Harare businessman Mr Macdonald Makamba Chapfika (56) died suddenly on Monday while on his way from a meeting with Government officials at Munhumutapa Building. National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed the incident and said investigations were in progress. He could not divulge any other information concerning the matter. Mr Chapfika’s son, Alex, told the police that his father was hypertensive. According to a leaked memorandum from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Mr John Kayira, a Tanzanian national aged 51 years, who was a friend to Mr Chapfika, informed police about the circumstances of his death.“This memorandum serves to place on record circumstances and initial investigations carried out on the above subject matter. “
A BROKEN NATION Yesterday I landed back in London after a week in Kenya and two weeks in Zimbabwe. Our conference in Kenya was refreshing but my time in Zimbabwe left me depressed! Zimbabwe is a broken nation. The electricity system is broken: at one time we had no power for over forty eight hours. The water system is broken: in some parts of the city, they have had no water for over five years and have to buy their water every day. Getting a decent shower each morning was a battle which I didn’t always win! The roads are broken: the potholes are unacceptable! The fuel provision is broken: people are spending days and nights in mile long queues that snake round blocks and blocks! The people themselves are broken: law and order have deteriorated to
WELL-WISHERS have been touched by the plight of a girl who funded her own way through secondary education by selling snacks, raising goats and poultry.When Sibongile’s parents could not afford to pay her school fees, the determined girl took it upon herself to make sure she continue with her education. She borrowed money and bought some popular corn snacks called “jiggies” for resale.Sibongile raised some money and managed to raise chicks. From chicks she, later on expanded her business and bought goats. Now, Sibongile has 21 goats and a thriving poultry project which, apart from just paying her school fees, is now even catering for her parents’ needs.Last week Thursday, Sibongile spoke at the 5th edition of Women Entrepreneurship Day (WED) held at the Public Ser
The Zimbabwean government has turned to its all-weather friend, Cuba, where it is seeking the services of doctors as it attempts to contain endless strikes by medical professionals that have paralyzed the southern African nation’s health sector. Doctors in Zimbabwe have been on strike since September 3rd this year demanding salary increases, provision of adequate hospital machines and drugs in hospitals and improved working conditions. Some of the doctors have just started going back to work. Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health has requested directors at medical institutions at both government and local level to compile a list of Cuban doctors they might need. Efforts to get a comment from Cuban Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Enrique Antonio Prieo Lopez, were futile as calls to the
Schweppes Zimbabwe has not been manufacturing Mazoe Orange Crush for the past three weeks. It is understood that the US$10m debt emanated from concentrates for cordials supplied by the world’s leading soft drink manufacturer.Beverages manufacturer, Schweppes Zimbabwe Limited, has stopped producing its flagship cordial drink, Mazoe Orange Crush, after The Coca-Cola Company which supplies critical ingredients of the product, cut off supplies due to an estimated US$10m debt.Mazoe Orange Crush is manufactured and distributed by Schweppes Zimbabwe under licence from Coca-Cola whose other products bottled by Schweppes are Minute Maid juices, Bonaqua still water, and Schweppes still water. Schweppes Zimbabwe has not been manufacturing Mazoe Orange Crush for the past three weeks. It is un
Vice President Kembo Mohadi says the Zimbabwean government should set aside land for young people who are not beneficiaries of the country’s land redistribution exercise, which resulted in the forced removal of thousands of white commercial farmers from their prime land in 2000. Addressing members of the Zanu PF Youth League and businesspeople involved in seed production at the ruling party’s headquarters in Harare on Wednesday, Mohadi said youth need land in order to secure Zimbabwe’s future.“To government, to our ministries especially the Ministry of Lands … The youth that are here I’m told are missing from those that have got the land and those that can’t use their land adequately … You (have to) appropriate some land or give these yo
Caps United midfield maestro Joel ‘Josta’ Ngodzo has scooped the 2019 Soccer Star of the Year Award.He beat 10 other players in the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League (PSL) to win the coveted award.Ralph Kawondera of Triangle United was voted First Runnerup while Prince Dube of Highlanders Football Club landed the Second Runnerup award. Other soccer stars picked by soccer experts and other stakeholders are Ariel Sibanda (Highlanders), Ian Nekati (ZPC Kariba), Evans Katema (Dynamos), Phineas Bamusi (CAPS United), Prince Dube (Highlanders), Wellington Taderera (Black Rhinos), Clive Augusto (Chicken Inn), Joel Ngodzo (CAPS United), King Nadolo (TelOne), Ralph Kawondera (Triangle) and Never Tigere (FC Platinum). Andrew Mbeba of Highlanders scooped that Rookie of the Year whil
A senior United States official working in Zimbabwe has questioned development aid figures released recently by Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube in the 2020 national budget statement, saying the funds are less than what his country provided in the 2019 financial year. In an interview in Masvingo on Tuesday, Deputy Ambassador Thomas Hastings, said the amount of financial aid to Zimbabwe this year was understated by the government. “… They recently released the total amount of money that we gave in 2019, it was about $330 million. So, it was a bit more than it was in the budget report that’s the total amount that includes our work with PEPFAR (U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), it includes work that we have provided this year for food relief, people w
THE family of Zimbabwe’s founding President, the late Cde Robert Mugabe, has failed to locate an inheritance will for the distribution of the national hero’s estate, a development that has prompted the Master of High Court to call for an edict meeting this week to appoint an executor. Cde Mugabe died in Singapore on September 6 this year after battling prostate cancer for at least 13 years.His daughter, Mrs Bona Nyepudzai Mutsahuni-Chikore, notified the Master’s Office on October 21 and disclosed that her father had US$10 million in a CBZ Bank nostro account and a number of immovable and movable properties. The properties declared by Mrs Mutsahuni-Chikore are: 1-House Number 129 Forbes, Road, Waterfalls, 2-Villa Number 65, Gunhill, Harare, 3-Number 27 Quorn Avenue,
President Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday said the family of his late predecessor, Robert Mugabe, stands to lose more than 10 of its farms in line with the government policy of one farm per family. The development comes at a time Mugabe’s sprawling empire faces further shaking after the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe re-claimed its 23 hectares of prime land along Borrowdale Road in Helensvale meant for the relocation of the prestigious Eaglesvale High School. Speaking at a Zanu PF youth league convention at Rimuka Stadium in Kadoma, Mnangagwa, without mentioning any names, but in an apparent reference to Mugabe, said he was in possession of the provincial preliminary land audit report that showed a certain family owning several farms.He said government would take more than 10 farm
