Steve Mnuchin is worth about $400 million. This is clearly not enough, even with the speaking fees, and the wife’s movie career looks more likely to expand rather than fill the gap. Looks like it’s time to join his former colleagues in monetizing those four years of “public service” even more directly than he already has.
Morning Docket 02.25.21
* A lawyer has pleaded guilty to billing a state for more than 24 hours of legal work in a single day. Maybe he had a time machine… [ABA Journal]
* Donald Trump, Jr. was deposed as part of an investigation launched by the DC Attorney General concerning the use of funds for President Trump’s inauguration. [CNN]
* The Supreme Court is evaluating a major case about when police can enter a home without a warrant. [NPR]
* A class action has been filed alleging that insurance companies charged excessive rates for car insurance during the pandemic. [ABC News]
* The Texas Attorney General is in hot water for allegedly heading to Utah while Texans were without power last week. At least he didn’t go to an international resort like other politicians from Texas… [People]
Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothmanlawyer.com.
Veterinary Services Department neglects farmers despite theileriosis outbreak in Masvingo – The Zimbabwean
The local farmers who spoke to Community Tolerance and Reconciliation and Development (COTRAD) expressed concern over the lack of commitment by Government’s Veterinary Services Department -towards the prevention of the persisting theileriosis, a tick-borne disease. Theileriosis which is caused by uncontrolled ticks killed hundreds of cattle in Chatsworth and other parts of Gutu last year. The disease hit many districts of Masvingo Province in January 2021. The farmers say the government’s veterinary service department, which is responsible for the provision of animal and zoonotic diseases surveillance, animal health risk management, and animal health and protection has failed its mandate.
The department is failing to frequently provide adequate dipping chemicals to dip tanks despite continuous outbreak of tick-borne diseases. During the rainy season cattle are supposed to be dipped at least once every week so as to break the cycle of ticks. “As famers we call upon the Government and the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement to ensure the supply of quality dipping chemicals, livestock dosses and vaccinations to the Veterinary Service Departments and closely monitor the distribution of these chemicals to avoid corruption and diversion of use. The dipping chemicals which are rarely supplied to our local dip tanks do not remove all ticks, therefore we doubt the quality of such chemicals.” said one farmer.
Farmers are buying their own cattle dipping equipment, chemicals and vaccination despite paying cattle tax to the government to enjoy veterinary service. Long queues are seen at Veterinary and other shops which provide livestock health education and chemicals in Masvingo town with farmers from different districts even with COVID-19 lockdown restrictions that prohibits the movement of people. Exemption letters written by other traditional leaders are not being considered by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) at checkpoints. Therefore, some small holder and peasant farmers from rural areas are reportedly failing to access town to purchase cattle vaccinations due to lockdown restrictions.
COTRAD encourages the famers and the dip tank committees to engage the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement and Veterinary Department when having such concerns. The Veterinary Service Department is responsible for promoting bio-security, animal health and welfare for the benefit of the livestock industry through implementing risk management measures for prescribed animal diseases and pests control, and building and maintaining physical veterinary infrastructure such as dips, animal handling facilities.
Post published in: Agriculture
Magistrate attacked with hammer in own home over alleged affair – The Zimbabwean
PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Magistrate Tamara Chibindi was treated for head and hand injuries following the frenzied attack at her home on Tuesday afternoon, legal sources said.
“She was badly injured on the head and one of her hands. She received some stitches in hospital,” the source said.
An irate Thelmor Mudhefi accused the magistrate of romping with her husband, prominent Mutare lawyer Chris Ndlovu.
Mudhefi, who was arrested, has in turn filed a complaint against Chibindi with the Chief Magistrate Munamato Mutevedzi.
Chibindi declined a request for an interview on Wednesday.
Judicial Service Commission secretary Walter Chikwana said he was unaware of the incident, adding: “If a complaint was made, it would have gone to the Chief Magistrate who is yet to bring it to our attention.”
