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CHIVHU district development coordinator (DDC) Michael Mariga yesterday stripped two MDC Alliance councillors of their posts and barred them from attending council meetings after they defied orders to resign from the civil service following their victory in the 2018 harmonised elections. BY MIRIAM MANGWAYA Edwin Maseva (ward 11) and Emmanuel Punungwe (ward 10), who are both primary school teachers, were stripped of their titles just before the beginning of the Chikomba Rural District full council meeting. Addressing other councillors during the meeting, Mariga said Maseva and Punungwe had failed to comply with a directive from the Public Service Commission (PSC), which ordered them to resign from the civil service 30 days following 2018 their electoral victory or stop serving as councillors. According to a letter dated April 15, 2020, written by the PSC secretary Jonathan Wutawunashe, which Mariga read out to councillors, civil servants serving as councillors would be violating the Constitution and the Public Service Regulations Statutory Instrument 1 of 2000 as stated in Circular 10 of November 2018. “Given the fact that it is a misconduct to engage in any other employment or service for remuneration without the written consent of the commission, it is advisable that you act immediately to correct the situation,” the letter read. “For avoidance of doubt, the commission hereby directs that as a civil servant, you should cease to serve as a councillor with immediate effect. Failure to comply with this directive will result in disciplinary action taken against you.” Maseva said Mariga had misdirected himself by relying on an old prohibition order which had been overtaken by events. “We are still in talks with the PSC on this issue and we have also engaged lawyers. As it is right now, the DDC’s dismissal is null,” Maseva said. Punungwe described the decision by PSC to dismiss them from council as part of political persecution of opposition officials. “This is a selective application of the law aimed at pushing certain agendas. I wonder why PSC decided to fire us from council instead of the civil service,” he said. Following the PSC directive, three Zanu PF councillors in Buhera Rural District Council who were also teachers, resigned recently from the civil service to continue serving in council. Follow Florence on Twitter @FloMangwaya
\t On Friday, internet and international calls were cut off across the West African nation in anticipation of the election results, according to locals and international observers in the capital, Conakry.
\t This was the third time that Conde matched-up against Diallo. Before the election, observers raised concerns that an electoral dispute could reignite ethnic tensions between Guinea's largest ethnic groups.
A BREAST cancer survivor is often referred to as someone who previously had cancer, but no longer shows signs of the disease. GUEST COLUMN:Mackintosh Chigumira However, it can as well refer to an individual living with, through and beyond cancer. This means cancer survivorship begins from a point one is diagnosed with cancer. Breast cancer has been so much associated with pain, psychological trauma and in worst cases scenarios, death. However the big question still remains, can one can survive the severity of this most dreaded disease? In exploring these possibilities, there are quite a number of factors which are intertwined to define the fate of the victim. Having a clear understanding of this disease on how it begins, how it grows attacking other surrounding body organs and also when exactly it can completely get out of control becomes key. This means that there is nothing odd that can happen on an individual’s body which can be ignored as it can define one’s fate. The following key elements are important in the cancer fight: Cancer awareness There are symptoms which have been noted to be common among individuals during the onset of cancer from clinical studies and observations. This formulates the basis of what information one must have about cancer and it becomes the push factor to quickly seek medical attention for further clarification and diagnosis. Knowledge is power and that is the reason why advocacy on “Cancer literate Zimbabweans” is on the rise. When cancer is diagnosed at its early stages it becomes easy to manage or even eradicate and this will determine one’s survival. Many regional and local organisations, and trusts, including Talk Cancer Zim, are tirelessly pushing the agenda to save the nation through imparting the necessary information to the general populace. It is very crucial that this agenda be driven especially at this point and time where focus has been shifted towards the COVID-19 pandemic. The public must as well be watchful and alert not only for the symptoms of the COVID-19, but also of this complex disease. Early treatment The secret behind one’s survival after cancer diagnosis is seeking the treatment earlier. Though some cancers can be so complex even at their early stages, at least they will be easier to manage. The common treatment modalities in cancer management in Zimbabwe are surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. All of these modalities can be used to complement one another for an effective treatment outcome. Each step of treatment can be so traumatising since these treatments can be so radical and burdensome to an already stressed cancer patient. Apart from the stress of being diagnosed with cancer, failure to get treatment in time for a number of reasons can destroy a patient’s spirit and reduce their chances of survival. For example, many people in the country cannot afford the high fees required for surgery and the disease progresses or forces individuals to try alternative medicine. Though radiotherapy can be affordable at government-run radiotherapy centres, 80% of pati
AN increase in the number of novel coronavirus cases has prompted the Government to place the areas of Rae Town in Kingston and Cornwall Courts in St James under 'special area curfew', the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) announced yesterday.The curfew, which took effect at 6:00 pm yesterday, will remain in effect until 5:00 am on November 6, 2020, the OPM said in a release.
