John Zvimba

Below is a judge’s summary on Zimbabwean man, John Zvimba who pleaded guilty to defrauding a hospital in Darwin. 

John Zvimba, you have pleaded guilty to obtaining a benefit for
yourself or another person, the maximum penalty for which is imprisonment for
14 years given the amount involved.

I am going to talk about what happened and I am only going to summarise it. I
am not going to read out the very lengthy Crown facts.

What happened is this; you and your co-offender, Walter Wilton, unlawfully
obtained $148,031.63 from the Northern Territory Government by deception.
This is what you did; you and Walter Wilton are both qualified electricians
registered with the Electrical Workers and Contractors Licensing Board in the
Northern Territory. From 2 March 2015 to 24 April 2017 you were employed as a
technical services officer with the engineering department at the Royal Darwin
Hospital.

The engineering department is responsible for overseeing electrical, mechanical,
civil and hydraulic repairs and maintenance work at the Royal Darwin Hospital. They
do this by way of a tender process. Three year contracts for the works in those
areas are awarded through a formal government procurement process by way of
tender.

The successful tenderers are authorised to perform works at the Royal Darwin
Hospital and verbal approval needs to be obtained for the use of any other
contractors. That approval needs to be obtained from the engineering services
manager who was a Mr Neil Bond at the time.

Your role included general supervision of the electrical trades, raising work
orders in the building management system and inspecting and reviewing contractor
invoices and supporting documentation submitted to the Northern Territory
governments accounts payable Electronic Invoice Management System which is
referred to as EIMS. This is the way that the system for awarding contracts and
paying contractors for work performed is intended to operate.

Firstly, before becoming an approved contractor, each tenderer must undergo a
process of induction and introduction to the Royal Darwin Hospital site to qualify
them to enter and perform works on the site. This process is documented and
recorded in the Building Management System. Then each approved contractor is
added into the Building Management System as a vendor and assigned a vendor
code in that computerised system.
When electrical work needed to be done at Royal Darwin Hospital you or another
authorised person would raise a work order and send it to an approved contractor.
The approved contractor would do the work and submit an invoice to the Northern
Territory Government accounts payable section for payment accompanied by the
prescribed and necessary supporting documentation.

On receipt of the invoice and attached documentation, Northern Territory
Government accounts payable personnel would upload the invoices and supporting
documentation into the EIMS system against the contractor’s vendor code and send
the invoices to you electronically for checking.

You were supposed to check and code each invoice in EIMS and assign it a
departmental cost code. You would then send the checked invoices in bulk to the
engineering services manager for final payment approval. The manager would
approve the payment of the invoices and the invoices would then be paid by the
transfer of money from the Northern Territory Government account into the bank
account of the approved contractor recorded in the EIMS system. That is how it was
supposed to work.

Sometime in early September 2016, you and Walter Wilton formed the common
intention to defraud the Northern Territory Government by creating fictitious work
orders in the building management system and submitting corresponding invoices for
payment to the Northern Territory Government accounts payable for payment.
To put this intention into effect you and Walter Wilton formed business
partnerships, SES Electrical NT and Shona Electrical Services, and you opened a
jointly operated business bank account in the name of Shona Electrical Services to
receive payments.

Then you created a series of false entries into the building management system.
You did this by a series of steps which I will outline. On October 20 2016, without
authorisation from the engineering services manager or anybody else, you entered
SES Electrical NT and Shona Electrical Services as approved contractors in the
building management system and you assigned each of them a vendor code. You
recorded Walter Wilton as the contractor contact person for each one.

On the same date, you generated induction and introduction to site
documentation for Walter Wilton and Shona Electrical Services implying falsely that
Walter Wilton had undertaken the required training in order to enter and perform
works on the site at Royal Darwin Hospital.

On 9 November 2016 someone entered Shona Electrical Services into the EIMS
system, the payment system, under the business name SES NT Electrical and
assigned it a vendor code.

Between 20 October 2016 and 23 December 2016, without any authorisation or
knowledge of the engineering services manager or anyone else, you raised 28 work
orders in the building management system for various fictitious electrical works at
Royal Darwin Hospital. You assigned the work in the building management system
to your business partner Walter Wilton at SES NT Electrical.

Then you and Walter Wilton together created corresponding invoices and you
completed and signed supporting documentation for each work order. The
supporting documentation included purported cost breakdowns into parts, materials
and labour, completed and signed Royal Darwin Hospital engineering services
excavation and DIG permits and risk assessments, low voltage access and isolation
permits for the Royal Darwin Hospital campus, Safe Work Method Statements and
mandatory NT WorkSafe electrical safety certificates of compliance. All of these
were false and you and Walter Wilton signed each document.

Between 8 November 2016 and 28 December 2016 the two of you submitted the
28 invoices to the Northern Territory Government accounts payable via email for
payment. The total invoiced for works allegedly carried out by SES Electrical NT
was $97,263.33.

When they received the invoices and supporting documentation, NT Government
accounts payable personnel uploaded it in the EIMS system against the vendor
number for SES Electrical NT. They then forwarded the invoices to you in your
capacity as a technical services officer with the engineering department at the
hospital.

