Category: News Feeds

* There is a lawyer who gets to decide whether bottleheads of the pope are allowed to be made. Sounds like a pretty good gig. [Wall Street Journal]

* A New York lawyer who practiced until he was 101 has passed away. [New York Times]

* Wawa has been hit with lawsuits over a massive data breach. Everyone who lives in North Jersey is breathing a sigh of relief… [ABC News]

* An Illinois man who pretended to be a lawyer for five years has been charged with the unauthorized practice of law. [Patch]

* A Florida attorney has been suspended from practice after making anti-Muslim and homophobic remarks. [Miami Herald]

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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.

Church members sing during the Sunday mass at the Roman Catholic Church in Harare, Zimbabwe, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2019, a church that Robert Mugabe regularly attended. (Credit: AP Photo/Themba Hadebe.)

– The EFF plans to become an international party and spread across the continent of Africa

– A former Zimbabwean minister has joined the party, bolstering its efforts to dislodge President Emmerson Mnangagwa

– The EFF adopted a resolution to challenge other governments across Africa at their last elective conference PAY

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) have set their targets on Africa as the party plans to spread their message across the continent. The first country on their list is Zimbabwe after a former Zimbabwean minister, Patrick Zhuwao, joined the EFF. Briefly, .co.za learned that this gives the EFF a legitimate reason to go after President Emmerson Mnangagwa and challenge his rule. “Consequently, I have applied to join EFF as a fighter and ordinary card-carrying member in a branch within Gauteng Province.

I am happy to work as a ground fighter. I do not seek elected office; as a refugee, I am not eligible anyway,” Zhuwao said. “I have already served in senior leadership positions within Zanu-PF from the time I was elected district secretary (similar to subregion) in 1995 and rose through the region, province and national levels to the Zanu-PF politburo. I am putting aside my ego to help Africa develop a political culture that detracts from the entitlement mantra that has become so pervasive in liberation movements. We must fix the continent,” said Zhuwao.

The minister is currently in exile in South Africa and claims that under the current regime Zimbabweans are suffering according to city-press.news24.com. “It’s not just exiled [former president Robert] Mugabe ministers who are affected but other economic and political refugees from Zimbabwe who are scattered throughout South Africa, the continent and the whole world,” said Zhuwao. Zimbabwe is currently plagued by a myriad of problems, ranging from corruption, lack of foreign currency, drought and sanctions.

The scarcity of fuel and power have resulted in the annual inflation rising to 440%, the second-highest in the world. Mnangagwa’s current opposition, Nelson Chamisa, whose ideas differ widely from the president’s, has left the country divided across party lines.

Zhuwao said that while the Zanu-PF is in power and no reforms are carried out it would be an act of futility to contest the 2023 elections. Here is where the EFF enter into the picture.

The party decided at their recent leadership election to take the party international and spread across the continent of Africa. “I agree with CIC Malema’s view that Mnangagwa can be defeated. Chamisa won the 2018 presidential election which was stolen as proven in Professor Jonathan Moyo’s Excelgate book. Whilst I am not a member of MDC, I, however, respect the democratic expression of Zimbabweans who electorally expressed their wish for Chamisa to be president of Zimbabwe,” Zhuwao said. The EFF already have parties using their name in Namibia, Liberia, Malawi and Zimbabwe. The party has already enjoyed some success in Namibia after winning two parliamentary seats.

Post published in: Featured

A Santa Claus sells Christmas decorations in Harare. Photograph: Aaron Ufumeli/EPA

The 28-year-old journalist was filming a banned protest in the capital Harare when it happened.

Opposition supporters were voicing their discontent with the country’s ailing economy when police descended on the crowd with batons.

Mapfumo, who works for the Zim Morning Post, said they ordered him to stop filming.

“I identified myself as a journalist,” he told AFP.

“But the next thing I remember is being dragged into a group of police officers who beat me all over my body.”

Rights groups have accused Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa of persistently violating human rights since he took office in 2018.

In August last year six people died after the army used force against civilians protesting a delay in the announcement of election results.

In January, the army attacked protesters marching against a hefty fuel price hike, leaving 17 dead.

And as Mnangagwa has tightened his stance on dissent, journalists have also suffered repercussions.