Post published in: Featured
Safeguard’s roller shutter doors keep buildings secure – The Zimbabwean
The standard roller shutter is often used by supermarkets to close up the shop front after the shop has closed. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and consequent need for greater control and sanitising the hands of those entering shops, many of these shutter doors are currently left closed even during business hours.
Shop windows can be protected at night by a perforated roller shutter, where the slats are separated, enabling window shoppers to see what is in the shop window, while the shutter provides security against smash and grab thieves.
Where the shopfront is vulnerable to rain, transparent polycarbonate strips with custom made gaskets can be inserted between the slats to prevent rain entering the vents.
Safeguard also has aluminium or wood shutter doors for houses, where the slats can be opened or closed in a similar way to blinds.
It has too a wide range of garage sectional doors made up of several sections, which go up and fold under the garage roof, and of course the very reliable Xpanda range of folding security doors
Post published in: Featured
Journalists A Priority In Zim’s Covid-19 Vaccination: Cabinet – The Zimbabwean
Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Monica Mutsvangwa made the announcement during the post Cabinet press briefing at Munhumutapa Building in Harare on Tuesday.
The Information minister said that journalists were accorded essential service status through Statutory Instrument (S.I)93 of 2020, thus their role has made it necessary for them to be included in the vaccination’s first phase.
“Cabinet has approved the request by the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services to include journalists in phase one of this vaccination because journalism is listed as an essential service in S.I 93 of 2020 and the media plays a crucial role in providing information that saves people’s lives,” she said.
Last week the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zimbabwe engaged the government to prioritise and include journalists in its vaccination rollout programme.
“Journalists, together with other essential priority groups, are frontline workers that need to be prioritised as well as given the critical role they play in keeping the nation informed on developments and measures the government is taking to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.”
“In any case, the media, by virtue of its fundamental and normative role of informing and educating, is key to the coverage of the immunisation rollout.”
“The media can, therefore, not be left out for later consideration as journalists will be reporting from the frontline as the country rolls out immunisation of the essential groups identified to receive the first jabs,” they said.
Post published in: Featured
Dreaming of Zimbabwe: Stories from the diaspora – The Zimbabwean
Nearly 24 years ago, Lance Guma came face to face with a gun.
A man had followed him out of the main post office in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, before attempting to provoke him into an argument. Lance was 22 years old.
Lance remembers the gunman threatening to pull the trigger before shrugging and telling him nonchalantly: “You’re making too much noise.”
He was certain it was a warning. As a student leader at Harare Polytechnic College, Lance had spoken openly about police brutality and advocated for an increase in student grants.
He didn’t bother to report the incident to the police.
“This is what happens to activists,” Lance, now 46, explains over a Zoom call. “They (the state) will create a pretext to do something to you and you will struggle to link it to your activism because they’ll make it so random.”
That was the first time he contemplated leaving the country, but it was not the last.
Student activism
When he was 20, Lance had enrolled to study broadcast journalism.
He quickly delved into the world of student activism, participating in a wave of student protests in response to the country’s worsening economic situation and police brutality.
During his first year at the Polytechnic, he met Lawrence Chakaredza, a student leader known as Warlord, who attended the nearby University of Zimbabwe. At just 5 feet, 5 inches, Warlord was a skilled orator and a legend among the student body for always being at the front of a protest.
Famed for wearing a helmet he had wrestled from police during a protest, Warlord organised demonstrations against police brutality and in support of increasing student grants.
His fearlessness inspired Lance, and together they protested against the infamous Scottish doctor Richard McGown, nicknamed Doctor Death, in 1995. McGown had carried out more than 500 anaesthetic experiments on Zimbabweans between 1981 and 1992, including administering epidural morphine to children. He was accused of killing at least five people, including two-year-old Kalpesh Nagidas, a Zimbabwean of Indian descent, and 10-year-old Lavender Khaminwa, who was Kenyan-born.
Despite being arrested in 1993, McGown still had not been convicted nearly two years later. Lance had been following the case and met with the parents of Lavender Khaminwa. Soon after, Lance, Warlord and another student activist, Pedzisai Ruhanya, decided to go on hunger strike. Joining protesting crowds at the trial, the three students sat outside the courtroom, where they refused to eat or drink for five days. Worried for his health, Lance’s parents drove the six hours from their home in Bulawayo to try to convince him to stop, but he refused.
