Girls who fall pregnant can no longer be excluded from attending lessons, while teachers will not be allowed to cane pupils, under amendments to the Education Act that became law this Friday. The Education Act Amendment was passed by Parliament, approved by President Mnangagwa, and has been gazetted. Under the amendments, “No pupil shall be excluded from school for non-payment of school fees or based on pregnancy.” During a debate in Parliament, the then Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Professor Paul Mavima, said expelling a girl for falling pregnant had a discriminatory effect in circumstances where she would have been impregnated by a colleague who in most cases, would be allowed to proceed with his education. This was after some legislators argued th
Journalist Hopewell Chin’ono says he is starving in prison as he is not being allowed to get warm food from outside. He told his media colleagues on Wednesday when he made a court appearance that he was hungry and in need of food. Chin’ono is languishing in prison after he was arrested at his home last month and charged with ‘inciting violence ahead of the 31 July demonstrations. He denied the charges. His lawyers told the court that the award winning journalist is now surviving by biscuits and water as prison wardens are refusing to allow his relatives and friends to bring him food despite the court granting an order to allow him to have access to food, private medical care and his lawyers. The journalist who now looks thinner that he was a month ago, told
Two MDC-T officials were nearly involved in a fist-fight during a standing committee meeting on Wednesday. The meeting was held in Cranborne, Harare instead of the party’s headquarters, the Morgan Richard Tsvangirai House (MRTH) located in the city centre. Reports suggest that Khupe and her aides are afraid of setting their feet at the party headquarters for fear of being bashed by youths linked to party interim secretary-general Douglas Mwonwora. Mwonzora and acting party spokesperson Khalipani Phugeni reportedly clashed over the manner in which the former is said to be handling party affairs. Phugeni allegedly accused Mwonzora of sponsoring terror in the party and of being a dictator worse than the late former President Robert Mugabe. When contacted for comment, Phugen
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) on Friday announced new measures to address mobile banking deficiencies in its Monetary Policy Statement (MPS). The Central Bank issued a directive to the effect that, with immediate effect, all mobile money operators have to close all multiple wallets and allow just one wallet per individual. This entails that it is no longer permitted for an individual to have more than one EcoCash account or with other mobile money operators for that matter. The RBZ said: Following the suspension and freezing of agent and bulk-payer wallets on 27 June 2020, mobile money operators have allowed illegal foreign currency dealers to use multiple individual wallets as a means to bypass the transaction limits and continue with their illicit transactions. However, th
FORMER Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono has proposed Rwandan President Paul Kagame to broker an African Union (AU)-driven national dialogue that would culminate in the formation of a government of national unity (GNU) between Zanu-PF and the opposition MDC Alliance. The two parties have been on a warpath since the 2018 hotly disputed presidential elections, which President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was the Zanu-PF candidate, won by a razor-thin margin. The disputed election result has created a political crisis in the country with the main opposition party challenging Mnangagwa’s legitimacy.On the other hand, Mnangagwa’s administration has been using brute force to silence dissenting voices, the latest being the ruthless crackdown on organisers of the Jul
THE Nelson Chamisa-led MDC Alliance suffered another body blow last week after the MDC-T recalled six of its councillors in Harare, including mayor Herbert Gomba. MDC-T acting secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora on August 14 wrote to Local Government minister July Moyo recalling Gomba and five other councillors from the City of Harare. "We hereby notify your office that the following councillors have ceased to belong to the MDC-T which is a member of the MDC Alliance which was formed in terms of the constitutive agreement, a copy of which is attached hereto," part of Mwonzora's letter dated August 14, 2020, read. "In terms of the agreement, seven political parties entered into a pre-election agreement known as the composite political agreement for purposes of conte
MDC Alliance Vice Chairman Job Sikhala has been arrested. He is attending at the police station with his lawyer, the party has said. Recently, a leaked secret police document said the cops feared that Sikhala and other activists wanted to do flash demonstrations with the intent of frustrating the government. Last month Sikhala, the MP for Zengeza West went underground but continued to use social media platforms to call for anti-corruption mass protests. In a press statement last month the police had said “The Zimbabwe Republic Police is appealing to members of the public to supply information on the location of under listed activists: “Makomborero Haruzivishe, Godfrey Kurauone, Ostallos Siziba, Job Sikhala, Promise Mkwananzi, Denford Ngadziore, Allan
Apostle Talent Chiwenga has spoken for the first time after the Norton Head On Accident. Gambakwe Media has received a copy of a letter that he wrote to the church ‘s members on the 6th of August, which was not published on the Church’ s public platforms: Summary To My Children after the Common Faith I write to you my children, to communicate with you because i love you and I miss you. It has been long since you heard from me or saw my face. Well you all know how we got involved in a head-on collision with a white Mercedes Benz sedan car that was wrongly driving on a one way traffic road at a very high speed towards us without switching on the headlights well, it only switched its headlights on when it was less than ten metres away from our car, after 1900 hours Cen
The Thokozani Khupe led MDC faction is doing some serious house cleaning by purging all the members from the Chamisa led faction. The latest to feel the effects of the political broom are Harare mayor Herbert Gomba and five councillors who were shown the door. The party’s secretary general Douglas Mwonzora wrote a letter addressed to the Minister of Local Government and Public Works Mwonzora explained that he derived the authority to recall the councillors by invoking the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe judgement in SC 56/20. According to the judgment passed by the Supreme Court in March, Nelson Chamisa was ruled as an illegitimate MDC-T president and Thokozani Khupe who was vice president to Tsvangirai before his passing, was rule
Harare Regional Magistrate Ngoni Nduna on Thursday reserved ruling in the fresh bail application by incarcerated investigative journalist Hopewell Chin’ono to Monday, 24 August 2020. Magistrate Ngoni Nduna asked prosecutors Whisper Mabhaudhi and Tendai Shonhayi, and the defence team led by Advocate Taona Nyamakura to file their written closing submissions by end of day tomorrow, 21 August 2020. Chin’ono has been in custody, first in police remand, and then at the notorious Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison, where he was put in leg irons.
