Category: News Feeds

Chief Justice Luke Malaba said court sittings had been highly affected by lockdown measures instituted by the government since last year to curb the spread of the pandemic, government news agency New Ziana reported.

“Courts could not afford to lag behind in harnessing the potential of ICT in ensuring that access to justice is not disrupted,” he said while opening the 2021 legal year.

“To this end, plans to introduce virtual court sittings are at an advanced stage. The process involves presentation of submissions by litigants and parties to disputes without them being required to be physically present at court,” he said.

Malaba said the digitization of the courts and their processes had already been adopted in other jurisdictions in the region and beyond.

He said the JSC had entered into memoranda of understanding with cooperating partners to assist with the establishment of virtual courts throughout the country.

“One courtroom at Harare Magistrates’ Court has already been fitted with virtual court equipment which connects the court to Harare Remand Prison. A pilot run of the equipment was successfully done towards the end of 2020,” he said.

Malaba said the JSC had not been spared by the COVID-19 pandemic and currently there were 31 confirmed cases among members, with two in critical condition while one died on Jan. 5.

Post published in: Featured

FPR pays U.S. dollars in cash to small-scale gold miners, but a shortage of hard cash caused delays in payments most of last year. That forced many of the miners to sell their gold to illegal buyers, industry officials say.

Deliveries of gold, the top foreign currency earner, have been on the decline since reaching a record 33.2 tonnes 2018, mainly due to delays by FPR in paying miners.

The central bank last month announced plans to unbundle FPR into two separate companies and sell a majority stake in the new gold refinery business to miners, in a bid to boost output.

FPR data showed that total gold deliveries fell to 19.05 tonnes from 27.66 tonnes in 2019.

Small-scale producers sold only 9.35 tonnes last year compared with 17.48 tonnes in 2019.

The government says gold worth at least $1.2 billion is illegally exported from the country annually.

Last month, Zimbabwe banned the use of mercury in mining, which could further curtail output in the short term from the small-scale sector, which is the major user of the toxic metal when extracting gold.

Post published in: Business

The COVID-19 situation in Zimbabwe continues to deteriorate with the number of confirmed cumulative cases increasing by more than 70% from 10,129 cases including 277 deaths by the 1st of December 2020 to 17,804 including 431 deaths by the 7th of January 2021.

On the 6th of January, the government reintroduced a 30-day lockdown and restrictive measures at level 4, which has seen the closure of most formal and informal businesses which are not categorized as essential services.

During December, most parts of the southern region in the country experienced above-average rainfall, partially induced by tropical depression Chalane that passed through the southern part of Zimbabwe at the end of the month.

The macro economic environment continues to stabilize recording a decline in annual inflation for a fourth consecutive month.

The Hunger Map for Zimbabwe for the month of December 2020 showed an improvement in the number of provinces experiencing very high prevalence of insufficient food consumption, from the 7 reported in November to 5 out of 10 provinces in the country.

The Hunger analysis estimated the number of people with insufficient food consumption to have decreased from 6 million at the end of the November to 5.58 million at the end of December 2020. This improvement is linked to an increase in agricultural casual labour opportunities and in availability of local produce from early green harvest.

Supply of maize grain on the formal markets remained critically low, estimated to be available in only 3% of monitored markets, while availability of maize meal remained stable at an average of 61%.

In ZWL terms, prices were relatively stable over the month for vegetable oil and sugar beans, while prices for maize grain and unrefined maize meal recorded a 6% increase.

Prices in USD remained relatively stable over the month of December compared to November for maize grain and vegetable oil, while the average price reported for sugar beans and unrefined maize meal increased by 4% and 9% respectively.

Post published in: Agriculture

“Month on month inflation rate in December 2020 was 4.22 percent, gaining 1.07 percentage points on the November 2020 rate of 3.15 percent,” the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency revealed Monday on its official Twitter account.

In his 2021 budget presentation to parliament last November, Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube projected Zimbabwe’s annual inflation to close the year at 336 percent.

Inflation topped 837 percent last July, but fell to 761 percent in August following the introduction of a foreign exchange auction trading system which brought stability to the foreign exchange market.

Inflation has since maintained a downward spiral.

Zimbabwe’s economy is expected to grow by 7.4 percent after a projected 4.1 percent contraction this year.

Post published in: Business

Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) notes with great concern the arbitrary and insensitive incarceration of the Mayor of Harare and former CiZC Coordinator Cllr Jacob Mafume.

The Coalition feels that the right to liberty and free and fair trial are fundamental rights as enshrined in our constitution.  The inhuman incarceration comes at a time when news from the Mayor’s lawyer and Medical Doctor state that Cllr Mafume’s health has deteriorated drastically.

The Coalition wants to state in no unequivocal terms that the right to health is sacrosanct and must be accorded even to those in prison. The delay to try Cllr Mafume and exposing him to inhuman and degrading treatment must be condemned with the contempt it deserves.

The Symptoms that Cllr Mafume is showing are akin to Covid19 pandemic infection considering the living conditions in our prisons.