The hunger strike helped the case make international headlines. But, despite their efforts, McGown, who was found guilty of two cases of culpable homicide, was sentenced to just 12 months in jail, six months of which was suspended. He was released on bail after one day as he attempted to appeal against his conviction. The appeal failed, and McGown ended up spending a total of four months in prison.
Many Zimbabweans were shocked by the light sentence, which they believed highlighted continued racial inequities in the country.
All these years later, Lance’s anger is still raw as he remembers the case. “Someone can’t come from Scotland and experiment on Black patients in Zimbabwe,” he says.

Lance Guma and Lawrence ‘Warlord’ Chakaredza; the portable radio on the side was used to listen to ZBC and BBC broadcasts about the hunger strike [Photo courtesy of Lance Guma]
A few months after the hunger strike, Lance successfully ran for secretary-general of the Student Representative Council (SRC). Along with Pedzisai, who was elected SRC president, he led several demonstrations to demand the government raise student grants.
“We wanted to shut the town down,” Lance says with a laugh.
“We ran constructive demonstrations, and we were the first SRC to increase our grants. We were at the peak of our powers.”
He laughs at the memory of him and five other SRC members running Ignatius Chombo, then minister of higher education, out of his office, during one of the protests. “He was basically avoiding us and pretending he wasn’t there,” he recalls.
Blacklisted and beaten
After graduating from college, Lance hoped to put his broadcast journalism degree to good use. But he had already been blacklisted by the state-owned ZBC – the only broadcasting company in Zimbabwe.
He eventually found work as a TV correspondent for foreign media organisations. In 2002, he covered Zimbabwe’s presidential election for CNN. It was a particularly tense and close election and when the incumbent, President Robert Mugabe, declared victory, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, Morgan Tsvangirai, accused him of rigging the vote. Security forces were sent to patrol the streets. Foreign media organisations, CNN among them, were critical of how the elections had been conducted.
Six months later, on his way home from an interview with UK-based radio station SW Radio Africa, Lance was attacked by six men on a bridge that linked Arcadia, a suburb of Harare, to the main railway station.
“They hit me with a brick on the head, stabbed me with a screwdriver in the back and took my phone and wallet,” Lance recalls.
It is unclear who the attackers were or what they wanted, but Lance suspected the attack was connected to his coverage of the elections.
This time, he reported it to the police, who he says dismissed the attack as a mugging without investigating it.
For Lance, it was the final straw. He had a wife and children now and felt the risk of staying in Zimbabwe was just too high. In 2003, he and his family packed up their lives and fled.

Lance stands outside his home in the UK in November 2020 [Photo courtesy of Lance Guma]
‘A thorn in the flesh’
They landed in Scotland, where Lance already had some friends, and he found work in a cake factory.
“It was cold. And you know, there was a time where I seriously debated with whether I could survive that sort of climate and say this is my new home,” he recalls.
Two years later they moved to London.
Lance had taken up an offer to work for SW Radio Africa, considered by many to be an anti-Mugabe station. Founded by Zimbabwean journalist Gerry Jackson, it reported on current affairs and told stories that might otherwise get journalists in Zimbabwe arrested. Much of their content comprised of telephone conversations with people on the ground.
“The government were jamming our transmission on shortwave, because obviously we had this situation where they have a monopoly on broadcasting,” he says.
“We were a thorn in the flesh of the government,” he adds, proudly.
Lance left the radio station in 2012 to focus on Nehanda Radio, a project he had initially founded as a hobby in 2006. Today, he runs the radio and website, which provide 24-hour news on all things Zimbabwe.

Lance with Zimbabwe music legend Thomas Mapfumo for Nehanda TV in Leicester, UK in March 2013 [Photo courtesy of Lance Guma]
‘The most difficult moment’
Despite being more than 8,000 miles away, Lance’s activism still has its consequences.
