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11.6.2020 10:24
“I am the father of Cecilia Chimbiri and Joana Mamombe and Netsai Marova are now at Harare Central. There has been an assault of myself and my three daughters including Lawyer Rose Hanzi by riot police in Central police station.
The charge is alleged to be that they lied that they were kidnapped. This total grievous harassment and manhandling of us is totally horrendous.
God of the people help us WE CAN’T BREATHE THE POLICE KNEE IS ON OUR NECK.”
Post published in: Featured
FILE PHOTO: Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa arrives for the presentation of the 2020 National Budget at Parliament Building in Harare,
By MacDonald Dzirutwe
Zimbabwe’s worst economic crisis in more than a decade and rising public anger have stoked concern the military, which ended Mugabe’s more than three-decades rule in November 2017, might step in again.
Giving its first news conference since being formed in 2013, the NSC said speculation was intensifying that Mugabe allies living in exile were plotting a comeback with the help of elements in the military and the opposition.
The NSC is chaired by President Emmerson Mnangagwa and its members include security ministers and military chiefs, who were present at Wednesday’s media briefing.
“For the avoidance of doubt, there is no coup in the making,” Kazembe Kazembe, the home affairs minister in charge of the police and an NSC member, told reporters.
“We would like to take this opportunity and assure the nation and international community at large that Zimbabwe … is peaceful and stable internally.”
The 2018 elections were supposed to end Zimbabwe’s pariah status with the West, but Mnangagwa’s government has been accused of resorting to Mugabe-era tactics of heavy handedness against opponents.
The main opposition accuses the government of using a coronavirus lockdown to erode political rights.
Kazembe said the authorities would tackle those spreading a “medley of falsehoods”.
Without naming them, he accused some foreign embassies in Harare of misleading their capitals on affairs in Zimbabwe and relying on the opposition and former ruling party officials in their intelligence gathering.
“They also have, in the process, brazenly jettisoned any semblance of diplomatic impartiality and finesse in blatant violation of the peremptory norms of international law,” Kazembe said.
Firstly, I am a grounded democrat who will never ever buy into coups. This is the reason why I was a spectator and did not participate in the November 17, 2017 facade. I amongst many, recused myself from the deception of the time, for I knew what it was. The involvement of the military in the politics of the nation in the history of mankind has led to the undermining of the very foundations of democracy in many states. In my study of history at University level, coups have never been a panacea to democracy and happiness of the people.
It was surprising that Kazembe Kazembe in his lack of understanding of my persona threatened my person in the company of our National Security Services Chiefs who are the people’s final line of defense. He stated that myself and my exiled brother Saviour Kasukuwere peddle lies about an imminent coup in our country. This statement is not only a lie but delusion of grandeur. I am grounded in the people and believe in people power not any other force. When I saw my brothers from the Security Services Chiefs in his company, I became proud because General Valerio Sibanda and Police Commissioner General Godwin Matanga and other luminaries of the liberation struggle represent the dreams of the people of Zimbabwe as the liberation struggle was fought for the liberty of its people and their happiness. Their constitutional duty is to be the people’s shield and the territorial sanctification of Zimbabwe. No one disputes their immutable value today and tomorrow to Zimbabwe. They remain the pillar of the security and safety of Zimbabweans. The target politicking of Kazembe Kazembe won’t work in the 21st century to tarnish political contenders and besmirch their reputation in the eyes of the people. All power is grounded in the people and I am on the side of the people and they will stand with me throughout these threats. Let it be reassured. I will never walk this journey alone. I will be with the people behind me.
I have told the people of Zimbabwe several times that my life is under threat and in danger. Some did not take it seriously and others thought it was political grandstanding. I ended up informing my employer the Law Society of Zimbabwe about the security threats and dangers around my life. Many a times, I have escaped assassination attempts on my life through road accidents, maltreatment and torture. I am being trailed on a daily basis by unknown individuals.
My freedom as a person has long been lost. I no longer have a social life but that will never dissuade nor deter me from speaking on behalf of the voiceless and the oppressed. Our people need happiness and their cry is that Zimbabwe belongs to everyone and all of us. We all need a share of the national cake and happiness.