“We documented 18 cases of abuse of members of the media this year,” said Tabani Moyo, who heads the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) — up from only one case in 2018.

Most of the incidents involved police officers, he added.

– 263Chat under attack –

The rise of attacks on journalists has brought back memories of the regime under former president Robert Mugabe, whose increasingly despotic rule cracked down on the independent media.

Mugabe was toppled by a military putsch in 2017 after 37 years in power, which led some of the country’s embattled media professionals to hope for better days.

That optimism was short-lived, however.

Costa Nkomo, 30, was injured by police officers in January while reporting on a skirmish with unlicensed street vendors in downtown Harare.

“A policeman to whom I identified myself as a journalist beat me up,” said Nkomo, who was filming for a local news site named 263Chat.

Three months later, baton-wielding policemen chased one of Nkomo’s colleagues into the 263Chat offices for filming a similar incident.

“We managed to push them out of the office,” said Nkomo, who took refuge on the balcony with a dozen fellow reporters.

“They retaliated by firing a tear gas canister into the office and locking the door from outside.”

That incident caused outrage, prompting the government to promise an investigation.

“Our constitution guarantees freedom of the media and government respects the constitution,” tweeted the information ministry after the incident.

– No protection –

Government spokesman Nick Mangwana told AFP the information ministry had “engaged the police over the issue of safety for journalists”.

But he also said police had raised concerns about journalists “causing mayhem” by failing to respect safe distances without clearly identifying themselves.

But the press cards issued by the government to allow reporters to do their job do not always guarantee protection.

In August, journalist Leopold Munhende was arrested alongside a group of rural teachers demonstrating for better pay.

“A policeman grabbed me by the belt and ordered me to join the teachers,” said Munhende, who was detained for seven hours.

“I produced my accreditation card, but he wasn’t interested.”

Munhende said an officer told him that he needed permission from the police to cover the demonstration.

“It’s that kind of ignorance of the law that is disturbing,” he added.

Munhende never reported the incident: he did not trust the police to investigate their own, he said.

– ‘All kinds of excuses’-

“Any journalist who is abused by the police should report the matter,” said police spokesman Paul Nyathi, adding that perpetrators “should be brought to book”.

Nyathi blamed police mistreatment of journalists who had identified themselves on “operational difficulties”.

He added that “so-called freelance journalists” made it difficult for the police to relate to the media.

But Moyo at MISA, which along with other groups has organised several meetings with police officers, complained about the lack of cooperation.

“The police will make all kinds of excuses, even when (there is) video or picture evidence,” he told AFP.

“They will move the complainant from pillar to post, saying they are trying to locate the implicated officer.

“They pretend to be ignorant and incompetent when it suits them,” he added.

Mapfumo meanwhile has taken matters into his own hands and is now suing the police commissioner general.

It’s the second version that Zimbabweans here in the UK believe is stopping us from coming home – as we would all love to do, especially at this time of year. To be with our families and friends in our own country and its sounds and smells and warmth . . . that’s joy!

But despite Mnangagwa’s vacuous promise that ‘the worst is over’, Zimbabweans know that nothing the President says can be believed and that, as we approach a new decade, the future is still bleak, with little to hope for under a mafia regime drowning in deceit, incompetence and corruption.  

As the New York Times puts it: ‘Government disfunction, and economic meltdown, drought and a calamitous flood has plunged Zimbabwe into a hunger crisis’. The article spells out the desperate situation: “The money here is valueless now,” said Mr. Dunha, who has eight children. All they can afford to eat, he said, are vegetables and sadza. Gerald Bourke, a spokesman for the southern Africa operations of the World Food Program, the anti-hunger agency of the United Nations, said that until recently 60 percent of its assistance to Zimbabweans was in the form of cash, but that the recipients no longer wanted the money. “Inflation is a rampant problem and people said, We’d prefer the food,’” Mr. Bourke said. (See: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/25/world/africa/zimbabwe-hunger-famine.html.)

On the political front, hopes of talks between the government and the opposition faded when Mnangagwa insisted that he would not engage with MDC president Chamisa outside the Political Actors’ Dialogue (POLAD) that he set up with the fringe political parties who took part in the 2018 elections.