In 2009, his mother passed away and he was not able to attend her funeral because of his precarious position with the government. “That is the most difficult moment I’ve had to endure,” he reflects.
But sometimes he feels as though danger can still reach him, like the time he says an anonymous Facebook page claimed a hitman had been hired to assassinate him.
Still, he feels safer in the UK than in Zimbabwe.
A military coup forced Mugabe from power in 2017, but the climate for journalists and dissidents has not improved in the years since. He reels off a list of those facing persecution: Hopewell Chin’ono, a journalist and anti-corruption campaigner, who was arrested for a series of tweets that encouraged people to attend an anti-government rally and charged with inciting violence; Jacob Ngarivhume, a Zimbabwean politician, who was arrested alongside Hopewell; Job Sikhala, an outspoken government critic who went into hiding after appearing on a police wanted list and was later arrested; and Joana Mamombe, a politician who was abducted and tortured after speaking out against the government’s failure to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I am able to do my job from where I am. I don’t have to be in Zimbabwe to be effective,” he says.
It has been a difficult time for many Zimbabweans. Extreme poverty rose from 30 percent in 2017 to 40 percent in 2019, according to The World Bank. Child poverty has reached a record high of 70 percent in the country. At the end of 2019, the unemployment rate was 16.4 percent and this has only worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, a joint report by the European Union, FAO, OCHA, UNICEF, USAID and WFP highlighted dire levels of food insecurity, estimating that 4.3 million rural Zimbabweans are going hungry.

Lance interviews MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai in London in October 2013 [Photo courtesy of Lance Guma]
Lance confesses that there are moments when he feels the exile community is not doing enough. “The Zimbabwean exile community is letting Zimbabwe down. You know it was actually the exiles who led the movement that helped to free South Africa,” he says.
He feels there is so much more to be done.
“Exiles have an opportunity to lead something special. To take advantage of the freedoms in the countries where they are, whether you’re in South Africa, UK, or Canada. You have the freedom to lobby, to advocate, and put your motherland in the discourse to be discussed. There is a large population [of Zimbabweans] in the diaspora and we are not taking advantage of where we are,” he says.
While Lance does not see the Zimbabwe he once went on hunger strike and marched for, he does not hesitate when asked what he misses most about home. “The food,” he says. “It tastes better.”
Tawana Zendera: ‘I didn’t know I was Black until I came to the UK’

Tawana stands for a picture [Photo courtesy of Tawana Zendera]
Twenty-seven-year-old Tawana Zendera moved to England in 2002 when she was eight years old. Her parents had left two years before, while Tawana and her siblings stayed behind with their uncle and maid.
The first thing Tawana saw when she arrived in England were Zimbabweans. Their parents’ four-bedroom terraced house in Bedfordshire was filled with brown faces like her own. Little did she know it would not be like this in the rest of her small, majority-white town. At her school, she was one of four Black children.
In Zimbabwe, Tawana and her family had been firmly upper-middle class. They lived in a four-bedroom bungalow on one-and-a-half acres of land that had been purchased by her grandfather, who Tawana says was the first Black person to own property in the Harare suburb of Belvedere. Her father was an engineer for Air Zimbabwe and they went on family holidays three or four times a year.
In England, however, her Blackness made her “other”.
“I didn’t know I was Black before I came to the UK,” Tawana says with a laugh. She shakes her head, her brown eyes looking up every so often as she chooses her words carefully. “I guess that’s the privilege of being in the majority – you don’t have to think about how you fit in because you just do.”
She felt the privilege she had enjoyed slip away.
“I realised that in the UK I am not benefitting from the generational wealth that my grandparents built up. We basically had to start from scratch. Being working class isn’t something that we anticipated,” she says.
Tawana recalls being in a shop as a child when another girl asked her how old she was. At the time, Tawana’s Zimbabwean accent still lingered over her words and when she replied, she says the girl gave her a dirty look and then ignored her. “Even though I could speak the language I realised I am not privy to the culture and the nuances,” Tawana says.