It is cowardice to try and silence everyone into submission when our country is being looted dry right in our eyes. The resources in our country belong to every Zimbabwean. They are not there for the loot of the few. I represent that voice of a starving soul throughout Zimbabwe. Our people are suffering. They need happiness in their lifetime and it is that voice and reason why I speak on their behalf. I speak on behalf of the poverty stricken unemployed youth. I speak on behalf of the starving vendor, a suffering farm labourer, a peasant farmer whose produce has been reduced to nothing, a teacher whose salary can only afford a bar of soap, a packet of matemba and 2 litres of cooking oil, a soldier whose life is so difficult that they are no longer able to send their children to school. A police officer who after the end of the month is not able to make his wife and children happy. University and college graduates who have become faces of destitution. Zimbabwe is filled with sorrowful faces, souls and hearts. They cry everyday for their liberty, freedom and joy. This is a society I am prepared to die for. No matter the amount of intimidation, I will never relent on my calling by God to fight on behalf of the oppressed.
In light of these threats, by this response, I have informed domestic, regional and international authorities about the danger of the threat to my life by the ZANU PF regime through Kazembe Kazembe. Cry Zimbabwe cry. We shall be free one day.
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A young boy walks past a wall with graffiti urging people to wear face masks in Harare, Thursday, May, 28, 2020. Manhunts have… (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
Today 622 RDT screening tests and 552 PCR diagnostic tests were done.
Therefore, to date, Zimbabwe has 320 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including forty-nine recoveries and four deaths.
The cumulative number of tests done to date is 55 709 (32 904 RDT and 22 805 PCR).
Stay at home and avoid going to crowded places. Where people come together in crowds, it is more difficult to maintain physical distance of at least 1 metre.
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Tuesday 9 June 2020 marked day 72 of the national lockdown declared by President Emmerson Mnangagwa and has been in place since 30 March 2020. The Ministry of Health and Child Care reported an increase in the number of confirmed cases increased to three hundred and fourteen (314). The number of cumulative tests done stood at fifty-four thousand five hundred and thirty-five (54 535). Of these, fifty-four thousand two hundred and twenty-one (54 221) were negative. The number of recoveries increased to forty-six (46) and the death toll remains at four (4).
2.0 Methodology
Information contained in this report is derived from the following Forum Members:
The Embassy of Zimbabwe in Abu Dhabi issued a statement on 8 June advising that Ethiopian Airlines has agreed to repatriate Zimbabweans stranded in the United Arab Emirates. The flight is expected to depart for Zimbabwe on 13 June 2020. The statement further advised that all Zimbabwean nationals will be subject to a 21-day mandatory quarantine either in private or government quarantine centres.
In Masvingo, it was reported that vendors have moved back to their usual vending cites throughout the city. Vendors were observed at Chitima market and pavements at major shopping centres throughout the city including Majange, Rujeko and Siski shopping centres. It was also reported that some of the bars have resorted to sellig alcohol through the back door beyond the stipulated opening time for businesses. At Rujeko and Majange shopping centres, patrons were seen sitting at the back of the shops after having purchased alcohol through the back door.
In Chipinge town centre, it was reported that illegal foreign currency dealers have flooded street corners despite the heavy police and military presence in the town. It was allaged that the illigal foreign currency dealers have resrted to paying lawenforcement officers on patrol USD10 bribes per day to allow them to operate.
Chief Coordinator of the National Response to COVID-19 Dr Agnes Mahomva addressed Cabinet and indicated that security will be improved at quarantine centres to stop returnees from escaping. Dr Mahomva further indicated that part of the new measures to avoid further escapes by returnees include the surrendering of travel documents by returnees. Dr Mahomva also called upon the Ministries of Health and Child Care, Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, and of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, to assist in ensuring that quarantine facilities have maximum security.
The Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Senator Monica Mutsvangwa has advised that the start of the phased reopening of primary and secondary schools has been set for Tuesday 28 July to allow the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to engage Treasury and other stakeholders to mobilise for the provision of adequate resources. Senator Mutsvangwa also advised that the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (ZIMSEC) June examinations will still run from June 29 to July 22. This means that only Form Six, Form Four and Grade Seven classes will resume at the end of July with Lower Six, Form Three and Grade 6 pupils coming in three weeks later. Other pupils will move back into their classrooms in three more phases.