In that capacity, you purported to check and then you did code each invoice in
EIMS and assigned a departmental cost code to each one. Then you forwarded the
invoices, along with a large bundle of other invoices for other contractors, to the
engineering services manager, Mr Bond, for final payment approval.

Mr Bond, acting in good faith that you had conducted due diligence in checking
the invoices, approved the payment of all of those invoices including the 28 false
invoices from SES Electrical.

Between 22 November and 4 January 2017 the 28 invoices were paid by
Northern Territory Government accounts payable to the bank account in the name of
Shona Electrical Services recorded in the EIMS, that is your and Mr Wilton’s joint
account, by means of five payments amounting in total to $97,263.33.

You then carried out a similar exercise in the period between 10 January 2017
and 1 March 2017. During that period, without any authorisation or knowledge of the
engineering services manager, you raised another eight work orders in the building
management system to Walter Wilton at SES Electrical NT. Again, you and Walter
Wilton created corresponding invoices and completed and signed false supporting
documentation for each work order.

Between 10 January 2017 and 1 March 2017 Walter Wilton submitted the eight
invoices to the Northern Territory Government accounts payable totalling $50,768.30
for payment and the same procedure was followed. The information was uploaded
to EIMS, forwarded to you, you checked and coded each invoice in EIMS, sent them
to the building manager for approval, he trusted that you had done the work correctly
and approved all of the invoices including the five false ones submitted by Walter
Wilton.

By that means you received $50,768.30 by means of five payments from EIMS
into Shona Investments Pty Ltd account.

In early April 2017, Neil Bond, the engineering services manager at Royal
Darwin Hospital, discovered your deceptive activities and the matter was referred to
the Northern Territory Police for investigation. A full audit was performed which
revealed that none of the work claimed on the first lot of 28 invoices or the second lot
of eight invoices had been performed by Walter Wilton or any other person working
for Shona Electrical Services or SES Electrical.

In short, the work orders, invoices and supporting documentation were all
fraudulent.

You and Walter Wilton generated and submitted a total of 36 false invoices along
with numerous other work orders and other supporting documentation in order to
deceive the Northern Territory Government and obtain a monetary benefit. The two
of you unlawfully obtained a total of $148,031.63 from the Northern Territory
Government as a result of your deceptive conduct.

Mr Zvimba, I am going to talk about you now. You have no prior convictions and
I accept that you were previously a person of good character. Your counsel gave me
some information about your background. You were born in Harare in Zimbabwe.
Your father was the Commissioner of Police in Harare for many years and died in
office of a heart attack unfortunately in 2002. Your mother performed home duties.
You lived with your family growing up including one brother and one sister. You
attended a Catholic school, Serima High School, and graduated in 1997. You then
attended Mutare College, that is a university in Harare, and graduated as an
electrical engineer in 2002.

After you graduated you were employed as an intern by an American company
as a high voltage electrician in a mining operation. You were employed there for two
years and then you worked for Goodyear in South Africa as an electrician for seven
years.

You are fluent in English, as well as Shona, Xhosa and Ndebele which are
indigenous languages of Zimbabwe and South Africa. You also speak Afrikaans and
two other South African languages. You are clearly a well-educated and
accomplished man. You were married in 2012 in South Africa and you have two
daughters.

In 2013 you came to Australia with your wife. You were employed in New South
Wales for a year and then came to the Northern Territory. You worked as a private
contractor in the Northern Territory for 12 months and then you obtained
employment with the Department of Health where you committed this offence
working at the Darwin hospital. I am told that you and your wife separated in 2016.
I have had the benefit of reading two personal references from members of the
Zimbabwean community in Darwin. They say that this offending is out of character
for you and they describe you as a kind and generous person and a caring father.
I have also read a letter you wrote to your employer apologising for your actions
and offering to pay restitution. However, I note that the letter contains no concrete
proposal for repayment nor have you given any real details about what you did with
the substantial amount of money you obtained other than to say that you used it for
the upkeep of yourself and your daughter and sent some money back to Zimbabwe.
I understand from one of the references that you own a house, although you
have a mortgage. I have not been told that you have put the house on the market in
order to repay what you stole.

There are a number of things I need to think about in sentencing you. This is a
serious offence reflected in the maximum penalty prescribed by the legislature of
14 years imprisonment.

You stole a substantial amount of money, none of which has been recovered.
Theft by an employee entrusted as you were with ensuring the integrity of your
employer’s contracting and payment system involves a very significant breach of
trust.

An important consideration in matters involving a significant breach of trust by an
employee is general deterrence and I do place a large emphasis on that in
sentencing you.

Also, this is not a case where you suddenly and opportunistically succumbed to
temptation. You obtained that money in a deliberate and calculated course of
deception over an extended period creating an elaborate trail of false documents and
false entries using the access you had to the Northern Territory Government’s
computerised records system and your knowledge of that system to misappropriate
large sums of money.

You have offered no real explanation for your conduct. You were not in dire
financial need. There seems to be no other explanation than simple greed. I do take
into account that you have no prior criminal history. You have apparently been a
hardworking contributing member of the community in Zimbabwe, South Africa and
Australia.