Chamisa has said he would never join this grouping and criticised Mnangagwa’s last meeting with POLAD which took place at his Kwekwe farm, where he was filmed, still wearing his silly scarf in the middle of summer, feeding his fish. ‘We must feed the people, not the fish,’ Chamisa said.

MDC faction leader Thokazani Khupe who attended the meeting was accused of supporting the President. Meanwhile a new MDC faction called the MDC Zimbabwe has registered with the Electoral Commission. Its only known member Thulani Ndebele denied he was being used by Zanu PF though most totalitarian states like Zimbabwe are known to create fictitious opposition parties to delude the outside world.

As we end the decade we can report that, after much research the Vigil has failed to find another country with two vice presidents both of whose wives are in jail, one for trying to kill her husband and the other for complaining her husband tried to kill her. It seems a shame that they are not sharing a cell. Domestic bliss in Zanu PF!

Other points

• A glimpse into how much of Zimbabwe’s mineral wealth is escaping government coffers was given by Mnangagwa at an anti-corruption symposium. He said that on a visit to Dubai last month he was told by one company that they had received US$60 million of gold through the black market (see: https://www.thestandard.co.zw/2019/12/22/us60-m-gold-smuggled-dubai/).
• Few as we were at the Vigil, we were encouraged by a visit by fellow long-term human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.
• Thanks to those who came early to help set up the front table and put up the banners: Alice Majola, Chido Makawa, Rosemary Maponga, Charles Mararirakwenda, Margaret Munenge, Ephraim Tapa and Kevin Wheeldon. Thanks to Rosemary for looking after the front table, to Kevin and Charles for handing out flyers, to Chido for prayers and drumming and to Chido and Alice for photos. Thanks to all those who brought refreshments: to Rosemary for bringing a thermos flask of hot water with milk for tea and coffee and to Chido and Heather Makawa for bringing cake and other refreshments.
• For latest Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimb88abwevigil/. Please note: Vigil photos can only be downloaded from our Flickr website.

FOR THE RECORD: 10 signed the register.

EVENTS AND NOTICES:

• ROHR general members’ meeting. Saturday 11^th January from 11.30 am. Venue: Royal Festival Hall, South Bank Centre, Belvedere Road SE1 8XX. Contact: Ephraim Tapa 07940793090, Patricia Masamba 07708116625, Esther Munyira 07492058109.
• ROHR Valentine’s fundraising dinner dance. Saturday 15^th February from 7 pm till late. Venue: to be advised.
• The Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) is the Vigil’s partner organization based in Zimbabwe. ROHR grew out of the need for the Vigil to have an organization on the ground in Zimbabwe which reflected the Vigil’s mission statement in a practical way. ROHR in the UK actively fundraises through membership subscriptions, events, sales etc to support the activities of ROHR in Zimbabwe. Please note that the official website of ROHR Zimbabwe is http://www.rohrzimbabwe.org/. Any other website claiming to be the official website of ROHR in no way represents us.
• The Vigil’s book ‘Zimbabwe Emergency’ is based on our weekly diaries. It records how events in Zimbabwe have unfolded as seen by the diaspora in the UK. It chronicles the economic disintegration, violence, growing oppression and political manoeuvring – and the tragic human cost involved. It is available at the Vigil. All proceeds go to the Vigil and our sister organisation the Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe’s work in Zimbabwe. The book is also available from Amazon.

• Facebook pages:

  Vigil: https://www.facebook.com/zimbabwevigil
  ROHR: https://www.facebook.com/Restoration-of-Human-Rights-ROHR-Zimbabwe-International-370825706588551/
  ZAF: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zimbabwe-Action-Forum-ZAF/490257051027515

Post published in: Featured

FILE: Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Picture: Abigail Javier/EWN

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Friday urged his party members to be wary of rivals of the ruling party seeking to divide the party which has been dogged by factionalism.

“I am aware that our detractors are trying to divide the party by attempting to recruit from within the rank and file of our membership,” Mnangagwa told provincial leaders attending the ruling Zanu-PF party’s annual national conference in Goromonzi, 40 kilometres east of the capital Harare.

“Let us remain vigilant, steadfast and loyal to the principles of the party. Wolves, among us in sheep’s clothing, must be flushed out.”

Mnangagwa’s remarks came after exiled former minister and Zanu-PF political commissar Savious Kasukuwere announced last week that he was planning to return home and challenge Mnangagwa in the next presidential election in 2023.