Government cancelled a USD60 million contract for the supply of test kits and other COVID-19 sundries awarded to Drax International. Drax has been paid close to USD1 million for COVID-19 personal protective equipment supplied to NatPharm. In a letter addressed to NatPharm Managing Director Flora Nancy Sifeku, Ministry of Health and Chief Care Acting Secretary Gibson Mhlanga directed the cancellation of all contracts for the supply and delivery of medicines and surgical sundries by Drax. This comes after investigative journalist Hopewell Chin’ono exposed the fraudulent contracting of Drax International without the necessary tender process being followed.
3.2 Abduction Update
Honourable Joana Mamombe together with MDC Alliance youth leaders Cecilia Chimbiri, and Netsai Marova appeared at Harare Magistrates Court on 9 June 2020 for the hearing of the state’s application to vary their bail conditions so that they surrender their passports. Magistrate Muchuchuti ordered the trio to surrender their passports to the court to allay the State’s fears that the trio could escape from Zimbabwe.
4.0 Arrests
In Masvingo, nine (9) MDC Alliance district members were arrested and detained at Masvingo Police Station were they were charged with violating the lockdown regulations. The nine (9), Mundoga Manners, Kudakwashe Matavire, Elias Munosiyei, Tizirai Nhenga, Chongore Johannes, Dziva Timitia, Tsengamhare, Ngorima Joel and Russel Mudoro were all released after paying a fine of ZWL600 each.
5.0 Summary of violations
The table below summarises human rights violations documented by the Forum Secretariat and Forum Members from 30 March to 9 June 2020.
| Nature of Violation | Number of Victims | Location |
| Assault | 264 | Harare, Zvishavane, Masvingo, Bulawayo, Wedza, Chinhoyi, Zaka, Gweru, Chitungwiza, Bindura, Nembudziya, Chiredzi, Marondera, Mutoko, Chivi, Bikita, Zvishavane, Mvurwi, Mutare, Marondera, Beitbridge, Domboshava, Wengezi |
| Attack on Journalists | 16 | Mutare, Gweru, Chinhoyi, Harare, Chiredzi, Masvingo, Beitbridge |
| Arrests | 444 | Masvingo, Gokwe, Gweru, Bulawayo, Chinhoyi, Hwange, Harare, Magunje, Lupane, Norton, Bikita, Mutasa, Chitungwiza, Nkayi, Makoni, Chipinge, Beitbridge, Lupane, Tsholotsho, Mwenezi, Guruve, Hwange, Murwi, Kwekwe |
| Malicious Damage to Property | 2 | Harare, Chitungwiza |
| Abductions | 3 | Harare |
6.0 Conclusion
The Forum is concerned with the growing number of COVID-19 confirmed cases at the backdrop of the reopening of schools and tertiary institutions. The Forum urges government to adequately prepare for the reopening of schools to avoid the spread of the pandemic within academic institutions.
The Forum also urges community members to abide by lockdown regulations relating to social distance and the wearing of masks.
Post published in: Featured
11.6.2020 6:22
While other citizens are arrested for having been blocked from entering their offices
According to the Zanu PF and Government-controlled newspaper, the Herald of 10 June 2020, a Zanu PF meeting held in Chinhoyi “provided all the members with exemption letters for use during the lockdown”. Earlier, The Herald of 13 April 2020 quoted Minister of State Security Owen Ncube warning members of parliament and councillors against issuing travelling exemptions to people during Covid-19 induced lockdown, saying that this is tantamount to flouting the regulations.
According to the position outlined by the Government of Zimbabwe, exemption letters should only be issued by the Police and District Development Coordinators upon request by persons who have a serious need to travel, but because as Zanu PF officials always preach, they control the army, the police, the courts and everything else, so they can break whatever rules are in place and get away with it. Zanu PF can issue business to friends and relatives of the senior officials without following due process too.
Zanu PF officials can issue exemption letters for people travel as they wish during the lockdown, while MDC Alliance officials are arrested for going to work at their offices?
This selective application of law and regulations stinks, and is the reason why Zimbabwe finds itself in the situation that she does.
