zanu-PF backers traded blows deep in this remote district, further up in Harare, just a week ago, the Zanu-PF government could not conceal the internal fights among government officials.
Zimbabwe’s military chiefs in November 2017 attend the inauguration of Emmerson Mnangagwa as President following the ouster of former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe whom the military helped to depose. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Zimbabwe’s shortest-serving Deputy Minister of Information, Energy Mutodi recently came out on Tweeter claiming that he is living in fear following his public rebuke by Zimbabwe’s foreign affairs minister, who distanced the government from statements he (Mutodi) made on Twitter, suggesting that Tanzanian president John Magufuli is struggling to contain the Coronavirus crisis in the East African country.
Mutodi had said ‘living in fear of the Chris Mutsvangwa-SB Moyo coalition. I hope it won’t resort to wartime tactics. Appealing for prayers.’
Mutsvangwa is a Zanu-PF politburo member, also former advisor in the Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s office, thought to be aligned to a Zanu-PF faction that include officials like Foreign Affairs Minister Sibusiso Moyo, a former army chief in this Southern African country.
Apparently sounding the triumph of the military factor in the Zanu-PF government, on the evening of May 20, Zimbabwe’s Minister Mutodi was dismissed from his government post although reasons of his expulsion were not mentioned by a government statement.
As ordinary Zanu-PF supporters like Nhundugwa and Chikondo fall out in typical fights that have apparently rocked the upper echelons of power in the Zanu-PF government, like in the days of former President Robert Mugabe, fresh divisions have erupted again, hitting Zimbabwe’s government harder.
Delegates throng what became a faction-ridden conference of Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party in 2016 in Masvingo presided over by the then President Robert Mugabe months before he was ousted from power in a military coup the following year. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
But, Zimbabwe’s ruling party officials like Tafadzwa Mugwadi, have denied the existence of the political infighting, dismissing these as imaginary rather.
“I would not have wanted to comment on ordinary disagreements involving two government officials, but whatever their differences are, they have no bearing on Zanu-PF at all and do not reflect anything about ZANU-PF. Factionalism only exists in small minds,” Mugwadi who is the Zanu-PF Information director, told Ubuntu Times.
“There is no factionalism in Zanu-PF, rather, it exists at the house next door among the opposition,” added Mugwadi.
The divisions that have visited the Zanu-PF government in Zimbabwe are not new here.
For the first time after the removal of former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe from power in 2017, army generals saluted their new commander-in-chief Emmerson Mnangagwa who they had put in power to replace the toppled old Mugabe. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Former late Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was also ridden with divisions that eventually led to his ouster in a military-led coup in November 2017.
During Mugabe’s reign, two factions wrestled to succeed him—the Lacoste Faction which was linked to the army and the G-40, Generation 40, which was aligned to the then First Lady, Mrs. Grace Mugabe who battled it out then with the current President to succeed her geriatric husband.
Now, to ordinary anti-government activists here like Melinda Manwere, it seems history is fast repeating itself in Zimbabwe.
“The military factor keeps resurfacing here forming another faction yet again to fight Mnangagwa just as it did when it ousted Mugabe,” Manwere told Ubuntu Times.
Zimbabwean former President Robert Mugabe’s last 2016 ruling ZANU-PF conference in Masvingo, the country’s oldest town before he was toppled from power in less than a year. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times.
Even media experts like Rashweat Mukundu see nothing new about Zanu-PF factionalism resurfacing in the Zimbabwean government.
“The ruling party has never been cohesive post the coup more importantly over divisions on sharing spoils of the coup inclusive of mining rights, tenders, and other business deals; the latest spat between Mutodi and Moyo is not over ideological or political differences, but control of state resources more so a growing sense with some that Mnangagwa has monopolized the state with the support of a few individuals. And others feel edged out from the feeding trough,” Mukundu, who is the Africa Adviser at International Media Support (IMS), told Ubuntu Times.
Although both are top Zimbabwean government officials, typifying the deep divisions besetting the Zanu-PF government, the country’s Foreign Affairs Minister had hit back at the country’s Deputy Information Minister, Mutodi via Twitter.
“Mutodi’s remarks did not represent the views of the Zimbabwean government,” Moyo had said.
HARARE — She said her husband choked her, pounded her with open fists, and knocked her head on the wall before grabbing a thick leather belt which he used to whip her.
Today, over 21 days after Zimbabwe embarked upon a lockdown against COVID-19, Tracy Mukwende, who is aged 41 years, said her husband is languishing in jail.
The 48-year old husband, Denis was found guilty of causing serious bodily harm and sentenced to three years in prison in the middle of Zimbabwe’s lockdown.
For Tracy and Denis, a lockdown that was meant to be a time to bond rather turned into a conflict that has landed the latter in jail.
“I couldn’t do anything to stop my husband from constantly attacking me during the lockdown; I tried to endure, but failed and ended up reporting him to police; he abused me over very minor issues — for instance on the day I reported him he had beaten me for not serving him supper on time,” Tracy told Ubuntu Times.