Government re-introduction of the forex auction system -- as Zimbabwe effectively re-dollarises - could have disastrous consequences because the country does not have adequate sources of foreign currency, economic commentators have warned.
However, most companies cannot afford the forex auction system and are likely to source forex on the parallel market, fuelling the exchange rate.
On Wednesday, the Ministry of Finance announced the US dollar allowance, while the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya introduced a forex auction system and also directed shops to display prices in both local and foreign currency.
The forex trading system has previously failed and was abandoned in 2005 when then central bank governor Gideon Gono replaced it with the exchange rate float.
Last year, the government introduced a mono-currency system, but self-dollarisation was set in motion because the local currency fast lost value, culminating in the government caving in.
Government has with immediate effect introduced a US$75 Covid-19 allowance for all civil servants while their monthly salaries have been increased by 50%.
All government pensioners will be paid Covid-19 US$30 allowance.
\"With immediate, all civil servants' salaries will be adjusted upwards by 50%.
Additionally; all civil servants to be paid a flat non-taxable Covid-19 allowance US$75.
All government pensioners to be paid a Covid-19 US$30 allowance,\" he said.
Zanu PF will continue with its empty promises.
This time we must say enough is enough to these endless empty promises.
Zanu PF launched its manifesto in 2018, which was totally useless considering what the people were promised by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The Zanu PF government promised to review the working conditions of all civil servants starting with critical areas, but so far, civil servants have been banned from demonstrating, nurses were fired, teachers were threatened.
Taking into consideration all these factors, Zanu PF must not expect to get my vote anymore.
Though born in New York City, New York’s Harlem community, Harry Keels Thomas, Jr. was raised in a middle-class neighborhood in Queens where most parents were civil servants. His mother was a social worker and his father, a World War II veteran, operated small businesses. Thomas finished Brooklyn Technical High School and graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in Worchester, Massachusetts in 1978 with a degree in political science. Upon earning a master’s degree in urban planning at Columbia University, he was employed for three years as an urban planner in the South Bronx.
Encouraged by his supervisor to investigate a career in the US Foreign Service, he passed the government exam and entered the Service in 1984, the same year he married jazz singer Ericka Ovette. His first overseas assignment was as political officer at the US Embassy in Lima, Peru. Later diplomatic postings were at Kaduna, Nigeria; Harare, Zimbabwe; and New Delhi, India. By 2001 Thomas was in the White House serving under US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice as National Security Council director for South Asia. In this capacity, he personally briefed President George W. Bush several times concerning boiling tensions between India and Pakistan. In 2003, he arrived in Dhaka, Bangladesh for a two-year stint as US Ambassador. Back in Washington in 2007, he was appointed as both Director General of the US Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources at the State Department.
In late 2009, Thomas was nominated by President Barack Obama to replace Kristie A. Kinney as U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines. Following Senate confirmation, he presented his credentials to Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on April 27, 2010 at Malacañang Palace in Manila.
The primary focus of his ambassadorship, maintenance of a mutual defense treaty, dealing with matters pertaining to immigration, and promoting economic relations beneficial to both nations, dominated his daily routine. In July and September 2013, near the end of
Last night’s final presidential debate was filled with some facts, a little policy, and plenty of lies and tall tales. A more subdued Trump was on the defense most of the evening, hurling personal attacks and lies that sent fact-checkers into a tailspin. Very rarely was he clear on his policy or vision for America … Continued
The post “Nobody has done more for the Black community than Donald Trump … with the exception of Abraham Lincoln” and other tall tales from the last Presidential Debate. appeared first on Chicago Defender.
