April 2017

HARARE – Joice Mujuru’s National People’s Party (NPP) spokesperson Jealousy Mawarire (pictured) resigned yesterday. His resignation — from NPP spokesperson position and as a card-carrying party member — comes amid condemnation of his vicious attack and alleged threats to kill Mujuru’s spin doctor, Gift Nyandoro. He was reportedly facing disciplinary action over charges of hooliganism…

HARARE – Luke Malaba was yesterday sworn in as Zimbabwe’s Chief Justice by President Robert Mugabe, succeeding retired Godfrey Chidyausiku. Chidyausiku stepped down after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70. In his acceptance speech, the 65-year-old revered judge pledged to ensure independence of the judiciary. “I see my task as being to uphold the…

HARARE – Zimbabwe is ill-prepared to deal with earthquake disasters and must urgently overhaul its emergency reaction operations, Environment minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri warned yesterday. This comes as the country was this week rattled by a quake of magnitude 5,6 on the Richter scale, which also struck Botswana and neighbouring South Africa. The southern African nation…

HARARE – The smaller than expected crowd that turned up at National Electoral Reform Agenda (Nera)’s Wednesday rally indicates the alliance will face difficulties in acting as a bloc in 2018’s elections, political observers said yesterday. They said the fact that a handful of people attended the rally to receive feedback on the demand to…

BULAWAYO – Bulawayo has partially lifted water restrictions after dam levels improved significantly following months of heavy rainfall, the council said yesterday. Zimbabwe’s second largest city implemented tight water restrictions last year after an El-Nino weather pattern brought drought conditions to much of southern Africa. Bulawayo’s six dams, which supplies water to the city, reached…

HARARE – Volunteers who are patching potholes across the country are operating illegally and should stop, deputy Transport minister Michael Madanha has said. Madanha told the National Assembly on Wednesday that the volunteers should allow government-approved companies to do the work. His remarks come after Zanu PF proportional representation MP Goodluck Kwaramba enquired about the legality…

HARARE – Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa has rejected an appeal from an election watchdog which sought permission to petition Parliament on the “meagre” budget allocation to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) for preparations for the crunch 2018 general elections. Section 187 (5) of the Standing Rules and Orders of Parliament require that petitioners on Money…