Women in a community in Norton, a town 30 kilometers west of Harare the Zimbabwean capital end of 2018 gathered to demonstrate against rising cases of domestic violence in their area. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Yet, the two are not the only ones that have fallen apart during Zimbabwe’s lockdown.
There are ballooning cases of domestic violence as couples such as Tracy and Denis in Zimbabwe find more time together indoors, forced by coronavirus.
In less than two weeks into Zimbabwe’s initial 21-day lockdown, Musasa Project, a local non-governmental organization, said it had documented at least 782 cases of abuse compared to an average of 500 per month.
“We believe from the trends that we’re seeing that domestic violence is going to escalate,” said Rotina Musara, an advocacy program officer with Musasa Project.
Musasa Project concurs with the Women Coalition of Zimbabwe, a network of women rights activists and women’s organizations.
“As the lockdown continues we are concerned about the likelihood of an increase in gender-based violence (GBV) cases. At this stage GBV services need to be classified as essential services,” Ronika Mumbire, board chairperson of the Women in Zimbabwe Coalition, told Ubuntu Times.
A group of women from various civil society groups in October 2015 gathered in the Zimbabwean capital Harare demonstrating against sexual abuse in workplaces. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
A day before the expiration of Zimbabwe’s 21-day lockdown which begun on March 30, the country’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced a 14-day extension of the same saying the country had not yet met the World Health Organization benchmarks to warrant the lifting of a lockdown.
To couples confined in their homes by the marauding pandemic, the move has not been easy, resulting in many caught up in domestic conflicts.
Now, instead of fighting COVID-19, many Zimbabwean couples are fighting one another.
Catherine Mkwapati, a women rights defender and also director of the Youth Dialogue Action Network, a civil society organization here, said ‘arguments and conflicts are escalating among couples because they are living together 24 hours a day, forced to do so by the national lockdown.’
“You would realize that many men now confined indoors with their wives are not formally employed and because without income, they get angry when asked to make plans for the family’s food provisions, for instance, and this triggers violence,” Mkwapati told Ubuntu Times.
Even Musara of the Musasa Project, said ‘we have got young women who have been physically assaulted for asking for food to feed the family, especially in cases where the woman relies on the husband to provide food.’
With unemployment hovering above 90 percent in Zimbabwe, according to the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, most people are dependent on daily informal trade to earn a living.
But, amid the continuing lockdown, even dependency on informal trade for survival is no longer possible, and couples have to bear the brunt of hunger confined in their homes.
In Zimbabwe, women have become top agricultural producers, yet oppressed by their male counterparts who rob them of the fruits of their labor. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
By the 23rd of April, Zimbabwe had 29 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with four deaths recorded since the disease pounced on the Southern African nation.
Coronavirus broke out for the first time end of last year in Wuhan, a city in Hubei Province in China, before it swiftly spread to several countries across the globe.
To Zimbabwean feminists like Musara, ‘as much as we say COVID-19 is an emergency, gender-based violence is an emergency as well.’
“Once gender-based violence is declared an emergency, at least we will have various actors coming together, sitting at the same table, and trying to come up with solutions to help especially women being victimized,” said Musara.
Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, a Zimbabwean legislator, said ‘I don’t necessarily agree with the fact that men are abusing women because they are confined; abusers have always been abusers.’
To many women rights defenders like Mkwapati, in Zimbabwe, ‘the lockdown is proving to be having far-reaching consequences because those who are in abusive relationships are now restricted face-to-face with their tormentors.’
Even as they have fought tooth and nail through mobilization by women rights organizations, Zimbabwe’s women and children remain topmost victims of domestic violence. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Even as Zimbabwean police have said people can still report to them cases of domestic violence during the lockdown, many victims of domestic violence like 28-year old Mavis Chitoro have said ‘it is hard to call police when you are locked down in the same house with your abuser.’
Other gender activists such as Chelesile Nyathi of South Western Region Gender Network (SWRGN), a regional gender-focused network, said ‘when people spend more time together, chances are high that they start having multiple incidents of violence at home.’
To Nyathi, ‘when there is added stress in the home it increases the frequency and severity of abuse. This, in turn, creates greater risk of domestic violence.’
But, to Mumbire of the Women in Zimbabwe Coalition, hope is all they can embrace in the fight against domestic violence as the lockdown continues.
“With the now extended lockdown being in place, we are hoping that perpetrators of domestic violence will be brought to book,” said Mumbire.
HARARE, April 19 — Zimbabwe’s 21 days of lockdown to save the country from further infections from coronavirus have hammered the country’s cross-border traders who operate from this country into the neighboring countries in the region.
South Africa, known for accommodating cross-border traders from Zimbabwe, shut its border between the two countries closer to a month ago and only traffic moving essential goods and services is being allowed to cross the border.
This Southern African nation’s Cross-Border Traders’ Association (CBTA) has been on record in the media saying about 10,000 cross-border traders have been traveling to South Africa daily.