You have pleaded guilty and you are entitled to some reduction in your sentence
because of that. You also wrote a letter to the court in which you purport to express
what you describe as sincere remorse and state that you accept full responsibility for
what you have done.

I have some doubts about that. The letter is mostly concerned with the effect of
your offending on you, your loss of reputation, of your promising future career and
the respect of your children. I accept that you feel shame for what you have done or
at least having been found out.

There is also the fact that you initially lied to police in order to escape detection,
however on the other hand, since you were charged you have cooperated with the
authorities, you have given a statement to police outlining the details of what you did
and a statement that will assist in the prosecution of your co-offender, in particular in
relation to conversations and conduct after the arrest.

The prosecutor concedes that this entitles you to an additional reduction in your
sentence and I intend your reducing your sentence by around 30 per cent for a
combination of all of those matters.

I have looked at the comparative sentences referred to me by counsel. I think
the most comparable of those were the two cases of Michelle Gregurke and Gail
Barry. Like you, both of those people stole – misappropriated substantial amounts of
money in gross breach of trust over an extended period of time and the money was
not recovered.

However, both of those women came from deprived backgrounds with histories
of physical and sexual abuse as children which, no doubt, warped their moral
development and contributed somewhat to their developing gambling problems.
They did not have the advantages that you had in growing up of a supportive family,
sound moral guidance and a good education.

In Ms Gregurke’s case the majority of the Court of Criminal Appeal held that an
appropriate starting point was a sentence of 6 years imprisonment reduced to 4 ½
years for her guilty plea.

In some ways, her offending was more serious than yours. She misappropriated
money from a vulnerable old woman and left her penniless and she was entrusted to
care for that woman.

In other respects your offending is somewhat worse. You stole more money
than she did, your offending was more elaborate and involved a co-offender.
The other offender, Mrs Barry, was sentenced to a term of imprisonment for 5
years and 3 months reduced from 5 ½. In my view, your offending was more serious
than hers because it was more elaborate and involved a co-offender.
In my view, in your case an appropriate starting point would be a sentence of
imprisonment for 6 years.

I am going to sentence you now, Mr Zvimba. Allowing a reduction of about
30 per cent for your plea of guilty and cooperation with the authorities, you will be
convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment for 4 years and 3 months.
You have been found suitable for supervision in the community, however I am
told that you are likely to be deported when you are released from prison and
although I am not to take that into account as extra-curial punishment, I do not
consider that it would be appropriate to order you to undergo supervision in the
interests of facilitating your rehabilitation if that court order is likely to be futile
because you will be unable to undergo that supervision, so I am going to fix a nonparole
period.

Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa says tithes are not recoverable as he defended himself against false prophesy claim filed by the High Court.

• Chaos As Zimbabwean Prophet Finds Two Snakes In House

Emmanuel Makandiwa

Makandiwa and his wife, Ruth, face a $6,5 million lawsuit filed by business couple, Upenyu and Blessing Mashangwa. The two alleged that they fell prey to a prophecy which promised them “debt cancellation miracle”.

Makandiwa and Ruth, through, Advocate Lewis Uriri said: “The terms ‘tithing and offerings’ were not created by the defendants in the circumstances alleged.”

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“Those are biblical terms which appear and are used in the Holy Scriptures. The defendants plead that the plaintiffs knew exactly that they were either tithing or making freewill offerings; that such tithing and freewill offerings were not by compulsion, but their individual act of worship based on the religious convictions they held to be well founded in the scriptures.”

“Tithes and free will offerings made to the church are an act of worship derived from the believer’s faith and are, as such, not recoverable.”

The two said the business couple did not at any given time receive a debt cancellation prophecy in terms of and manner they alleged, adding the plaintiffs never owed ZB Bank $500 000 as they alleged.

• Prophet Magaya Finds Cheap Labour As Followers Weed His Farm

Uriri is also claiming the Mashangwas never paid over $1,1 million in tithes and offerings to UFIC. He is arguing the couple could not have paid such a huge sum of money to the church as they were being sued by a local bank for failing to service a $30 000 loan.

Fifty-four Vehicle Inspection Department (VID) officers have been fired for corruption, Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Dr Joram Gumbo has said.The fired officers — Dr Gumbo said — were from Eastlea, Belvedere, Chitungwiza, Nyamapanda, Chinhoyi, Marondera, Victoria Falls, Kwekwe, Chirundu, Mutare, Kadoma and Chiredzi depots that issued 199 drivers’ licences to undeserving applicants. The licences have since been cancelled. Dr Gumbo made the announcement in a ministerial statement on corruption at VID in the National Assembly.

“The public domain is awash with reports of driving school instructors who act as conduits in alleged corrupt practices related to the issuance of drivers’ licences. In line with the stance adopted by His Excellency the President Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa, I would like to warn all owners of driving schools and their staff that all allegations of corruption will be fully investigated and handed over to the ZRP for prosecution. Where it is established that the driving school is involved, we shall ensure that it is closed.”

Dr Gumbo said corrupt VID examiners also issued certificates of fitness to unroadworthy vehicles. March 6, this year, the minister said, all VID depots and vehicles will be required to display toll-free numbers so that members of the public can give feedback on service delivery and report fraudulent practices.