As she watched her mother navigate her job as a primary school teacher at the school Tawana attended, she noticed that she, too, was different. “She was more reserved, more guarded. I knew that’s who she had to be to fit into the new environment,” she says.
But there were times when “fitting in” wasn’t an option – like the time when Tawana was 17 and a group of white men called her and her mother monkeys and threw their drinks at them. “We learned to avoid certain neighbourhoods over time just because we knew we would never be received well there,” she says.

Tawana at her uncle and aunt’s house for Christmas circa 1997 [Photo courtesy of Tawana Zendera]
‘This suit of whiteness’
Unlike her younger brother, now 21, and her older sister, 29, who acclimated to England “like fish to water”, Tawana struggled.
“I have had to sacrifice being my true self. I have had to sacrifice my mental health by staying in England. I only feel at home inside my four walls.”
“I feel like I have to wear this suit of whiteness and it has taken a toll on my mental health,” she adds, explaining that she is currently in therapy for anxiety.
Tawana does experience moments of solace when she watches Gringo, a classic Zimbabwean comedy, or has a warm plate of sadza, a staple Zimbabwean food, made for her by her Zimbabwean partner.
The feeling of otherness she first felt when she got to England has never left her. “Over time it has gotten steadily worse, with it affecting the way that I form relationships with people because I always assume that I’m not going to fit in,” she explains.
One of the things she struggles with is Britain’s failure to address its history.
“White people during Black history month would say that England isn’t racist because they’ve never seen anyone being racist and then when I try to explain to them that what we are fighting is institutional racism because that is what England does best, they say that that doesn’t exist either,” she says.
“It’s a constant state of being told that I’m imagining the racist experience that I’m experiencing.”
Michael Chitehwe: ‘My friends sold me an adventure’

Michael Chitehwe in Zimbabwe visiting family in 2018 [Photo courtesy of Michael Chitehwe]
When Michael Chitehwe, now 43, left Zimbabwe, he was looking for an adventure.“I didn’t have a reason to leave,” he says matter-of-factly, speaking from Scotland.
In 1998, Michael was 21 years old and had a comfortable life in Zimbabwe, working at his sister and brother-in-law’s telecommunications company.
But curiosity is a powerful thing, and when he began hearing about friends in the UK who had bought a car or got a mortgage, he was intrigued.
“My friends sold me an adventure and said there were more opportunities,” he recalls.
He left soon after. “My mother only knew the day before I left,” he chuckles slightly.
“I was young, and I had this chance. I thought, if I don’t experience this now, I may not get this chance again,” he says.
Michael first moved to England, where he stayed for five years and studied nursing. But when a job opportunity arose in Scotland, he moved.
He made friends almost immediately. “People just took you for who you were. It was a more welcoming feeling than the other places I’d ever experienced,” he says.
“There’s a lot of community spirit. I quickly managed to integrate in Scotland, and it was just amazing.”
Soon after he arrived, he also found a piece of the adventure he hadn’t realised was missing – his future wife.
Now, he says, “there’s no incentive to go home”.

Michael (right) and his best man at his wedding in Scotland in 2005 [Photo courtesy of Michael Chitehwe]
Michael’s wife and children are Scottish, and he doesn’t want to move them away from the only home they have known. He also enjoys his job as a clinical nurse manager with an addictions team at the NHS, where he has been for more than a decade.
“I like the job because I have a great team that supports me. We support people who are stigmatised by society and changing their lives. As a manager there is a constant demand and changes to be implemented especially with Scotland having the highest drug deaths in Europe,” he says.
He admits that he was worried about how he would be received when he first started the job. “At first it was a bit scary and intimidating as in most meetings I sit in I am the only Black person, but you quickly get over that and Scottish people are the most friendly and helpful people, which makes my job easier.”
Michael has made sure his family stays connected to his heritage as well. “My wife and kids have been to Zimbabwe to visit and they love it. The last time we visited with my wife’s sister and her family and they are dying to come back.”
He says his children “cannot believe the space and freedom there is. My 14-year-old daughter always comments on how happy and welcoming everyone is even when they don’t have much. They also love the wildlife and the food gogo (grandmother) cooks for them.”