But, with the lockdown actuated by the coronavirus, the travels by cross-border traders from Zimbabwe came to a halt and hard times have hit the country’s migrant traders.
“Our members have fallen on hard times because they can’t, for now, cross borders to do their trade although cross-border trading is their only source of income,” Jameson Tumbare, a member of the Cross Border Traders Association, told Ubuntu Times.
Meanwhile, as Zimbabwe went into the 21-day lockdown last month on the 30th of March, president of the Cross Border Traders Association, Killer Zivhu said ‘the message is that let’s heed the President’s call and avoid traveling outside the country for the next two months.’
But, thousands of traders who have relied heavily on ordering goods for resale from neighboring countries here have claimed they face hard times as they can’t cross the borders to do business.
“This lockdown means poverty for us as we are not in business anymore and we get no support from government,” one of the cross-border traders based in Harare, 33-year old Melinda Chiundura, told Ubuntu Times.
However, it may be until the COVID-19 scare is over that Zimbabwe’s cross border traders may be allowed to ply their trade, according to Zivhu.
Government officials have insisted cross-border traders would have to abide by the lockdown to help the country contain further spread of the feared COVID-19.
“We have millions of cross-border traders and it’s just too early to open the border for them because surely they will be at risk of infection because more often than not they have to shop or sell in crowded places each time they cross borders,” a top government official from the Ministry of Home Affairs, told Ubuntu Times on condition of anonymity as she was unauthorized to speak to the media.
Coronavirus broke out towards the end of last year in Wuhan, a city in China in the Asian country’s Hubei Province before it spread to hundreds of countries across the globe, killing thousands and infecting over two million people.
In Zimbabwe, so far four people have died from coronavirus, with the country having 25 cases of people who have tested positive for the dreaded disease by Saturday recently amid widespread reports the poor African country is conducting very few COVID-19 tests.
Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared a 21-day lockdown which began at the end of last month in a bid to contain the spread of the coronavirus, which he has also extended by two weeks this Sunday in the face of rising cases of the pandemic here.
The decree by Mr. Mnangagwa ordered all Zimbabweans, including the country’s cross-border traders to stay at home ‘except in respect of essential movements related to seeking health services, the purchase of food or carrying out responsibilities that are in the critical services sectors.’
According to a 2018 International Monetary Fund report, Zimbabwe’s informal economy, which also includes cross-border trading, is the largest in Africa, and second only to Bolivia in the world.
The informal sector here accounts for approximately 60 percent of all of Zimbabwe’s economic activity.
HARARE — Moved by the rising positive cases of the dreaded coronavirus, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa today extended the national lockdown against coronavirus by 14 days.
The Southern African nation’s 78-year old leader said his country has not yet been able to meet the benchmarks set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for any country to be considered ripe to emerge from a lockdown.
“Guided by these realities and to allow ourselves greater leeway to prepare for worse times which are lurking ahead, government has decided to extend, with immediate effect, the national lockdown by a further 14 days,” said Mr. Mnangagwa.
He (the Zimbabwean President) said ‘worldwide cases of infections continue to gallop with the world health organization counseling against relaxing lockdowns currently adopted by almost all countries of the world.’
As of Saturday recently, Zimbabwe’s COVID-19 cases had reached 25 positive cases, with three deaths recorded so far nationwide.
Meanwhile, 2,226 tests have been conducted so far in Zimbabwe, with more tests still expected to be carried out.
Despite his government facing criticism for brutalizing civilians amid the lockdown, Mr. Mnangagwa also said his country’s security forces would continue to ensure full adherence to the measures set to be adhered to during the stretched lockdown.
Coronavirus broke out last year in Wuhan, a Chinese city in the country’s Hubei Province before spreading to various countries across the globe.
So far, according to WHO, over 162,000 people have died from COVID-19 globally, while more than two million people have also been infected by the disease which has been confirmed to have spread to at least 185 countries the world over.
Over 604,000 people have recovered from coronavirus worldwide, according to WHO.
LILONGWE, Malawi — At the age of 94, Malawi’s widower Kenneth Banda resides alone at his aging rural home — a thatched kitchen hut and a two-roomed house roofed with cracked aging asbestos sheets, his home located in Mzimba, Malawi’s remote district north of the country.
In Mangochi rural district, south of Malawi, also lives 83-year old Maria Tembwa, with her six great-grandchildren at a home consisting of two thatched huts — one a bedroom and the other a kitchen.
According to Tembwa, all her 11 children died — some succumbing to AIDS while some of her grandchildren later left for the cities and to neighboring countries in search of greener pastures, leaving her with their children to look after — her great-grandchildren.
But, equally poor as Banda, Tembwa has no money to take care of the young children left under her guardianship.
Malawi’s aged persons like Banda and Tembwa have no access to government social grants.
Yet, laden with a population of about 19 million people, the government of Malawi estimates that 52.4 percent of its population lives below the poverty line of 1 USD per day.
Eight percent of Malawi’s population comprise of the aged persons whose ages range from 60 years and above, according to Help Age International, a global network of NGOs working to promote the rights of older people.