The constitution states that one is innocent until proven guilty, but in Cllr Mafume’s case, he has already been tried, convicted and sentenced. The state must not use the Ian Smith’s Rhodesian tactics to silence or punish its political opponents through persecution by prosecution.  The recent arrests of freelance Journalist Hope Chin’ono and Zengeza West MP, Hon. Job Sikhala, MDC Alliance Spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere proves our assertion.

The refusal by the High Court to release a passport to former Vice President, retired Army Commander, Dr.  Constantino Guvheya Nyikadzino Chiwenga’s wife Mary Mubaiwa to receive specialist medical attention outside the country in December 2020 attests to the state’s violation of human rights with impunity.

We call upon the state to allow Cllr Mafume access to health care, a free and fair trial without inordinate delay.

We also call upon the state not to use judicial capture as a weapon to punish and interfere with cases that involve those in the higher echelons of power.

We implore the state to seriously consider Mary Mubaiwa’s condition and lead by example in protecting the rights of women and their health.

We finally urge the state to provide adequate PPEs and humane conditions not only to  Cllr Mafume but all prisoners in Zimbabwe.

Post published in: Featured

 

UK in Zimbabwe also raised concern about Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume’s continued detention since 11 December. Using microblogging site Twitter UK In Zimbabwe tweeted:

MDC Alliance national spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere has been arrested and is currently at Harare Central Police Station, according to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.

Posting on Twitter this Monday, Nyasha Musandu said members of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Law and Order visited the home of Mahere on Sunday but she was not in.

HARARE, Zimbabwe

Poor wages, a devalued currency, and intimidation are haunting journalists in the southern African country of Zimbabwe.

With over a decade of experience as a freelance journalist under his belt, Thomas Madhuku, 35, has faced imprisonment and harassment from law enforcement agencies, and has faced numerous attacks while performing his duties.

Just last year, he was attacked at a press conference organized by student leaders over the abduction of Tawanda Muchehiwa, a Midlands State University journalism student.

“We were covering a press conference by ZINASU [Zimbabwe National Students Union] leaders who were demanding answers on the abduction of Muchehiwa. My phone was taken away by some militia with the assistance of the police,” he told Anadolu Agency.

It is not only the bouts of harassment at the hands of authorities and militia, but low wages are also impacting the journalists’ working conditions.

“I think the work environment is not ideal. The remuneration levels are too low to survive. Employers are also struggling because the media sector has been affected the most by current economic challenges,” said Madhuku.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Nkosana Dhlamini, editor of news portal NewZimbabwe.com, said that journalists are becoming victims as they often expose rights abuses against the public.

“In terms of wages, there is general despondency within the fraternity. They are often paid in the resented local currency,” added Dhlamini.

Serious threats from authorities

Landlocked Zimbabwe, the scene of much turmoil over the years, has seen its dollar drastically lose value against the US currency. At the current rate, 85 Zimbabwean dollars equal $1.

Such is the fear of intimidation that a top journalist reporting for an international news agency chose to speak on condition of anonymity about the crisis.

“Zimbabwe’s journalists are poorly remunerated, with many of them only able to make it to live the next day,” the journalist told Anadolu Agency on the condition of anonymity.

“Further, so-called handlers have turned many of them into lapdogs deciding what stories they should or should not write.”

“Zimbabwean journalists face serious threats from those in positions of power who want to use them as mere pawns in the game of politics,” said Mlondolozi Ndlovu, head of the Young Journalists Association.

He said those in power feel journalists should take positions that suit them, which affects those who report objectively and expose misdeeds by those in power.

“In terms of wages, journalists are some of the least-paid personnel, as they receive peanuts from both the privately owned and publicly owned media,” said Ndlovu.

Some earn less than $50 per month, which is not enough to take care of their personal needs and makes them more prone to corruption, he added.

Regime change makes no difference

Journalist Lucy Yasini said even in the wake of the 2017, the end of late President Robert Mugabe’s era of despotism, there has been no respite for journalists.

“The situation has not changed much as compared to the previous regime. What is new are the faces in power, but the tactics towards journalists are still the same. They are treated like enemies when they write in a way that is critical to those in authority,” Yasini told Anadolu Agency.

She said the country’s weak economy has affected the media industry as well.

“As we speak, some journalists are failing to even put food on their table,” she explained. “In the end, media owners are paying journalists next to nothing due to the non-performance of the economy leading to reduction of revenue flows into these companies, thereby affecting the quality of stories published or broadcast by media houses.”

On Friday Hopewell Chin’ono, a prominent Zimbabwean journalist known for covering corruption, was arrested by state security, his third such arrest in only six months.

He had exposed corruption in procurements related to combat COVID-19. His coverage led to the resignation of Health Minister Obadiah Moyo, accused of diversion in multimillion-dollar deals to procure essential supplies to fight the pandemic.

Last April, Tabani Moyo, director of the Zimbabwe office of Media Institute Southern Africa (MISA), said constitutional rights are on trial as journalists and media workers are being persecuted. He said the government of Zimbabwe must uphold the country’s Constitution and see to it that those that violate it are held accountable.

MISA promotes and defends media freedom and freedom of expression across the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region.