Woes mount for the controversial self-styled popular Malawian prophet Shepherd Bushiri of the Enlightened Christian Gathering (ECG) Church. He is in another eye of the storm after explosive details of rape allegations leveled against him by two women of his church emerged and were aired on ETV Channel this Wednesday evening. Major1, as Bushiri is affectionately known by his followers, has furiously denied the salacious allegations. He accused the law enforcement agents of extortion and for intimidating women and children to come up with false rape allegations against him and his church members. As per clips aired on ETV last Wednesday, events leading to the unfortunate drama are such that the “Man of God” was in the habit of calling women from his church for private
MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa has suggested his predecessor Morgan Tsvangirai was poisoned to his death by then-President Robert Mugabe at cabinet meetings the two late top politicians sat in during the now-defunct inclusive government. The opposition politician made comments while addressing hundreds of mourners at a church service for late MDC Alliance national executive member and human rights activist Patson Dzamara on Thursday. The church meeting was conducted in Glen View, Harare. Chamisa also pointed out Dzamara, who had been diagnosed with colon cancer which later claimed his life, could also have been poisoned. Tsvangirai died in 2018 from colon cancer. The two were fierce anti-Zanu-PF figures. Dzamara is also brother to journalist-turned-activist Itai Dzamara who d
A Zimbabwean court on Monday denied bail for the third time to Hopewell Chin’ono, a journalist who was arrested last month on charges of inciting public violence over anti-government protests. Chin’ono, used Twitter to support anti-corruption movements and exposed corruption in the government tenders for COVID-19 personal protective equipment. He also criticized President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration. Chin’ono and Jacob Ngarivhume, president of the Transform Zimbabwe party, were arrested last month when they called for the removal of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party alleging inefficiency in administration. The inflation rate is more than 700 percent, which has led to political tensions across the country. Mnanga
FOREIGN Minister Sibusiso Moyo has emerged as a centre of power in government and the ruling Zanu PF party, and now fancies his chances of becoming Zimbabwe’s next president. This was said by exiled former cabinet minister Jonathan Moyo while speaking at the Crisis in Zimbabwe’s Dialogue Series under the theme; “Zimbabwe’s prospects: transition, imperatives and stability” on Wednesday. The Zoom discussion was moderated by broadcaster, Violet Gonda. Jonathan Moyo, who is now in exile in Kenya following a military coup that removed the now late President Robert Mugabe from office, said calls were growing louder for SB Moyo to replace Mnangagwa as Zimbabwe’s next leader. “It’s being whispered widely, and the whispers are getting loud
It is with a heavy heart that I write this letter to you after the tragic news of the passing of a gallant son of the Republic, Patson Dzamara. Equally, I am saddened yet enraged by the callous murder of the MDC Alliance’s Hurungwe District Ward 4 councillor Lavender Chiwaya. My colleagues Hopewell Chin’ono and Jacob Ngarivhume have spent more than a month in detention while MDC Alliance Youth Organizing Secretary Godfrey Kurauone is languishing in jail. Fellow citizens, I was charged with incitement to commit public violence as defined in section 187(1)(a) as read with section 36(1)(a) of the Code alternatively incitement to commit public violence as defined in section 187(1)(b) of the Code as read with section 36(1)(b) of the Code. Or alternatively, incitement to participa
Zimbabwe’s main opposition MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa has castigated President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s under-fire administration for orchestrating human rights violations to silence dissent in the wake of the ongoing Zimbabwean crisis. Speaking at the Rotten Row, Magistrates Court on Wednesday after denial of bail for MDC Alliance official Job Sikhala, Chamisa stressed that crackdown on dissent was a by-product of a stolen presidential election which has “begotten an illegitimate government exerting coercion to maintain its grip of power.” “Zimbabweans are under siege. The human rights situation is deteriorating. The political situation is a case of a crisis. “You can’t say it’s not a crisis when we have senior leaders of the oppos
Zimbabwe’s socio-economic and political crisis has received the attention of regional political players and civil society, with many calling for Sadc and the African Union (AU) intervention. Envoys sent by South African President and AU chairperson Cyril Ramaphosa to meet President Emmerson Mnangagwa and other stakeholders last week failed to meet the opposition as planned. Zimbabwe Independent senior reporter Bridget Mananavire (BM) spoke to MDC Alliance president Nelson Chamisa (NC) on the national crisis, as well as problems in the MDC Alliance. Below are excerpts of the interview: BM: South African envoys visited Zimbabwe last week and you did not get to meet them. What really happened and what reasons were given for the cancellation of meetings? NC: As the MDC Alliance we
SOME MDC Alliance bigwigs are said to be making a determined push to have the coalition's firebrand deputy national chairperson, Job "Wiwa" Sikhala, expelled for his radical political activities and dogged opposition to Zanu-PF and its government. The sources who spoke to the Daily News said senior Alliance officials had recently discussed Sikhala's jettisoning in the party's standing committee (SC) WhatsApp group of which the combative Zengeza West MP is a member. Contacted for comment, Sikhala would neither deny nor confirm the move to expel him saying if there were such moves he would respond to them after he had dealt with his current travails with authorities. All this comes as the government has come under intense local, regional and international press
The Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services has barred Beatrice Mtetwa from visiting jailed journalist Hopewell Chinono. Mtetwa who was blocked from representing Chinono in court by a Harare Magistrate attempted visiting “her client” at the complex but was barred by the prison authorities. The authorities have since written the letter below to Mtetwa:
ACTIVIST journalist Hopewell Chin'ono, who is being charged with inciting public violence, has been denied bail for the third time, with Harare magistrate Ngoni Nduna saying his release from remand prison could cause the unconstitutional removal of Zanu-PF from power. Nduna ruled that the changed circumstances that Chin'ono submitted were not convincing as the submissions were the same as in the previous bail attempt. The magistrate further ruled that it was illegal for the lower court to review its initial findings on the dismissal of the bail. "Even if the court found it out that there are new circumstances, it is not a guarantee that this court will grant bail because there are other fears that have been submitted. The court took judicial notice that the coronaviru