93-year old Bernard Shumba, a resident of Mabvuku high-density suburb in Harare, the country’s capital, has found poverty to be part of his life, adjusting to the challenge which has apparently hit many old persons in Southern Africa. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
In Zimbabwe, the likes of 93-year old Bernard Shumba, a resident of Mabvuku high-density suburb in Harare, the country’s capital, have found poverty part of them.
“I have accepted my fate, that I’m poor and there is no one from government who stands up to support people like myself, people who are very old,” Shumba told Ubuntu Times.
In Zimbabwe, the elderly like Shumba account for about six percent of the country’s estimated population of 16 million, according to Help Age Zimbabwe, a leading organization catering to the needs of senior citizens.
As such, in Zimbabwe, there are an estimated 760,000 older persons.
Together with his 85-year old wife, Tendai, Shumba depends on handouts from good Samaritans, this as the aged couple lives with six of their orphaned jobless great-grandchildren.
Although Shumba worked as a policeman before his country gained independence in 1980, his pension earnings have over the years been eroded by Zimbabwe’s inflation, which hovers around 300 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last year.
With Southern African countries like Zimbabwe faced with fledgling economies, aged persons like Shumba and his wife have become the victims.
Their great-grandchildren have had to drop out of school because their aged breadwinners can’t cope with the country’s spiraling rate of inflation.
In fact, Zimbabwe’s aged persons have fast become charity cases in the face of the country’s comatose economy and therefore well-wishers have turned into saviors for geriatrics like Shumba and his wife.
An unidentified older man doing his own laundry in some high-density area in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare at a time Southern Africa faces a situation of poverty for its older persons. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Nevertheless, Shumba and his wife have sunken deeper and deeper into poverty, with Shumba having failed to land even a single formal job since four decades ago, save for the informal jobs he obtained every now and then on contractual basis at various private security companies until he called quit three decades ago.
Nonetheless, only nostalgia places a smile on his face.
“We had a good life with my wife when I worked for various security companies, but I have obtained nothing in terms of pension benefits from the companies. It’s worse now because our government hardly supports aged persons,” Shumba said.
Jonathan Mandaza, chairperson of the Zimbabwe Older Persons Organization said ‘abuse of the elderly in Zimbabwe is rampant, adding it includes neglect by the government, which deepens their poverty.’
Meanwhile, in South Africa, the maximum amount paid to aged persons is R1,780 per month, an equivalent of 100 USD monthly per head monthly. If one is older than 75 years, he or she gets R1,800, just a few cents above 100 USD.
But, even this cannot suffice, according to Help Age International, an organization supporting the cause of aged persons.
“Older persons receiving the old age grant in South Africa actually become breadwinners and that has its own challenges,” said an official from Help Age International in South Africa, on condition of anonymity as she was unauthorized to speak to the media.
In Malawi, home to aged persons like Banda and Tembwa, the poverty struggle continues for the aged population.
Xiluva Tambwe, a member of the Malawi Network for Older Persons Organisations (MANEPO) said ‘the elderly have been going through increased socio-economic hardships.’
“One has to know that as in many African cultures, the elderly in Malawi used to depend on the economic and social support of their children and the community, which is rarely the case these days as economic hardships pound everyone,” Tambwe told Ubuntu Times.
Malawi’s human rights activists like John Kasangula have said ‘old-age poverty in Malawi stems from its intergenerational transmission.’
Like the unidentified older woman shown in the photo in Zimbabwe, many Southern African aged persons are having to go about their day-to-day errands and chores without help, having to bear their burdens single-handedly. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
According to the Commonwealth Association for the Ageing, many Malawians spend their later years marginalized from family and community life and as such, growing old in that country comes with new challenges, of which poverty is one of them.
Yet, poverty hammers Southern Africa’s aged populations even as social protection is a basic human right, according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In Swaziland, with a population of about 1.3 million people, just three years ago there were reports that over 80 percent of women in the dynastic nation between the ages of 60 and above as well as 70 percent men, were living in poverty amid reports government had run out of money to pay out old age social grants.
Meanwhile, even as poverty roasts Swaziland’s elderly persons and the other chunk of the country’s population, King Mswati there has 13 palaces and lives a lavish lifestyle, having a fleet of top-of-the-range cars, these added to a private jet.
In Angola, one of Africa’s most resource-rich countries representing sub-Saharan Africa’s second-largest oil producer and the world’s fourth-largest producer of diamonds, poverty reigns supreme for the aged there amid reports poverty there is lower only among the 15-35 age group than any other group.
Angola’s population is estimated to range between 16 and 18 million people.
In Zambia, just north of Zimbabwe, two years ago, the country’s Ministry of Community Development and Social Services principal community development officer Stephen Chiwele, went on record in the media saying ‘the current pension schemes in Zambia are contributory in nature, meaning most of the people in the informal sector are without pension cover and many of these are older persons.’
As such, due to loss of work and income in old age, households with old people are among the poorest in Zambia, a country with about 17 million people.
