DURBAN – At least two people have died and up to 40 people are feared trapped after a roof collapsed at a construction site in eastern South Africa, emergency services say. The collapse occurred in the township of Tongaat, near Durban. Thirty people have been transported to the hospital with injuries ranging from moderate to…
HARARE – President Robert Mugabe, on a working visit to the Far East, is reportedly alarmed by escalating infighting and mudslinging over divisive provincial elections, officials in the 50-year-old liberation movement said yesterday. The 89-year-old leader has been forced to call for an unprecedented emergency politburo meeting on Saturday to settle the chaos. “There will…
HARARE – Members of Parliament want to join President Robert Mugabe’s entourage in all his foreign junkets. Kindness Paradza, Zanu PF MP for Makonde, tabled the proposal during a hearing by the parliamentary portfolio committee on Foreign Affairs yesterday. Paradza, a former newspaper publisher and farmer, asked Joey Bimha, permanent secretary in the ministry of…
HARARE – Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned yesterday that Zimbabwe’s capital was at risk of another cholera outbreak, five years after the pandemic claimed over 4 000 lives. Tiseke Kasambala, HRW Southern Africa director, said residents’ right to water and sanitation remains a pipe dream, with government accused of neglecting water and sewer infrastructure. “Harare’s…
HARARE – The Johannesburg district of Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC has rallied behind its party leader, rejecting a push for the 61-year-old ex-premier’s ouster. Dlayila Omuhle, the newly-elected MDC Johannesburg chairperson, said in a press release that it was premature to remove Tsvangirai. “Leadership renewal is choreographed in the corridors and offices of the enemy of…
HARARE – President Robert Mugabe says he does not want anyone to be fooled by his impeccable Western style of dress and his precise, teacherly use of English: He is African through and through. “I am not British, I am not a colonial product because I am a complete Zimbabwean,” he told graduates at Great…
MUTARE – Mutare City Council is consulting residents on the 2014 budget amid assurances that they will not be any rates increases, according to mayor Tatenda Nhamarare. “We are doing ward-based consultative meetings for all the 19 wards of the city as we seek a new relationship between ratepayers and council,” Nhamarare told the Daily…
MASVINGO – Masvingo has gone for six days without water amid reports that water levels in Lake Mutirikwi have dropped to critical levels. While Hubert Fidze, the Masvingo mayor, moved to allay the fears saying supplies will be restored soon, residents expressed alarm at the untenable situation. There are fears the water crisis could spark…
HARARE – A Waterfalls man was yesterday hauled before the courts for absconding trial in a 2011 charge of defrauding South African company Boss Logistics fertiliser worth $400 000. Farai Gwekwerere, 33, was granted bail in 2011 on his first appearance in court, where a June 13, 2011 trial date was set. He reportedly fled…
HARARE – A Chinese national accused of illegally possessing 99kg of ivory worth $28 000 will remain in custody, after a High Court judge denied him bail. High Court judge Owen Tagu, in a ruling delivered on his behalf by Justice Esther Muremba, threw out Chen Guoliang’s request to be freed on bail. “In the…