In addition, Dr Gumbo said all depots will have suggestion boxes, while senior officers will be allowed to recall vehicles that have been inspected. The senior officers, the minister said, will also randomly accompany examiners on road tests and frequently rotate examiners.

“In line with advancements in the global village, VID as a learning organisation will in the near future move towards automation of its services, which will help to reduce direct human interface, thereby reducing corruption,” he said.

“I would like also to appeal to Members of Parliament to advise prospective drivers in their different constituencies to use registered driving schools and not to tempt the instructor or VID driving examiner by offering them bribes. I have also ordered the TSCZ to publish and avail to the public a list of all registered driving schools,” he said.-Herald

Some parents have approached the High Court seeking to reverse the decision by Primary and Secondary Education minister Paul Mavima to nullify the November 2017 Ordinary Level English Paper 2 results.

High Court Judge Justice Matanda Moyo will on Monday 12 February 2018 at 2:30 pm preside over the hearing.

BY CHARLES LAITON

Mavima last week announced his ministry had withdrawn the English Paper 2 and issued an order for all the students to retake the paper on Friday this week following reports of massive leaking of the examination paper.

However, parents of two of the affected students — Victor Mukomeka and Chingasiyeni Govhati — through the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) on Wednesday approached the High Court challenging Mavima’s authority and arguing he does not have the mandate to act in the manner he did.

“In the event that the decisions in this case were taken by the second respondent [Mavima], I submit that such decisions are null and void as the minister has no powers to annul examination results. Section 34 of the Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Act [Chapter 25:18] specifically grants such powers to the Examinations Board of the first respondent [Zimbabwe School Examinations Council] Zimsec,” Mukomeka said in his founding affidavit.

“What the minister can do in terms of Section 36 of the same Act, is to promulgate regulations to do with, inter alia, the cancellation, for good cause, of examinations or the results of examinations and the disqualification of examination candidates. These regulations are meant to guide the Examinations Board in exercising their Section 34 powers.

“An exercise of Section 34 powers by the minister would amount to usurping the powers of the examinations board, thereby acting ultra vires the Act and the law. This is a ground for nullification of the minister’s decisions and announcement.”

Mukomeka further said when Mavima made his announcement he failed to make wide consultations since the move was going to cause severe problems for parents and other students who had travelled abroad, such as his.

“The costs attendant to the decisions made to parents are enormous. The announcement by the minister makes mention that students are not to pay for re-examination, and that schools should provide boarding for students. The apparent rationale for this is to remove the cost that parents and children would bear,” he said.

“But this is the smallest fraction of the costs. Students travel far and wide to write examinations. Students attend schools in different parts of the country, and to require them to travel to their original examination centres to sit for examinations is drastic and unnecessarily burdensome. This is the case with my daughter who is in Australia at the moment and would require a substantial amount of money to travel back to Zimbabwe.”

The matter has not yet been set for hearing.

Six men were last week arraigned before the courts for allegedly calling deputy finance minister Terrence Mukupe a thief and threatening to bash him in a dispute over land.

Caledonia settlers Tawanda Dzamara, 33, Mapfumo Brian Madzorera, 36, Mohammad William, 38, Shingirirayi Banoni, 35, Alfred Mutizwa 34 and Shupikai Nyakabau, 26, were not asked to plead when they appeared before magistrate Rumbidzai Mugwagwa last Thursday.

They were remanded to February 26 on $50 bail each.

The incident occurred earlier this month at Eastview Phase 6 where the accused are members of Tasangana Housing Co-operative Society.

Along with accomplices yet to be apprehended, the six reportedly hectored the minister after learning that he had supposedly occupied a piece of land they claimed to own had been occupied.

On the day in question, Mukupe, who is also Harare East legislator, had reportedly brought land developers and earthmoving equipment to the site.

This angered the accused who then approached the minister’s security guards, one Joseph Madenyika and a Edson Muchabaiwa.

Prosecutors say the suspects displayed disorderly conduct by threatening the minister’s guards.

One of the accused allegedly produced a baseball bat and used it to assault the two guards while another suspect shouted at Mukupe calling him a thief and threatening to bash him.

The case was reported, leading to the arrest of the six men.

Linda Gadzikwa appeared for the State.

By Munyaradzi Musiiwa

A soldier has been hospitalised after he was shot once on the left ankle by a detective as he tried to restrain two police officers from assaulting a suspect in Gweru over the weekend.

Detective constable Gift Gorongonya allegedly shot Corporal Zico Shumba of the Zimbabwe National Army Military Police who was in military gear.

The soldier had just disembarked from a ZNA bus that had just stopped at Amtec garage along the Gweru- Harare Road while travelling from Mvuma.

The police officer who shot the soldier while in the company of another cop, fled from the scene and sought refuge at Gweru Central Police Station.

There was chaos when soldiers besieged the charge office baying for the detective’s blood.

Army Public Relations director Lieutenant-Colonel Alphios Makotore confirmed the incident.

“I can confirm that one of our members was shot by a police officer in Gweru yesterday (Saturday). However, investigations are still in progress and we do not want to jeopardise them. We are informed that the police officer who shot our officer has been arrested and will appear in court soon,” he said.

National Police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba referred questions to police in the Midlands province.