Although he has toyed with the idea of retiring in Zimbabwe, for now, Scotland is home.
He says it helps that it has striking similarities with Zimbabwe. “The scenery and friendly nature of the people. A lot of green land, mountains, and rivers. They also love to drink a lot,” he adds, jokingly.
Report shows cigarette cartels in Zimbabwe are a tax threat in SA too – The Zimbabwean
In a report published by the Maverick Citizen, the report titled Report on Cartel Power Dynamics in Zimbabwe, which is authored by anonymous stakeholders in Zimbabwe, details how cartels have crippled state institutions in Zimbabwe and that there is little political will for the matters to be addressed.
It estimates that over $5bn (about R73bn) is lost through corrupt dealings spearheaded by the cigarette, fuel and agriculture cartels in Zimbabwe.
The report details how cigarettes are smuggled into South Africa – where they are no longer liable for 40% excise duty and are then sold cheaper in the local market than locally produced tobacco products.
The report says 27% of cigarettes consumed in SA are smuggled into the country by cartels.
“The main cigarette smuggling cartels consist of 1) political patrons who allow the cartels to operate with impunity, 2) transport companies that ferry the cigarettes and 3) distribution networks in South Africa,” the report said.
The report alleges that the Pacific Cigarette Company, which is owned by Adam Molai, former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe’s nephew-in- law, whose cigarettes are smuggled into the country via rail, road and air, along with Gold Leaf Tobacco Zimbabwe, which is owned by the Rudland family, who also happen to own a trucking company and an airline, FastJet, are some of the main players in the cigarette space.
“Under the (Zimbabwean president Emmerson) Mnangagwa administration, cigarette smuggling has continued to thrive, and the operations of the money men have been unhindered.
“The ban on the sale of cigarettes during the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa significantly increased the market and prices for smuggled cigarettes,” the report said.
It said role players in Zimbabwe who were supposed to address cartel-like behaviour in the cigarette trade space had been crippled.
“A clear majority of the actors whose responsibility it is to address cartel behaviour have become financially dependent on, and complicit in the activities of the cartels.
“Despite the difficulties, there are opportunities for stakeholders to fight cartels, and there are a small number of individuals and institutions with some interest and political will to fight cartels. The Zimbabwean government has very limited political will to stop the cartels, which enable Zanu-PF’s hold on power.
“However, the government also is aware that cartels are a key reason behind the economic crisis that Zimbabwe faces, and the failure of the “Open for Business” mantra to attract meaningful investment in the country,” the report notes.
Noting the impact of the Zimbabwean cartels on the local economy and business, we sent five questions to the South African Revenue Service last week, seeking their comment on the report.
The questions read:
* What measures does SARS have in place in combating the illicit flow of tobacco products from Zimbabwe into South Africa?
* In the past financial year, how much tobacco products has SARS been able to confiscate?
* How serious is the issue of the illicit trade and how big is the threat to SARS?
* Has SARS seen the report and are there any measures in place to address concerns made?
* The Pacific Cigarette Company, which is owned by Zim businessman, Mr Adam Molai, has been singled out as one of the biggest beneficiaries of illicit trade in tobacco. Is Sars aware of this company and is there any update on any such probe?
Anton Fisher, a spokesperson for Sars did not comment on the specific questions and would only say in an e-mailed response on Tuesday morning: “In terms of Chapter Six of the Tax Administration Act, Sars is not permitted to discuss or disclose confidential taxpayer information”.
But a local organisation in South Africa that is concerned and is speaking out against the impact of smuggled cigarettes is the Fair Trade Tobacco Association, which represent local cigarette companies such as Carnilinx, Best Tobacco Company and Afroberg Tobacco Manufacturing.
Sinenhlanhla Mnguni, the chairperson of the Fita, said they were concerned at the state of affairs in Zimbabwe, which had unintended consequences for South Africa.
He said local industries, employers and their employees, the state and its coffers, and ultimately, the citizens of this country, would all feel the effects of smuggling.