LAGOS, Nigeria (AFP) - Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has faced a jihadist insurgency and economic recession, but youth protests that have spiralled into widespread unrest appear to be his biggest challenge yet. The 77-year-old former military ruler has drawn fierce criticism for his slow response as the shooting of demonstrators unleashed chaos in Africa's largest city, Lagos.
Saint Frumentius , Amharic Abba Salama (flourished 4th century, feast day October 27 in the Roman Catholic Church; November 30 in Eastern Orthodox churches; December 18th in the Coptic Church), Syrian apostle who worked to spread Christianity throughout Ethiopia. As first bishop of its ancient capital, Aksum, he structured the emerging Christian church there in the orthodox theology of the Alexandrian school during the 4th-century controversy over Arianism.
A student of philosophy from Tyre, Frumentius and a colleague (possibly his brother), Aedesius, were captured by Ethiopians in about 340. They became civil servants at the court of the Aksumite king, whom Frumentius converted. On the death of the monarch, Frumentius joined the queen’s court as the royal administrator and became tutor to the crown prince, Ezana. Frumentius was empowered to grant freedom of religious expression to visiting Christian merchants from the Roman Empire and was himself permitted to evangelize.
After fulfilling his regency Frumentius visited St. Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, in about 347. Athanasius ordained Frumentius bishop and commissioned him to initiate the cultural adaptation of Greek Christianity’s biblical-liturgical texts to Ethiopic symbols and language. The link between the Egyptian Coptic and Ethiopian churches having thus been established, Frumentius returned to Ethiopia to set up his episcopal see and erect churches. He baptized King Ezana, and Christianity became the official religion of the Aksumite kingdom. Despite the enmity of the Byzantine Roman emperor Constantius II (337–361), Frumentius also worked to repudiate the Arians. The 4th-century church historian Rufinus of Aquileia, by meeting Aedesius later at Tyre, was able to document Frumentius’ achievements, noting that the Ethiopians addressed him as abuna, or “Our Father,” a title that is still used for the patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
The prominent SA actor who was arrested with four others in Limpopo for illicit cigarette trade has been revealed as a Skeem Saam actor.
Diouf, the son of a postman, was a member of the Serer people and a devout Muslim. He attended the well-known Lycée Faidherbe in Saint-Louis, then capital of Senegal, and the University of Dakar. In 1958 he went to Paris and studied law at the Sorbonne. Shortly after his return home in 1960, Diouf joined the civil service and was appointed to a succession of posts, including regional governor (1961–62), secretary-general to the government (1964–65), and minister of planning and industry (1968–70). On February 28, 1970, Diouf, a member of the Socialist Party, became prime minister, a post that had just been reinstated through a change in the constitution. He retained the position for 11 years, and, upon the retirement of Pres. Léopold Senghor and in accordance with the constitution, Diouf became president in 1981.
As president, Diouf stressed cooperation with other African countries. In the early 1980s he oversaw the creation of Senegambia, a loose confederation between The Gambia and Senegal that existed between 1982 and 1989. He gained national prominence as a delegate to the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1983, playing a key role at the June 23 summit meeting, and as that organization’s chairman in 1985–86, when his decisive leadership and moderation restored confidence in the troubled body. He served a second term as OAU chairman in 1992–93, and he was also chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Islamic Conference, and the G-15 nations.