Officer Commanding Midlands Province, Assistant Commissioner (Crime) Tabeth Ntabeni said she was still compiling details of the case and would forward them to Snr Asst Comm Charamba to comment.

“We are still compiling the details of the case and as procedure we will give them to Snr Asst Comm Charamba because she is the one who speaks to the media,” she said.

A source said detective constable Gorongonya and his colleague constable Chrispen Musiiwa attacked a civilian after they had found him allegedly smoking marijuana at Kudzanayi Bus terminus.

The two detectives chased after the suspect who was running towards Harare Road.

He said the cops fired three shots and apprehended the suspect at Amtec Service Station.

The source said when the cops were assaulting the suspect, a ZNA bus stopped at the service station. Military Police officers who were in the bus disembarked and tried to restrain the two detectives who were assaulting the suspect.

“Musiiwa then pointed a gun at Corporal Shumba who managed to disarm him and removed the magazine. Detective Gorongonya immediately opened fire at Corporal Shumba and shot him on the ankle on his left leg,” said the source.

The source said the two detectives fled to Gweru Central Police Station while Corporal Shumba was rushed to Zimbabwe Military Academy hospital where he is receiving treatment.

“There was commotion at Gweru Central Police Station when soldiers descended there baying for the police detective’s blood. High ranking officers from both the army and police were called to persuade the soldiers to leave the police station and proceed with their journey,” said the source.

“At that time, scores of people had gathered outside Gweru Central to witness what was unfolding before they dispersed when the soldiers went away.”

The source said detective Gorongonya was being charged with attempted murder and will appear in court today. The Chronicle

The High Court has reserved its ruling on the urgent chamber application by two students seeking the barring of the Ordinary Level English Language Paper 2 examination on Friday the 16^th of February.

Charmaine Mukomeka and Ebba Anesu Govhati, who lodged an urgent chamber application on behalf of the 260 000 students affected by the ministerial directive for a rewrite of the English Language Paper 2 will know their fate this Wednesday.

Zimbabwe Human Rights lawyer, Danford Halimani, who is the co legal counsel for the applicants, confirmed that the High Court deferred its ruling on the matter to Wednesday at a time to be announced by the court.

The decision by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to order a rewrite following sloppy management of the examination papers resulting in a leak spread via social media attracted widespread criticism with parents calling for heads to roll at ZIMSEC.

The court is the last resort for the affected students who had had already formulated future plans.-zbc

High Court judge Justice Loice Matanda Moyo sitting with Justice Priscilla Munangati-Manongwa reversed the decision by the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (ZIMSEC) to order a rewrite for the 2017 Ordinary Level English Paper 2 saying it was inconsiderate.

However, the court said that it cannot condone criminality as cheating had indeed taken place and confirmed the decision to nullify the results for the English Language Paper Two.

In a welcome development for most students, the re-sit for the paper which was supposed to take place this Friday has been cancelled and the students will be graded on the results of English Paper One only.

This comes after parents representing two minor children who wrote their Ordinary Level examinations last year challenged the decision by Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Professor Paul Mavima to nullify the results and filed an urgent chamber application.

The two parents Victor Mukomeka and Chingasiyeni were represented by Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) member, Denford Halimani of Wintertons.

The parents argued that Professor Mavima had breached constitutional provisions by annulling the results when only ZIMSEC could do so.

They wanted the re-sit conducted variably or to be cancelled altogether and argued that the 8-day period set aside for students to prepare for the re-sit “is inadequate and unduly constraining.”

According to the lawyer for the respondents, Mavima and ZIMSEC, Tawanda Zvobgo, it was imperative for ZIMSEC to preserve the integrity of the country’s examination system as approximately 15 000 students out of the 260 000 had cheated.

Justice Matanda Moyo was highly critical of ZIMSEC and called for an overhaul of the exams body.

She noted that it would be unfair to punish the innocent along with the guilty and that the re-write would impose a financial burden on parents.

Justice Matanda-Moyo also agreed that the notice given to the students was short.-ZBC

Inmates at Chikurubi Female Prison celebrated Valentine’s Day with a difference when founder of Mushamukadzi Charity Organisation Mrs Marry Chiwenga and her team spared a thought for the women.

• Image: Marry Chiwenga , Wife Of Top General Who Toppled Robert Mugabe With Sugar Daddy

Faced with day-to-day loneliness and the feelings of exclusion and shame, life in prison can be very hard at times.

As an act of love Mrs Chiwenga visited Chikurubi Female Prison where she donated goods worth thousands of dollars to the inmates.

Among the goodies are desktop computers, sewing machines, disposable sanitary wear, clothes, soap and mealie meal.

Dr Vivek Solangi who is part of Mushamukadzi team highlighted the need for society to also remember incarcerated mental health patients.

Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services Commissioner General Retired Major General Paradzai Zimondi said the living conditions for female inmates call for an urgent infrastructure facelift.

Chikurubi Female Prison has a holding capacity of 320 inmates.