“The tobacco industry in large has over the years been vociferous about the exponential increase in illicit tobacco and related products emanating from Zimbabwe in particular, which has been highlighted in the report, and which unlawful practice has been growing at an alarming rate over the last few years, and particularly following the lifting of the cigarette sales ban in South Africa during the lockdown period in August 2020.
“If this situation is allowed to continue unchecked, as currently seems to be the state of affairs, the obituary of many legitimate players in the local tobacco industry will pretty much have been written.
“The situation seems to be getting worse by the day, and all the relevant regulatory authorities appear to have no answers to the challenge posed to them by the criminal syndicates behind these acts,” said Mnguni.
Mnguni said Fita had pleaded with Sars to strengthen security measures at the borders and said the issue needed urgent attention.
“This issue needs urgent addressing as we are seeing a substantial amount of cigarette brands from all our neighbouring countries, but predominantly Zimbabwe, in the market at present and it is clear that there are many officials who are not doing their jobs.
“To this end, we have requested interventions such as the rotation of border control staff, the constant monitoring of officials at all our border posts, and improved screening techniques at our borders.
“We further have, ad nauseam, implored Sars and National Treasury to engage with their relevant counterparts in our neighbouring countries with regards to issues of enforcement and exploring the potential of having a standard excise tax amount on tobacco products in the SADC region,” said Mnguni.
The Pacific Cigarette Company however denies that it is smuggling cigarettes into South Africa.
In a statement, Molai says his hands are clean.
“I have noted with extreme dismay Maverick Citizen’s references to Pacific Cigarette Company and myself in its Cartel Power Dynamics in Zimbabwe “expose”.
“The allegations are completely untrue and without foundation. We would have made this clear had Maverick Citizen afforded Pacific Cigarette Company or myself the opportunity to respond, as required by the press code and good journalism practice,” said Mr Molai.
He said there was no proof his business had ever been part of those involved in smuggling of cigarettes into South Africa and called for proof.
“Pacific Cigarette Company has never been involved in nor in any way condones cigarette smuggling. Our company is proud of its history of democratising the Zimbabwean tobacco industry through introducing contract farming that increased participation to over 85,000 families,” he said.
The report calls on the media and civil society to continue gathering evidence and information into the inner workings of the cartels, exposing other cartels in other industries, producing a documentary and calls on prosecution for those involved in cartel activities and tax evasion.
Author helps promote Zimbabwe’s indigenous languages among diaspora – The Zimbabwean
Sign language should be as important as teaching a child ABCs.
However, in many cases, the majority language of their home country triumphs that of their immigrant parents.
In some cases, the heritage language becomes a passive language that is generally understood by the children but never actively used.
A United States-based Zimbabwean lawyer and author Yeve Sibanda said the major challenge that African migrant families abroad face is that children’s books in their heritage languages are extremely hard to come by.
This lack of diversity in children’s books is what inspired her to start writing children’s books “that resonate with boys and girls of African descent.”
Sibanda said like many other migrant families abroad, she and her husband must navigate the nuances of raising a first-generation, multi-lingual child.
Out of a commitment to teaching her daughter her roots and frustration at not finding quality, modern books in Zimbabwe’s indigenous languages, she decided to write her own book.
Her book “My First Shona and Ndebele Words” is an engaging and easy-to-use picture vocabulary book designed to help readers learn and teach the two primary indigenous languages of Zimbabwe, Shona and Ndebele.
The picture book pairs colorful illustrations with simple first words for readers to learn.
“Traditionally, it’s probably been easier for parents to focus on the language in their new home country because learning resources are easier to find,” she told Xinhua through text message.
“However, as we see more educational resources in African languages, it becomes gradually easier to teach our kids these languages,” she said.
To her, language is intrinsic to the expression of culture.
Besides being a tool of communication, language is also used to convey culture and identity.
Through language, children not only learn about where they are from, but they are also able to learn about their heritage and culture as well, she said.
“It is important for us to embrace our languages because it is a big part of who we are, if we lose our languages we lose a big part of our identity and the things that matter to us as Zimbabweans,” she said.