Do we have a government in Zimbabwe? To everyone who is Zanu PF, aren’t you ashamed to be in a party that willfully violates Government regulations, while you go out of your way to accept the illegal, unconstitutional recall of MDC Alliance parliamentarians?
The World is watching. God is watching!
Post published in: Featured
Navigate the latest changes to federal and state laws, regulations, and executive orders; ranging from Banking & Finance to Tax, Securities, Labor & Employment / HR & Benefits, and more.
Navigate the latest changes to federal and state laws, regulations, and executive orders; ranging from Banking & Finance to Tax, Securities, Labor & Employment / HR & Benefits, and more.
Ed. Note: Welcome to our daily feature Trivia Question of the Day!
How many states are currently planning on administering their July 2020 bar exam?
Hint: The number of states represents 37.3 percent of the July 2019 test takers.
See the answer on the next page.
(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Attorney General Bill Barr thought he could end the Michael Flynn prosecution by canning all the hard-working Department of Justice prosecutors and having a flunky declare that the government is dropping the case. A case that they’d already won.
That’s… unusual.
And it’s also the sort of thing that requires leave of the court.
Debevoise partner John Gleeson, a former Eastern District of New York judge, joined the Michael Flynn case at Judge Sullivan’s invitation to, in a nutshell, provide an independent answer to the question of whether or not Judge Sullivan should grant leave to allow the DOJ to walk away on the brink of sentencing and, separately, whether or not Flynn should be held in criminal contempt for now claiming that he wasn’t telling the truth when he admitted under oath to committing crimes.
So what did Judge Gleeson think about the DOJ’s arguments for dropping the case? A little inside baseball here, but the word “pretextual” gets prominent billing and that’s not good for the prosecution:
The Government’s ostensible grounds for seeking dismissal are conclusively disproven by its own briefs filed earlier in this very proceeding. They contradict and ignore this Court’s prior orders, which constitute law of the case. They are riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact.
Twitter is replete with lobotomized non-lawyers (and sometimes just bad lawyers) trying to sell the cockamamie theory that Flynn was entrapped by some sort of illegal government sting operation. The basic tenets of this argument don’t hold up to scrutiny — the dates don’t even match up in most cases — but they’re still bleating about FBI collusion.
Judge Gleeson found collusion alright. But not where those folks think it is:
Rule 48(a) was designed to “guard against dubious dismissals of criminal cases that would benefit powerful and well-connected defendants.” In other words, the rule empowers courts to protect the integrity of their own proceedings from prosecutors who undertake corrupt, politically motivated dismissals. That is what has happened here.
Corrupt. Hooboy.
If Trump wants his buddy cleared, all he has to do is pardon him. There’s a constitutional process sitting right there! It would still smack of corruption, but there’s nothing anyone can really do about it. But instead, Barr cooked up this scheme that ends up failing to accomplish the goal and obliterating the reputation of the Department of Justice in the process. These people are the Wile E. Coyote of politics.
Oh, and what about that criminal contempt claim?
The Court has also asked me to address whether it should issue an order to show cause why Flynn should not be held in criminal contempt for perjury. Flynn has indeed committed perjury in these proceedings, for which he deserves punishment, and the Court has the authority to initiate a prosecution for that crime.
It was hard for even the most ardent MAGAheads to deny that Flynn’s two confessions under oath weren’t lies. Prosecutors can put defendants under duress but a sophisticated government official with high-powered Biglaw counsel can’t really retreat to the “oh, I had no idea what I was doing” defense.
The good news for Flynn is that Gleeson isn’t recommending a separate contempt charge, suggesting that Judge Sullivan just add it to his consideration of the sentence for the underlying crime.
(Check out the whole thing on the next page.)
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
Welcome listeners to this COVID-19 Special Report podcast presented by our friends at Wolters Kluwer and hosted by Evolve the Law Contributing Editor, Ian Connett (@QuantumJurist).
This report features Ken Crutchfield, Vice President & General Manager of Legal Markets at Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory US, who has more than 30 years experience at the convergence of software and information technology
Listen in as Ken and Ian examine the new role of a general counsel in a post-COVID legal environment and what legal professionals should be keeping in mind as we begin to reopen our economy. All of this and more on this week’s COVID-19 Special Coverage Podcast.