CHITUNGWIZA, Zimbabwe — He now moves around with the aid of a wheelchair, himself a common feature now at a shopping center in Chitungwiza, a dormitory town in Zimbabwe, 25 kilometers south-east of Harare, the country’s capital.
But, not so long ago, the 42-year old Gerald Gundani was able-bodied, often leading from the front anti-government protests that took place in his hometown although he has never been a member of any of the country’s political parties.
Now, following a brutal encounter with suspected members of the Zimbabwean military early last year, Gundani has become disabled, both his legs broken.
Even after he reported to police his encounter with the alleged soldiers, no arrests have been made over one year down the line.
“Life will never be the same for me again; soldiers actually seized me from my home in front of my wife and children; they beat me so badly for days at a place I still don’t know, leaving me with broken legs,” Gundani told Ubuntu Times.
A demonstrator with members of the civil service readying for protests against government as they are demanding better wages. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
He (Gundani) was part of a group of protesters that took to the streets in January last year after the government hiked fuel prices by over 150 percent.
Then, the protesters comprising ordinary citizens and a blend of opposition political activists burnt tires and blockaded roads with rocks in protest against government decision to hike fuel prices.
The demonstrations that resulted in many casualties like Gundani, forced the country’s security forces to fire live ammunition at them (the demonstrators), killing 17 people amid reports that about 17 women were also raped during the military crackdown.
Gundani is merely one of many Zimbabweans that have been victimized by the country’s notorious security agents despite Section 59 of the country’s Constitution allowing people like him to demonstrate.
In fact, some 50 Zimbabweans, primarily political opponents and union leaders, have been kidnapped in Zimbabwe in 2019 alone, according to Human Rights Watch, a global organization that investigates and reports on abuses happening in all corners of the world.
Police donning riot gear get ready to thwart a demonstration by Zimbabwe’s civil servants in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Gundani has been amongst these at a time the country’s security forces stand out widely accused of perpetrating rights abuses.
With the country’s security forces apparently keen to crush any anti-government protests, even as the country’s leaders brag about honoring human rights here, anti-government marches are fast fading into oblivion, according to civil society leaders here.
“People are now living in fear and with soldiers and police always on the lookout for any anti-government protests, marches or gatherings, I can tell you such rights are fast melting away,” Claris Madhuku, director of the Platform for Youth Development Trust, told Ubuntu Times.
Just earlier this year, as anti-government protesters prepared to storm the streets in memory of the 17 demonstrators murdered by police and soldiers last year, police in riot gear armed with baton sticks and teargas canisters, descended on the marchers, beating them randomly, injuring many in the process.
Now, even for Zimbabwe’s ordinary imbibers like 36-year old Thomas Mupandutsi based in Chitungwiza’s Seke area, people like him have become objects of state repression as well.
“These days it has become common for soldiers to storm bars or nightclubs beating people for no apparent reasons, often telling people to just go home,” Mupandutsi told Ubuntu Times.
Riot police in the Zimbabwean capital Harare, stand in the middle of the road as they bar protesters from demonstrating against government authorities. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
On 01 August 2018, soon after Zimbabwe’s first election without former President Robert Mugabe contesting, soldiers shot and killed six civilians after protesters stormed the streets demanding the release of the presidential election results.
Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa ordered a Commission of Inquiry to probe the military violations.
However, to this day even as the Motlanthe Commission completed its findings and ordered soldiers accused of perpetrating the rights abuses to be investigated and prosecuted, nothing has happened.
Instead, many Zimbabweans like Gundani have had to continue nursing indelible wounds of state repression, living in fear.
So, as rights abuse continues in Zimbabwe, even comedians have not been spared, with their comics perceived as hostile to the country’s political leaders.
Opposition political activists in Zimbabwe backing the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), gather at Africa Unity Square in Harare in readiness to stage protests against government. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Such are females like Samantha Kureya, better known as Gonyeti.
“At one time after I was kidnapped by members of the secret police; I was told straight away that I was too young to ridicule the government and accused of being paid to mock the government,” said Kureya.
She (Kureya) is one of many Zimbabwean comedians who have clashed with authorities for her anti-government theatrics.
And so for her and many other comedians, as Zimbabwe’s security agents scale up rights abuses, it is no joke being a comedian in Zimbabwe.
“Honestly, we are citizens of a country where politics is the order of the day and therefore when people in authority do bad things, as comedians, we speak out, but unfortunately as a result, we then become enemies of the state,” another comedian known as Prosper Ngomashi, better known as Comic Pastor, told Ubuntu Times.
Hordes of opposition political activists coming from Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Alliance party, throng Africa Unity Square in Harare the Zimbabwean capital awaiting a signal to march in protest against Mr. Emmerson Mnangagwa’s failed government in Zimbabwe. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Yet, for ordinary Zimbabweans, as known people like Kureya and Ngomashi fall prey to rights abuse, people’s fears are worse off.