Mnangagwa blamed the country’s economic troubles on the opposition but said he was unfazed by “attempts by our detractors to derail the course of our reforms and economic recovery.”

Mnangagwa has claimed that the re-introduction of a local currency after 10 years of using foreign currencies would lead to economic stability and growth.

“The party should never be detracted by those who are making irritating noises within the country and those on twitter and other social media platforms. They will tweet and tweet while we rule and rule.”

The conference was held as the country tries to stave off a major economic downturn that has provoked biting shortages of fuel, medicine, and currency as well as surging prices.

State doctors have been on strike for more than two months after rejecting a pay rise offered by the government that they said failed to meet everyday costs.

Mnangagwa accused the leaders of the doctors union of meeting under the cover of darkness and taking bribes from unnamed donors “to make the health care system collapse.”

Fuel prices have increased by more than 400% since the start of the year, and labour leaders say doctors had to use their savings just to show up to hospital each morning.

While the president, who succeeded long-time ruler Robert Mugabe who died in September, has promised to revive the economy, declaring Zimbabwe “open for business”, critics say the country is in a worse situation than it was under Mugabe.

Post published in: Featured

Amna Nawaz:

The International Monetary Fund says Zimbabwe’s inflation rate is the world’s highest, at 300 percent. Many blame the political and economic turmoil on former President Robert Mugabe.

The anti-colonial icon was at the forefront of Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980. But he clung to power for nearly 30 years, presiding over the decline of what was once one of the continent’s most prosperous countries. He was ousted in 2017.

Hope that Mugabe’s successor, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, can reverse the decline is running thin. The government is now scrapping a plan to remove grain subsidies next year, a move aimed at shielding Zimbabweans from the rising food costs.

For more on all of this, we turn to two men who know Zimbabwe well.

Gerry Bourke is the Southern Africa spokesman for the United Nations World Food Program, the lead international agency working to alleviate the food crisis in Zimbabwe. He was just there last week. And Harry Thomas Jr. had a 34-year career as an American diplomat and served as the U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe from 2016 to 2018.

And welcome to you both. Thank you for being here.

Gerry, I do want to begin with you.

Sixty percent of the country’s 14 million don’t have the food to meet their basic needs. You were just there. Tell me what you saw and heard from families on the ground.

It’s amazing how much Zimbabweans are doing with how little they have, and even more impressed t how motorsport is keeping head above water in this place.

Every year I’m blessed to be at most of the major motorsport events in South Africa and there are quite a variety of things to find enjoyable on these trips. Of course, there is the ultra-professionalism of international events and South Africa’s national championships to behold on some days, while other weekends will see you experiencing the camaraderie at club level.

Every venue we go to has got something different to offer. Zwartkops Raceway and the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit brings the benefit of sleeping in my own bed the night before, there’s also the bliss in waking up to the sound of the ocean when heading to Dezzi Raceway, or an early morning hotel view over the Port Elizabeth harbour.

Welkom is a town that I don’t like much at all, but a restaurant there will serve you one of the best steaks you’ll ever taste.

Being originally from Cape Town, there’s always the bonus of catching up with old friends when we go to the Killarney International Raceway.

Image: Reynard Gelderblom/RacePics

And then, there’s the utter enjoyment of going to Zimbabwe

Yes, you’ve read that last word correctly: Zimbabwe. The land of constant political turmoil where prices differ based on the currency you’re paying with. The place where power outages last for 15 hours, but where you can easily skip the impact of this by rather spending that time in your local fuel queue; that Zimbabwe yes.

It will then probably be even a bigger surprise that this is one of my favourite destinations on the calendar. I’ve been to events in both Harare and Bulawayo on numerous occasions and I’m always eager to go back there. Which to some will be quite odd considering that you don’t have that level of professionalism in their national championship as what you would experience locally.

They have a superbike series even though the numbers are always bolstered by some visiting South Africans. There’s a sportscar race, but if the entries are too little, the day will see them sharing the circuit with the Saloon Car Championship. The guy with the best pit setup is probably the one who brought a generator and a gazebo along.

Image: Reynard Gelderblom/RacePics

So what is it that’s so special about the place then? The people.