Currently it has 187 inmates against a staff compliment of 174 officers including general duties and technical section.-ZBC

GWERU – A 14-year-old girl from Mkoba Suburb in Gweru has lost her virginity over a Pizza.
The girl whose name cannot be disclosed because of her age lost her virginity exactly on her 14th birthday when she went to collect her presents at the boyfriend’s place in Woodlands.
It is the State case that Kudakwashe Dongo (23) invited the minor who is his girlfriend to his place for some gifts. When the girl got there she discovered that there was a Pizza and chicken from Chicken Inn.
After eating the delicious food, Dongo asked for sex from the girl who with contentment from the gifts consented and they had it unprotected once. The girl remained at Dongo’s place until 10pm and then took some of the presents home.
On September 20, 2017 the minor’s mother suspected that her daughter was having sexual intercourse so she took the minor to Mkoba 1 Clinic for a pregnancy and HIV test.
After four days the minor eloped and went to stay with Dongo as husband and wife until January 24, 2018 when the minor’s mother discovered where her daughter was and she made a Police report.
Dongo was brought to court and claimed that the minor told him that she was 17 years old.
The trial continues today.

GWERU – A desperate Midlands State University Student who wanted to pay her tuition arrears duped a lecturer and sold him a non-existent stand for $10 000.
Odene Tendai Chiwara (41) of number 50 Steadman road Athlone, Gweru has been dragged to court on fraud charges after she sold a non-existent stand to Francis Mhere, an Economics lecture at the university.
The court heard that in October 2017 the accused planned to defraud Mhere so she identified a residential stand belonging to Chinyoka who is based in the UK.
Chiwara then drafted a fraudulent power of attorney in the name of Tinomudaishe Chinyoka giving her a mandate to sell the stand.
Chiwara approached Mhere and told him that she was selling a residential stand Lot 1 of lot 3 Gwelo small holding 23 measuring 8094 square meters held under deed number 83/2010.
The court also heard that the accused told Mhere that she was desperate for money to pay for her tuition fees which was outstanding.
Chiwara persuaded the complainant to buy the stand and after he agreed to buy the stand Chiwara produced a document which she said was a power of attorney. She also said that the original title deeds were with her lawyer in Harare.
On October 20, 2017 the accused and the complainant agreed on a purchase price of $10 000 and the drafted an agreement of sale they both signed.
Mhere deposited $3 000 for the stand and after sometime the complainant demanded the original title deeds and he was taken to Dzimba Jaravaza lawyer where Wellington Jaravaza drafted another detailed agreement of sale.
Upon demanding of the original title deeds the accused started giving conflicting statements. Due to conflicting statements the complainant kept pressing for original title deeds until he learnt the he had been conned.
Mhere reversed the deal and Chiwara returned $800 after failing to pay the rest. Mhere made a Police report leading to the accused’s arrest.-Mirror

A 17 year-old Form 4 pupil at Victoria High School in Masvingo has appeared at the Masvingo Magistrates Court after being found with pornographic material.
The accused had the offensive material both on a disc and in his mobile phone.
He is charged with contravening the Censorship and Entertainment Control Act. The accused who resides at Alpha Cottages Children’s Home in Masvingo appeared before Magistrate Takawira Mugabe.
It is the State case that on August 31, 2017 at Alpha Cottages in Masvingo, Brighton Robert Karidza (62) an employee at the home was doing random inspection when he came across a disk inside the accused’s book labelled Romantic Movies.
He collected it, went and played it at his office and discovered that it contained obscene material. He then checked the accused’s mobile Samsung phone and realised that the same material was also in the phone.
He reported the matter to the Police leading to the boy’s arrest.
The accused pleaded guilty and was cautioned and discharged by the Magistrate. Mbonisi Nyathi prosecuted.-mirror

By Farayi Machamire

The son of a Zanu PF Member of Parliament (MP) was shot in a suspected case of mistaken identity by Chinese nationals on Monday night.

Hurungwe West MP Keith Guzah’s son, Kevin who was in the company of a lady “friend” Kudzai, was allegedly shot on the hand by two Chinese nationals when they opened fire on a team that had robbed one of them of $8 500.

The shooting injured his hand, according to police.

The boy, who is studying at a Chinese university, reportedly endured a tremendous amount of pain, frustration and anxiety since the incident.

Guzah yesterday refused to shed light on the matter only saying “I am sorry I am not commenting on that.”

The legislator’s other son Keith took to Facebook to vent his frustration.

“Are we safe are we in Zimbabwe?”

“Yesterday my brother Kevin was shot twice by (sic) Belgravia shops after he left KFC.

“This act was done by some type of armed Chinese security force that mistook him for being a robber.

“Do we draw arms based on assumptions? Is it legal to open fire in public?

“Why are these Chinese people so heavily armed? Kevin just arrived in Zimbabwe one week ago from China where he is studying at the North China University of Technology and is an upstanding citizen when in their country.

“He is meant to graduate in June 2018. Why did he deserve this? Zimbabwe justice must prevail and I will not rest until those who wrongfully shot at him and his friend Kudzai are put in jail.”

Police spokesperson Charity Charamba said investigations were underway.

“Yes there was a shoot-out. He (Guzah’s son) was caught in the cross fire.

“There was an armed robbery which was in progress and he was passing through there and in the process he was shot in the arm.

“The police are investigating to establish who shot him,” Charamba said.

She could not be drawn to comment whether it was the Chinese nationals who shot Guzah’s son.