“As an average citizen, I now fear to express myself because I have seen worse things happening to very popular individuals, celebrities in fact, who oppose government,” Prichard Muhaka, a 30-year old street vendor hawking sweets and cigarettes in Harare, told Ubuntu Times.
Just last year alone, in Zimbabwe, twenty people were charged with treason under Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa, according to rights defenders.
According to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, which has handled most of the cases, the number of people charged with treason, which carries a death penalty here, rose to 20 in less than a year since Mnangagwa came to power.
Showing a whipped back in a hospital bed last year, Patson Dzamara apparently looks dejected after brutal encounter at the hands of some secret cops. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Yet, even to this day, cases of human rights violations are escalating in the Southern African nation, this according to the January 2020 monthly report by human rights watchdog, the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP).
“The month of January 2020 saw an increase in reported human rights violations from 119 to 185. Harassment and intimidation were the highest recorded violations at 96. Mashonaland Central province recorded the highest violations at 34,” said ZPP in its latest report.
Rattled by Zimbabwe’s human rights abuses, the UN’s outgoing coordinator in Zimbabwe, Bishaw Parajuli last year called on the country’s government to bring to justice perpetrators of human rights violations although nothing of the sort has taken place.
GOKWE, Zimbabwe — A one-room home structure made of poles plastered with mud, roofed with a single zinc sheet, with a gaping wooden door stands side by side with a thatched kitchen hut, also made of poles plastered with mud.
46-year old Denford Chagwiza calls this home, where he lives with his family, the children each evening converting the kitchen hut into a bedroom.
This is in Gokwe, in Zimbabwe’s Midlands Province.
In Harare, 25 kilometers east of the Zimbabwean capital, lies Epworth, an urban settlement where 42-year old Hebert Nhari’s two-roomed cabin home, made from planks, is located.
An aging thatched kitchen hut side by side with an equally aging house plastered with cement in a village called Sidakeni in rural Gokwe in Zimbabwe’s Midlands Province. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Here, Nhari dwells with his wife and five children.
Chagwiza and Nhari epitomize Zimbabwe’s grinding rural and urban poverty.
“This has been my life over the years and we have become used to it. Food is our daily struggle because crop yields are always poor, owing to droughts,” Chagwiza told Ubuntu Times.
Although Zimbabwe’s cities have been in the past not known to be infested with poverty, many like Nhari have not been spared by the poverty scourge in the country’s urban areas — the same headache for Gokwe’s Chagwiza.
Amid grinding poverty in Zimbabwe’s towns and cities, slums have become a common trend in Epworth, an urban informal settlement, 25 km east of the Zimbabwean capital Harare. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
“I live in this cabin with my family and even if it rains we have nowhere to run to because this is our home; I have no job and together with my wife and children at times we get casual jobs to support ourselves,” Nhari told Ubuntu Times.
Even as he is domiciled in the country’s capital city, like Chagwiza’s, Nhari’s children are all school dropouts and they have to spend much of their time idly roaming around their homes’ vicinities.
So, in essence, with poverty-stricken citizens like Nhari and Chagwiza, independent development experts like Jimson Gandari say ‘Zimbabwe now teams with rural and urban poverty.’
A rural home made up of a single thatched hut built using wood in Makoni, a remote district in Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland Central Province. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
According to the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), more than 90 percent of this country’s approximately 16 million people are unemployed.
Formed in 1981 through the merger of six trade union centers, ZCTU is the primary trade union federation in this Southern African nation.
For civil society activists like Catherine Mkwapati, ‘unlike in the previous years, poverty in Zimbabwe’s rural and urban areas have become common.’
A rather squashed village with a mixture of thatched huts fenced with grass and other home structures poorly roofed with zinc sheets, in Makoni, a district in Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland Central Province. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
“You can’t tell the difference now; on one hand when you come to Zimbabwe’s town, you are met with slums, even thatched slums and on the other hand when you go to the countryside, you meet similar structures — signs of poverty,” Mkwapati told Ubuntu Times.
Mkwapati is the director for the Youth Dialogue Action Network, a Zimbabwean civil society organization.
According to the Poverty Reduction Forum Trust (PRFT), emerging trends show that poverty in both rural and urban areas here is shooting up.
“Urban poverty has turned to be an emerging reality in Zimbabwe in recent years, but also remains more widespread in the rural areas, with rural and urban household poverty statistics approximately standing at 76 percent and 38 percent respectively,” Judith Kaulem, director at PRFT, told Ubuntu Times.
A single thatched hut home built from stones and rocks plastered with mud, standing opposite bundles of spare grass to re-thatch the home, in Makoni district in Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland Central Province. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Founded in 2008 and inspired by the vision of a Zimbabwe Free from Poverty in which every human being lives a dignified, secure and decent life that conduce sustainable human development, PRFT is a civil society organization which seeks to influence the formulation of ‘pro-poor’ policies by conducting research on poverty-related issues and engaging with policymakers.
For Zimbabwe’s rural dwellers like Chagwiza, according to PRFT’s Kaulem, ‘lack of food security and lack of sustained income opportunities in the face of climate change remain key livelihood challenges being faced by the rural poor.’