“So it’s important for us to have resources that help us to celebrate this, otherwise, our native languages are at risk of extinction,” said Sibanda.
With the increasing growth of Zimbabwean families living abroad, there is a growing resurgence of Zimbabweans who want their children to learn their native languages.
The search for greener pastures abroad has seen multitudes of Zimbabweans settling abroad.
It is estimated that there are millions of residents outside of Zimbabwe’s borders who were either born in the country or are descended from immigrants from the country.
South Africa is estimated to have the bulk of Zimbabwe’s diaspora community, with an estimated two million Zimbabwean nationals living in that country, although official numbers from South African authorities are much lower.
Other countries with the biggest Zimbabwean diaspora populations include the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.
Sibanda said it is important for children of these migrant families to see themselves represented in books.
“I think Zimbabwean kids benefit from seeing themselves in literature because it shows them that they matter, their culture matters, their country matters,” she said.
She said there is a dearth of representation when it comes to African stories.
Her work not only teaches children of migrant families to learn their languages but also exposes people from different cultural backgrounds to Zimbabwean culture and traditions.
“So part of the work I am doing is to bring black stories and African stories to the forefront because they matter just as European stories,” she said.
On why she is passionate about languages, Sibanda said “I am really passionate about language because I know first-hand how difficult it can be navigating a different culture without a strong celebration of who you are.”
Nomsa Zuze, a Zimbabwean woman who grew up in New Zealand, said in many African migrant families abroad, the heritage language is often lost by the third generation due to generational differences between immigrant parents and their children.
She said this is because the heritage language is mostly used between the parents, and children rarely learn to read and write in it.
Tawanda Matende, a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe in the Department of Languages, Literature and Culture, said there are a multiplicity of benefits that comes with learning a language earlier in life.
“Introducing a second language to children is most advantageous when it is introduced to them at an early age and in low anxiety situations, containing familiar and easy understood messages rooted in their culture and tradition,” he told Xinhua.
Matende said having two well-developed languages is associated with increased metalinguistic awareness, communicative sensitivity and divergent thinking skills.
“Giving children proficiency in the language spoken in their homes as well as the language spoken by the larger community can benefit individuals and society by increasing cognitive skills, humanistic understanding, achievement, economic benefits, linguistic ability, social skills and political cooperation between groups,” he said.
Unlike the popular belief that simultaneous acquisition of two languages among children is detrimental to their learning experience, he said there are benefits associated with bilingualism.
“Research has shown that very young children who have developed simultaneous bilingualism are able to discriminate and switch between the two languages as appropriate to the social context,” said Matende.
Post published in: Featured
Zimbabwe official on trial for embezzling virus funds – The Zimbabwean
23.2.2021 12:15
Separately, last year health minister was sacked for fraud in purchase of COVID-19 material – Anadolu Agency
Separately, last year health minister was sacked for fraud in purchase of COVID-19 material
HARARE, Zimbabwe
A senior health official in Zimbabwe was arraigned on Monday before a court for misappropriating funds to fight coronavirus.
Portia Manangazira, the director of epidemiology and disease control, faced four counts of criminal abuse of office when she appeared before Deputy Chief Magistrate Bianca Makwande.
The government funds allegedly looted by Manangazira, together with the fuel, were said to be part of the $796,675 disbursed by the Health Ministry for the training of 800 health workers nationwide amid the rollout of a national vaccination program. Manangazira is expected to apply for bail.
Last year, then-Health Minister Obadiah Moyo was dismissed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa after being implicated in a $60 million scandal involving the purchase of COVID-19 material.
A landlocked country in southern Africa, Zimbabwe has so far recorded 35,796 COVID-19 cases and 1,436 deaths, with recoveries exceeding 32,000.
Last week, it launched its vaccination drive by inoculating healthcare workers in the first phase.
Over 200,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine donated by China are being used in the first phase of the campaign, which is mainly targeting people over 60, front-line government workers, and vulnerable groups.
Post published in: Featured