Government approves Gokwe’s $530m budget

Gokwe Town Council’s budget of $530 million for this year has been approved, but the Government wants the council to settle all outstanding salaries for its workers and pay its statutory obligations so that service delivery is not affected.

The budget represents a six-fold increase in tariffs and rates and will see residents in high density suburbs paying around $1 000 a month, while those in low density suburbs will have to fork out around $2 200.

Business operators will have to pay the equivalent of an average fee of US$500 per year in licences for each set of premises.

In a letter to the town council, the Ministry of Local Government and Public works said while it had approved the budget, it directed the local authority to clear outstanding salaries, pay its statutory obligations and install an IT system that would allow data to be available in real time.

“Please note that some of these comments were raised in our minutes of March 2020 on your previous submission but no progress has been registered.” Some residents criticised the budget saying it was unaffordable given that the country was in a national lockdown and they were not generating a lot of income.

Artisanal miners (Makorokoza) drowned in Munyati river as boat capsizes

FOUR Gokwe artisanal miners drowned Friday afternoon when a boat ferrying them across flooded Sanyati river capsized after being overpowered by a water wave.

The quartet has been identified as Ngonidzashe Mapfumo (48), Nyasha Mapfumo (age unknown), Promise Gwade (age unknown) and Tinashe Matesanwa (age unknown).

They were reportedly returning to their rural homes in Mujinga, Tengwe, Hurungwe district.

Police officer commanding Hurungwe district, Chief Superintendent Helena Mahonde confirmed the incident and urged citizens to avoid crossing flooded rivers.

“We continue to urge members of the public not to cross flooded rivers as this leads to unnecessary loss of lives as is the case in the drowning of the four people,” said Mahonde.

The senior police officer said two bodies have since been recovered while a search is ongoing to recover the other two.

Police said the tragic incident happened when the now deceased persons found a flooded Sanyati river while returning to their homes.

A ferry operator, one Frances Mukakatanwa reportedly offered to help them cross for a US$10 fee.

They accepted the offer and went on to load their goods onto the makeshift boat.

After venturing about 160m into the

Machaya in fresh bid to get out of jail

JAILED former Midlands Provincial Affairs Minister Jason Machaya has filed an application for leave to appeal at the Supreme Court after his application for bail pending appeal against conviction and sentence was dismissed by the Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Christopher Dube-Banda.

Machaya (68) and his accomplice provincial planning officer Chaisayanyerwa Chibururu (50) were last year in September each sentenced to 48 months imprisonment for criminal abuse of office.

Chibururu has however, since been released on $50 000 bail pending appeal.

They were convicted by provincial magistrate Ms Charity Maphosa for unlawfully allocating 17 799 stands to land developers in Gokwe town, who in turn gave the pair 1 000 stands worth US$900 000 which was computed as $900 000 in local currency.

The court ruled against an application by the State for the accused persons to pay restitution of 1 000 stands to Gokwe town saying they had benefitted nothing from the criminal abuse of office charges.

The court also ruled against the State’s application to call to the witness stand a Government estate evaluator to give the new value of the stands.

In dismissing Machaya’s application for bail pending appeal, Justice Dube-Banda said the applicant failed to discharge the onus upon him to proffer positive grounds warranting his release.

Machaya, who is challenging his conviction and sentence under case number HCA90/20, through his lawyers Mbidzo, Muchadehama and Makoni Legal Practitioners, yesterday filed a fresh application at the Bulawayo High Court for leave to appeal at the Supreme Court.

In his grounds of appeal, Machaya said Justice Dube-Banda misdirected himself by denying him bail on the basis that he would abscond, arguing that there was no evidence suggesting that he was flight risk.

“The court also erred in holding that there was no prospect of success when there were such prospects of success on both conviction and sentence,” he said.

Machaya said the High Court ignored his explanation and evidence, arguing that the essential elements of the offence had not been proved.

“In regard to sentence this court’s default position was that sentencing was in the direction of the trial court. The court even sought to magnify the aggravating factors in the matter. The harshness of the sentence imposed show that up-service was done to the factors of mitigation I had advanced,” he argued.

“I feel discriminated by the court when it granted bail to my co-appellant and denied me bail. I have a right to appeal to the Supreme Court or Constitutional Court and it is my intention to appeal against the conviction and sentence right up to the last court, whatever it takes.”