But, with joblessness haunting urban dwellers like Nhari, Kaulem also said poverty was now an equal menace to Zimbabwe’s rural and urban dwellers.
However, said Kaulem, ‘as statistics show even now, it’s the rural dwellers still suffering most at the hands of poverty.’
To her (Kaulem), ‘poor access to basic services such as food, health, transport, water and sanitation greatly affects the lives of women and children in rural areas.’
“With above 70 percent of Zimbabweans living in rural areas and heavily dependent on agriculture, it remains very important to invest in evidence-based approach to improve rural livelihoods and access social services by all layers of the society,” Kaulem told Ubuntu Times.
In Zimbabwe, inflation hovers above 300 percent, based on statistics from the International Monetary Fund last year.
In the Zimbabwean capital Harare’s Mabvuku-Tafara high-density suburb, makeshift homes have become common as urban dwellers battle to contain mounting poverty, with some even pitching tents as homes. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
This, many rural and urban dwellers like Chagwiza and Nhari, have had to contend with, but in vain, and so according to civil society activists like Owen Dhliwayo, ‘poverty lampoons the poor in Zimbabwe from left, right and center whether in cities or villages.’
He (Dhliwayo) is a program officer for the Youth Dialogue Action Network.
Now, as Zimbabwe’s economy teeters on the brink of collapse amid growing urban and rural poverty, civil society activists like Dhliwayo have warned that ‘soon there would be no sanctuary for the country’s rural or urban dwellers.’
Nutritionists like Melody Charakupa working for a top non-governmental organization in Harare said ‘whether in rural or urban areas, challenges like malnutrition have become Zimbabwe’s new foes to contend with.’
In fact, by last year, the UN agency had already piloted a food assistance program in many Zimbabwean poor urban spots like Epworth, home to many like Nhari, one of Harare’s poorest high-density settlements, feeding over 20,000 residents.
As things stand, according to official numbers from the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency’s Poverty Income, Consumption and Expenditure Survey, an estimated 76 percent of Zimbabwe’s rural households are poor, while 23 percent are deemed extremely poor.
Yet, in reality, rural households have been the worst affected by poverty in comparison to urban households — pegged at 76 percent rural and 38 percent urban households.
A derelict isolated house in the village with peeling off cement-plastered walls in Gokwe in Zimbabwe’s Midlands Province. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
The current Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee Report has said the number of food-insecure people here last year was projected at 28 percent; apparently, 2.4 million people who were unable to meet their food needs as to the completion of the consumption year last year.
Consequently, the Zimbabwean government last year went on record in the media claiming
that 7.5 million people or half the population would be food-insecure, whether in rural or urban areas.
Yet, the food question is not the only hurdle facing Zimbabweans — accommodation is another headache either in rural or urban areas.
An estimated one in four of Zimbabwe’s urban population, or about 1.25 million people, live in slums, according to the 2014 United Nations data, with the World Bank estimating that Zimbabwe’s urban population, currently numbering about 5 million people, is increasing by two percent annually.
In fact, for many Zimbabwean rural and urban dwellers like Chagwiza and Nhari, living conditions are horrendous, with many of the dwellings built entirely of grass.
According to the UN, a combination of drought and economic demise by last year left 7.7 million Zimbabweans like Chagwiza and Nhari — approximately half the population — hunger-stricken.
MARANGE — His two thatched huts lay side by side overlooking a stream beyond which stood mounds of soils dug up from the diamond mining claims in the vicinity of his home.
Yet, over the 14 years since the diamonds were discovered in Marange, 56-year old Tenson Gowero has never tasted the sweetness of the country’s diamond wealth despite living in the midst of the gems.
Marange is a district in Zimbabwe’s Manicaland Province, West of Mutare, a town at the country’s border with Mozambique.
Home to many poverty-stricken villagers like Gowero, Marange is also an area of widespread small-scale diamond production in Chiadzwa, again west of Mutare, the Manicaland capital.
Even as Marange diamond fields were known to the public over a decade ago, the lives of many villagers here like Gowero have not changed for the better amid claims locals like Gowero himself were overpowered by migrant artisanal miners who descended on Marange diamonds salivating for the gems.
“I have nothing to show as a sign that I live in an area that houses the country’s diamond wealth; my children dropped out of school and I have no job even as some of my colleagues found employment at local diamond mining firms, I couldn’t because I know nobody there,” Gowero told Ubuntu Times.
Hordes of slums dot gold-rich Shurugwi where mining corporations have over the years extracted the precious metal, however neglecting the general outlook of the communities whose gold wealth has enriched them. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
In 2006, diamonds were discovered in Marange, home to Gowero, triggering a diamond rush that lasted for three to four years, but even then Gowero claims that never turned around his fortunes.
“I have remained poor although it is known all over the world that my area sits on the country’s bulky diamond wealth,” said Gowero.
Yet, in a 2013 report, Zimbabwe’s Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines said it ‘observed with concern that from the time that the country was allowed to trade its diamonds on the world market, the government has still not realized any meaningful contributions from the sector.’