“There was an armed robbery taking place in which the Chinese lost $8 500. We are still investigating,” she said. Daily News

At least two people are feared dead after a police officer fired warning shots near the Chitungwiza fly over today. This was after a kombi driver refused to comply with the directive banning Kombis in CBD.

Reports suggest that at least 3 police cars were torched by citizens in protest. Some journalists are detained at Harare central police station. Watch a video of a citizen narrating the incident below:

More Details To Follow

Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) has admitted that at least 500 prison inmates are malnourished and starving in the Southern African nation‘s jails due to food shortages amid an economic collapse in the country.

Zimbabwe prisons boss ..Paradzai Zimondi

According to state television ZBC, Prisons Boss Retired Major General Paradzai Zimondi the ZPCS is currently facing budget constraints.

Zimbabwe, in the grip of a crippling economic crisis, has seen starving prisoners begging for help from the outside world.

Zimondi was speaking after receiving a donation of 30 tonnes of sugar from Tongaat Hulett managing director Mr Sydney Mutsambiwa .

The ZPCS requires around $28 million per year to feed around 21 000 inmates in the country’s 46 prisons as the standard diet is $3 per prisoner although allocations from the government fall far below the required level.

In 2013, ZPCS  disclosed before a parliamentary portfolio committee that the situation in the country’s prisons was bad a situation that has resulted in more than 100 inmates dying of hunger and other nutrition-related illnesses that year alone.

Former mercenary Simon Mann who spent seven years in Zimbabwe maximum security Chikurubi prison after a failed coup in Equatorial New Guinea reveals in a book he wrote in jail that many days 20 men die in Chikurubi. He says 5 inmates die per day.

Last year in February, ZPCS  failed to take prisoners to court in Harare citing fuel shortages and  the vehicles which ferry suspects from prison cells to courts were also being serviced.

“We only have three vehicles for Harare courts – one for Harare Remand, Chikurubi Female and Chikurubi Maximum – and they are all off the road,” an official said.

• Zimbabwe Prisons Outdated, Built To Punish : Zimondi
• Chiwenga In Surprise Valentine’s Day Donation to Female Prisoners
• ZPCS secure fuel to transport inmates to court
• Zimbabwe jail threatens life of pregnant inmates

TWO Chinese nationals and their Zimbabwean accomplice have appeared in court facing attempted murder charges after they shot two people whom they suspected to be part of a gang of robbers they were exchanging fire with in Belgravia on Monday night.

Luo Tingpen, Li Yize, both 27, and Gamuchirai Nigel Zuze, 23, were not asked to plead to the charges when they appeared before Harare magistrate Rumbidzai Mugwagwa.

She  advised the trio to apply for bail at the High Court. A suspected robber whom they also exchanged fire with on the day in question, Thompson Runyowa, 31, also appeared before the same magistrate who ordered him to apply for bail at the High Court.

Runyowa’s three other accomplices are still at large. The quartet will appear in court on March 8 for routine remand.

Speaking at the handover ceremony of a 30-tonne sugar donation by Tongaat Hullet, Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) Commissioner-General Paradzai Zimondi, confirmed President Emmerson Mnangagwa approved the release of inmates serving light sentences or experiencing health challenges.

• Mnangagwa Presidential Pardon to Let Over 2500 Zimbabwe Prisoners Free
• Zimbabwe Prison Inmates Starve As Country’s Economic Collapse Sees Food Run Out

Zimondi said that the Minister of Justice had confirmed the development to him. Said Zimondi:

I talked to the minister of Justice (Ziyambi Ziyambi) about the issue and he is the one who told me,

In January this year, Minister of Justice, Parliamentary and Legal Affairs Ziyambi Ziyambi told The Chronicle that he wants President Mnangagwa to pardon 2 000 prisoners to ease congestion in Zimbabwe’s prisons. He said that the release of prisoners is a priority in his ministry’s 100 day plan. Prisoners are released on amnesty in terms of section 112 (1)(a) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.

More: NewsDay

A Lebanese businessman who is locked in a $1,3 million diamond ring wrangle with former first lady Grace Mugabe has filed opposing papers in the High Court, claiming the ex-Zanu PF women’s league secretary was approaching the courts with dirty hands.

The Daily News can report that the tycoon, Jamal Joseph Hamed, wants the court to dismiss Grace’s case, alleging her proxies were still holding on to his premises despite an eviction order issued by High Court judge, Justice Clement Phiri, on December 21, 2016.

According to summons issued by the former first lady, sometime in April 2015 Grace contracted Hamed, who at the time was a renowned diamond dealer, to provide her with a unique diamond ring for her wedding anniversary celebrations at a cost of $1 350 000.

Grace alleges that Hamed became evasive soon after payment and could not be located for quite some time, prompting her to suspect that she had been duped by the businessman.

Upon realising the lengthy delay, she demanded full refund of her purchase price.

It is being alleged that instead of refunding the money, Hamed tendered a diamond ring worth $30 000, which the former first lady declined because it was “an inferior ring”.

Thereafter, it is alleged that Hamed agreed to the full refund but only paid $120 000, forcing Grace to seek redress from the courts.