After nearly 50 years of war, land grabs, hyperinflation, food shortages and a collapse of all major industries, one of the few things that could not be broken is the “Don’t give up” attitude of the average Zimbabwean. This is the way that they approach every daily struggle and why those in charge of Zimbabwean motorsport are persisting to keep the passion going.

In total, Zimbabwe probably has fewer active competitors nationwide than what you’d see at a South African club day in far-off Welkom, yet I’ve never been to an event there with a crowd attendance of less than 10 000. Not bad for a place where the US $5 entrance ticket is five times the average daily wage.

While we’re talking about the last half-century, let’s get to the most recent event on the Zimbabwean calendar; the Toyota Zimbabwe / HP Lubes Bulawayo 3 Hour. December saw the 50th edition of this event.

Through the last 50 years, it was hosted in Harare on a few occasions but settled back at the Bulawayo Motorsport Park for the last few decades. Nowadays starting at 3PM, it has also seen 6PM starts in the past.

The history of the event will be a whole different book to write, but I can confirm that this is the continent’s longest-running motorsport event which also once formed part of the Springbok Series tour.

Image: Reynard Gelderblom/RacePics

In a country that faced this many problems, it’s quite an extraordinary achievement for an expensive sport like motorsport to survive, let alone a single endurance race. And it’s not a small show either. Apart from the usual South African contingent trekking north for this one, 2019 also saw competitors from England, Australia, and New Zealand.

Despite the prestigious stature of this event, it is one of the most relaxed race weekends you will ever experience. It all started on Thursday night with the pre-event cocktail party hosted on the Banff Lodge deck. Friday morning (okay morning-ish) saw the entrants making their way to the circuit where the practice sessions started at 2PM. The evening it was back to Banff for supper, but an early one this time around before the next day’s business end.

Qualifying and racing all took place on Saturday for the 3 Hour, the 1 Hour superbike race and the sprint-race curtain-raisers held before them. Saturday evening, well this was just simply a party with the official prize-giving ceremony on Sunday morning.

One of the South Africans who made his fourth appearance in this race was MotorMart VW Challenge competitor Lyle Ramsay who teamed up with reigning Zimbabwean Saloons Cars Champion, Calvin Rademeyer.

The pair were chasing their third successive Class Saloons B win, however, an engine problem just before the midway mark forced them into retirement. This didn’t hamper the weekend though as Ramsay explains: “We were obviously pushing for the win, but I can still look back on one of the most enjoyable weekends in the 2019 season.

“I took the option of driving to Bulawayo for the event with a week-long holiday with my former local team afterward as well. The friendships I’ve made there over the years keeps drawing me back to Bulawayo. I’ll be honest, ahead of my first outing in 2016 I didn’t quite know what to expect; I mean you always just hear all sorts of stories. But I’ve been pleasantly surprised. This year, for instance, the car we used for travelling around the city had a broken window, yet nothing was stolen out of it. You won’t find that locally that’s for sure.”

Bradley Scorer is well known in South African endurance racing and made his Bulawayo debut in 2019; partnering with Darren Winterboer to the race win: “The Bulawayo circuit is very similar to our own East London circuit with fantastic facilities all around.

“Everyone thinks that Zimbabwe has gone down for good, but coming here you won’t say that at all. All the people I encountered were simply fantastic with a superb sportsmanlike atmosphere around all weekend.”

Image: Reynard Gelderblom/RacePics

My personal experience: After landing back in South Africa following the weekend, I quickly found myself knee-deep in the Centurion floods and with Stage 6 load shedding on the menu. I think the atmosphere was as moody as the Gauteng skies. But while trying to find where I last hid away the candles, I reflected on an awesome weekend with the knowledge that the morning I woke up to African tranquillity in one of my favourite places.

And yes, the people make the place just that much better.

It’s amazing how much Zimbabweans are doing with how little they have, and even more impressed t how motorsport is keeping head above water in this place.

I take my hat off to all those passionately involved with motorsport in Zimbabwe. And if you’ve read this and still don’t believe me, come join me at the Bulawayo Motorsport Park in December 2020. You may just learn a thing or two.

Disclaimer: Wheels24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of columnists published on Wheels24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Wheels24.

Post published in: Featured

Post published in: Featured