Besides the poverty that has pounded many villagers like Gowero, rights abuses have also accompanied Zimbabwe’s diamond wealth.
In fact, at the height of artisanal diamond mining in Gowero’s village, in particular, around 2008 an estimated 40,000 artisanal miners and diggers lived in the Marange diamond fields.
But, without warning whatsoever, the Zimbabwean government under the leadership of late President Robert Mugabe, deployed the military into Marange in November 2008 to violently put an end to artisanal mining.
Located in Venture, a place in the mining town of Kadoma in an area called Patchway in Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland West Province is a poor home consisting of two accommodation features — a mud-plastered single room house roofed with a single zink sheet and a thatched kitchen hut built from sticks plastered with mud although the home stands in the midst of gold wealth. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
Subsequently, what ensued was a holocaust of local diggers and dealers.
But, for many Marange villagers like Gowero, even as brutality reigned supreme on Zimbabwe’s mines, poverty for them surpassed all and even to this day, he (Gowero) still bewails the grueling poverty that has gripped many like him despite living in a diamond-rich section of Zimbabwe.
Instead, according to civil society organizations like the Platform for Youth Development (PYD), criminal gangs made up of artisanal miners with links to Zimbabwe’s governing politicians, have seized parts of the diamond mining areas in Marange.
“Local villagers since the days the diamonds were discovered have rarely had the turn to directly benefit nor enjoy the diamond wealth of this country as armed gangs from other provinces like the Midlands Province seized the opportunity to run the show on the diamond fields,” Claris Madhuku, PYD director, told Ubuntu Times.
In Zimbabwe’s Midlands Province, machete-armed artisanal gold miners better known as mashurugwi because of their origin in Shurugwi town in the Province, stormed Manicaland’s Marange diamonds fields 14 years ago, elbowing out many locals like Gowero from the opportunities to mine the gems, rendering them further poorer.
Meanwhile, the Midlands Province itself, with a population of approximately 1.6 million, even with its gold wealth, 70 percent of its population is living in poverty, according to the Zimbabwe Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT).
In Manicaland, where Marange diamond fields are located, 65 percent of the area’s population of 1.7 million as of the 2012 Zimbabwean census, are poor — many like Gowero, despite the people living in the midst of the country’s diamond wealth.
In Patchway, a gold-rich area in Zimbabwe’s Kadoma town in Mashonaland West Province lies an old thatched house built from mud-plastered sticks where some people here have called home for years despite being resident in a gold-rich area. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
According to human rights activists like Elvis Mugari of the Occupy Africa Unity Square, a rights organization that was led by the missing journalist-cum activist Itai Dzamara, ‘in all the mineral-rich areas in Zimbabwe, criminal gangs have gained control, barring poor people from accessing the minerals.’
In order for ordinary persons to mine either gold or diamonds, or any other precious stones, to Mugari, ‘they have to bribe criminal gangs before they are permitted to mine, and so only the financially able can mine at the end of the day.’
So, Gowero said ‘as villagers, we have not only been robbed of diamonds but also of our freedom and we are now worse off than we were before diamonds were discovered here.’
As such, many poor villagers like Gowero even as they live amid plentiful diamond wealth, face twin hurdles to contend with — poverty and rights abuse.
To regional human rights defenders like Dewa Mavhinga, the Southern Africa Director with the Africa Division at Human Rights Watch, lack of effective national policies to help locals benefit from natural resources in their areas, have helped fan poverty around Zimbabwe’s mineral-rich spots.
“Communities on mineral-rich areas of Zimbabwe continue to live in extreme poverty for several reasons, including the absence of effective devolution and decentralization that would otherwise allow local communities to benefit from their indigenous resources,” Mavhinga told Ubuntu Times.
He (Mavhinga) also said ‘the centralization of control of mineral resources disempowers local communities and deprives them of an equitable share of the benefits from mining.’
In a gold-rich mining area called Patchway located in Kadoma in Zimbabwe at a place called Venture, lies a poverty-ridden home, made from pole and mud despite the residents here domiciled in the gold-rich spot where the precious stone is being extracted every day. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times
In March 2016, in his televised 92nd birthday, former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, while providing no evidence, told the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) that diamonds worth over US$15 billion had been looted in Marange.
However, to this day even after the former President kicked the bucket, no one has been held accountable for the alleged diamond heist.
But, evidently, Marange’s villagers like Gowero have had to remain behind testifying of the resultant poverty.
The Centre for Natural Resource Governance, (CNRG) which works with Marange community activists, petitioned the Parliament of Zimbabwe in 2017 to “ensure diamond mining contributes to the development of the health, educational and road infrastructure of the Marange community, especially areas affected by diamond mining.”
But, to this day, the 89 km road from Marange to Mutare is derelict, with its longest stretch unpaved over 10 years after Chinese diamond mining firms descended on Marange.
CNRG is a research and advocacy civil society organization whose mandate is to promote good governance of natural resources.
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