Grace is demanding $1 230 000 from Ahmed, including interest calculated from April 2015.

She is also seeking to transfer Hamed’s immovable properties into her name.

Grace has thus sought the court’s permission to execute shares in three companies linked to the Lebanese, namely Thatchfree Investments (Private) Limited, Zulaf Investments (Private) Limited and Super Earth Properties (Private) Limited.

Hamed is, however, fighting back.

In his High Court papers responding to Grace’s claim, the businessman argues that the former first lady has approached the courts with dirty hands in that her agents, who include the police, “took the law into their own hands and unlawfully occupied properties in which the defendant has an interest without any form of due process.”

He further argues that Grace and her proxies remain in unlawful occupation of the properties in which he has an interest.

“Until she vacates the said properties, the court should decline to hear the plaintiff on the basis of hers and her agent’s unlawful behaviour,” the court heard.

Hamed further claims that the money was not paid into his personal account, but into one of his companies.

“Defendant denies that the diamond tendered to the plaintiff was ‘worth’ $30 000, denies that the plaintiff in fact saw and valued the diamond, denies that the plaintiff at the same time claimed the diamond was of inferior quality or lower value and plaintiff is put to the strict proof of her claims,” he said, adding that Grace had enlisted the services of other people of persuade him to release the money through crude threats, despite the two having agreed on the mode of payment.

“Defendant pleads that the plaintiff declined the proposed mode of refund and instead unleashed a reign of terror on the defendant who was bombarded with crude abusive messages and phone calls directly and by her agents.

“Upon the plaintiff declining the proposed refund method, Diamond Village continued to tender the diamond to the plaintiff who thereafter caused her son Russell Goreraza, Kennedy Fero and other agents who declined to identify themselves to occupy five immovable properties connected to the defendant, including properties registered in the names of (other) entities…,which unlawful occupations remain to date,” Hamed said.

He further said that there is no lawful reason for the company to refund since the contract between the two still subsists.

Hamed also said the occupation of his properties has resulted in him suffering damages, adding that Grace is seeking to sanitise her actions through a court process.

The matter is still pending before the High Court.

This is not the first time Grace has been involved in a controversial business deal.

In 2011, she was caught in a spat over a $1 million truck deal with South African businessman Ping Sung Hsieh.-Dailynews

ROWDY MDC-T youths reportedly destroyed tasselling maize crop at the late party leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s mother, Lydia Zvaipa’s home during the burial of her son in Humanikwa village, Buhera, last week.

By Everson Mushava

Tsvangirai died a fortnight ago in South Africa after a long battle with colon cancer and was buried at his rural home last Tuesday.

His burial was, however, marked by ugly scenes which also saw party vice-president Thokozani Khupe, secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora and national organiser Abednico Bhebhe, physically assaulted by youths from a rival camp as the race for Tsvangirai’s succession turned nastier.

The three were accused of disrespecting party acting president Nelson Chamisa and decampaigning him in the succession race which also pits Elias Mudzuri.

The rowdy youths, according to sources, also accused Khupe of influencing Tsvangirai’s mother to threaten to commit suicide if Chamisa and her late son’s wife, Elizabeth Macheka, attended the former premier’s funeral.

Gogo Tsvangirai was not spared the attacks as she became the butt of ugly social media bashing. She was also booed at her son’s funeral.

“The same youths who held Khupe, Mwonzora and Bhebhe hostage also went on a rampage destroying Gogo Tsvangirai’s maize crop by pulling down the cobs,” a family member said, showing the NewsDay crew the destroyed maize crop.

“Some of the youths went on to allege that Gogo’s feud with her daughter in-law (Macheka) and Chamisa was materialistic.

They claimed that Chamisa, as a lawyer blocked the Tsvangirai family from claiming the MDC-T leader’s property from Macheka,” the family member added.

Family spokesperson, Manasa Tsvangirai, said it was sad some party supporters have continued to use her mother as a subject of attack over things they don’t have information about.

“For the record, as a family, we have taken a position that when our brother worked; he was working for his family — his wife and children. We don’t want anything from his property; it belongs to his wife and children. His children should engage with their mother (Macheka) on the way forward,” Manasa said.

The party youths also caused a scene when they took away Tsvangirai’s casket for burial before the family performed its rituals, and even threatened to beat up the former premier’s younger brother, Collins, after he ordered them to return the body.

Zimbabwe’s Consul General to South Africa Mr Batiraishe Mukonoweshuro confirmed that South African police have opened investigations into the death of Zimbabwean nurse Ms Nomsa Ncube (44) who took care of the late Morgan Tsvangirai when he was admitted to Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre (WDGMC) in Johannesburg where he was receiving treatment for colon cancer.

Mukonoweshuro said they have began the process of repatriating Ncube’s body to Bulawayo for burial. He also added that South African police are yet to give an update on their findings.

Relatives suspect that Ncube  was killed on February 18 by unknown assailants at her rented apartment in central Johannesburg. She was criticised when a photo of her posing next to a lifeless Tsvangirai, who was on his hospital bed, went viral on social media. Relatives said her body was found lying in a pool of blood by her maid on the day she was supposed to appear before the WDGNC disciplinary committee in connection with the picture.

More: Herald