Machaya said due to the Covid-19 measures that are being implemented by the courts, the delay of the prosecution of his appeal will be rendered useless if he is not granted bail.

“In the circumstances, I pray that I be granted leave to appeal this court’s refusal to grant me bail pending appeal to the Supreme Court,” he said.

The State is yet to respond to Machaya’s latest application. Initially, the State, which was represented by Mr Khumbulani Ndlovu had opposed the application, which Machaya had jointly filed with Chibururu, arguing that there was no guarantee that if released on bail the two appellants would not abscond.

Mr Ndlovu said the appellants lost the benefit of the presumption of innocence following their conviction.

According to court papers, between 2011 and 2017, Machaya used his official powers to acquire 1 000 residential stands that were available in Mapfungautsi suburb in Gokwe town.

The area is under Gokwe Town Council’s administration and Machaya’s conduct was contrary to Government policy which authorises the Local Government Ministry to acquire only 10 percent of residential stands.

Due to Machaya’s conduct, Gokwe Town Council lost revenue.

Machaya further imposed a land developer, Striations World Marketing Property Developers, to service and sell stands without following proper tender procedures.

In 2013, Machaya made verbal demands to Gokwe Town Council to release 1 000 stands as opposed to written requests made by the Local Government Ministry.

Chibururu working in cahoots with Machaya drew plans before the stands were allocated to private land developer

Wadyajena dismiss army brutality reports

Gokwe-Nembudziya Member of Parliament, Justice Mayor Wadyajena (ZANU PF), has dismissed reports claiming that soldiers are brutalising citizens in his constituency in the name of enforcing the national lockdown.

Wadyajena said comments made by Indigenisation and Empowerment Parliamentary Portfolio Committee chairperson Senator Mbowa alleging military brutality on Gokwe communities are “mischievous and poisonous”. He said:

It’s not surprising that her audio was first published by UK based online sites and well known Government critics before even being shared locally, a move calculated to bolster the UK’s defence on its imposition of sanctions on the aforementioned members of the Security Services on the basis of ‘human rights violations’.

These very damaging lies cannot and should not be ignored because of their broader implications locally and globally.

Wadyajena’s remarks follow the emergence of Senator Mbowa’s recorded phone call to Mr Govha, an official in the Office of the President and Cabinet, alleging that soldiers are terrorising the Gokwe Nembudziya community.

During the conversation, the senator threatened to call President Emmerson Mnangagwa himself if army brutality continues unabated.

More: ZBC News

MDC Alliance calls army to reign on rogue soldiers

MDC ALLIANCE has called on the army to rein in rogue elements within the security sector for terrorising civilians.

This follows reports of acts brutality visited upon civilians by soldiers in Midlands recently.

MDC Alliance Midlands spokesperson Takavafira Zhou, speaking in an interview, said the army must reign in rogue elements within its ranks.

"It is unfortunate that army personnel shot an innocent villager to death in Gweru, while there were reports of innocent civilians or villagers brutalised by the army in Mberengwa and Gokwe," Zhou said.

Recently, Zanu PF’s women’s league commissar Maybe Mbowa said some soldiers had visited brutalities upon the villagers.

Though Mbowa said calm has since returned to the area, she is reported to have said some soldiers in Gokwe-Nembudziya terrorised villagers for allegedly violating lockdown regulations.

Said Zhou, "Such instances do not resonate with modern day operations of a national army, mostly in cultivating harmonious civil-military relations.

"We therefore urge the army commanders to reign in some of its rogue elements in order to maintain high professional standards of the army as defenders of the territorial integrity of the country."

Meanwhile, Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa (ACT-SA) director Obert Chinhamo said his organisation has received reports of soldiers soliciting for bribes.

"We have received reports against soldiers who are soliciting for bribes from motorists and travellers without permits.

"In other areas, soldiers are being hired by rogue mushikashikas (pirate taxis) to help them pass checkpoints for a fee," Chinhamo said.

He added that the soldiers "normally" harass and threaten people as a strategy to force them to pay bribes.

Just like what the police has done to deploy senior police officers at checkpoints, Chinhamo said, the army should do the same.

"The department in charge of anti-corruption within the army should monitor these rogue soldiers.

"If the department does not exist, the army should consider setting it up since corruption within the army has reached sickening levels," he said.

Read the original article on New Zimbabwe.