After the 1988 elections, which Diouf easily won, charges of fraud led to violent protests. A state of emergency was declared, and Abdoulaye Wade, leader of the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS), was briefly imprisoned. Unrest continued, however, as the country faced a faltering economy, border tensions with Mauritania, and fighting by Casamance separatists. In the March 2000 elections Diouf was defeated by Wade, thus ending the Socialist Party’s 40-year rule of Senegal. He served as the secretary-general of the International
TOMORROW, the Sadc region in an extraordinary solidarity and for the second year running will be demanding that Western economic sanctions against Zimbabwe be unconditionally lifted. Stir The Pot: Paidamoyo Muzulu This is a huge statement and gesture from the region, but Zimbabweans remain split on the issue and are still worlds apart despite the economic and social havoc the sanctions have wrought on the country. At the turn of the century, Zimbabwe embarked on revolutionary land reform programme — a programme that saw a massive seven million hectares expropriated from white commercial farmers for resettlement of landless blacks. The land question was one of the unfulfilled agreements reached at the 1979 Lancaster House independence conference. The United Kingdom (UK) had undertaken to fund the land reform programme and was supported by the United States. However, the Lancaster House agreement had sunset clauses — clauses that controlled how long the transfer of land should take and that whites for the first seven years of independence had reserved 20 seats in the National Assembly. Land was to be bought on a willing seller, willing buyer basis. The process was slow and frustrating, enraging many who had fought in the armed liberation struggle who started accusing their leaders of selling out or getting closer to the former colonisers. The Zimbabwean government acquired about three million hectares of land in the first decade of independence with financial support from the UK. The restless peasants and veterans of the struggle in 1998 started invading white-owned commercial farms and resettling themselves. Seeing an opportunity to revive its waning popularity among the electorate, the Zanu PF administration endorsed the invasions which were chaotic and, in many instances, violent. Zimbabwe became headline news across the world, inviting the wrath of the UK and the US who immediately started imposing economic sanctions and travel restrictions, accusing the Zanu PF administration of violating citizens’ human, property and political rights. Economic sanctions have been a punishment of choice for Americans against governments that upset the global economic structures. Cuba has suffered an economic embargo since 1960 solely because of its communism and nationalisation of land and industries after Fidel Castro assumed power through a war. Iran, too, has suffered the same fate after its 1979 revolution. More recently, socialist administrations of Bolivia (Eva Morales), Venezuela (Hugo Chavez) and Greece (Alexis Tsipiraz) have faced the same fate. Zimbabwe, in a rare diplomatic feat, has gained the support of Sadc and the African Union to have sanctions against the country condemned. Members of Sadc and AU at the 2020 United Nations General Assembly called for the removal of sanctions against Zimbabwe. Among the countries that openly called for the lifting of sanctions were South Africa, Namibia and Kenya. The sanctions against Zimbabwe, like South Africa’s African National Congress’s former leader Nelson Mandela listing as
By BEN FOX Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Earlier this month, President Donald Trump was predicting on Twitter that this election would be 'the most corrupt' in American history. A day later, the head of an obscure government agency he created offered a much different message. Christopher Krebs, the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, closed an online conference with a warning about 'bad guys, whoever they are,' trying to 'sow chaos, sow doubt' about the integrity of the U.S. election. 'I have confidence that your vote is secure, that state and local election officials across this country […]
The post As Trump casts doubt on election, new agency contradicts him appeared first on Black News Channel.
The City of Milwaukee has canceled trick-or-treating this year as Wisconsin's surge in coronavirus cases shows no sign of improving. Milwaukee will not have designated trick-or-treat times like it has had in the past and the activity will not be sanctioned by the city’s Health Department since it is deemed high-risk during the coronavirus pandemic,... [Read More]
Zimbabwe's doctors and nurses on Friday went on strike demanding salaries in foreign currency.
The health workers’ strike came two days after government awarded civil servants a 50 percent salary increment.
Civil servants have been demanding salaries in foreign currency, citing the collapse of Zimbabwe's newly reintroduced currency.
After a decade of dollarisation, Zimbabwe last year reintroduced its currency but it has been losing value rapidly against major currencies.
“The health workers demand that salaries revert back to the October 1, 2018 levels that were quoted in United States dollars, which is a stable currency that can store value,” the unions said in their letter to the government.
Thousands of Cape Town parents are battling to get their children into a public high school next year.
Spokesperson for Western Cape Education MEC Debbie Schäfer, Kerry Mauchline, says there are 59 761 Grade 7 pupils currently finishing their last year of primary school in public schools within the Cape Town metropolitan districts this year, and only 57 257 Grade 8 pupils who will potentially move up to Grade 9 next year.
Earlier this month thousands of parents in Cape Town received notification from the Western Cape Department of Education (WCED) that their child had not been granted a Grade 8 place in any of up to five schools they applied for, as all the schools were \"oversubscribed\".
One principal at a popular Cape Town public high school, who asked not to be named as he was not authorised to talk to the media, said the school had received more than 1 000 Grade 8 applications this year.
Wynberg Boys' High School and Wynberg Girls' High School have sent notifications to parents whose applications were unsuccessful, asking if they would be interested in having their children attend a new online school next year.
Governor General Sir Patrick Allen says Jamaica should become accustomed to the new way of life ushered in by the coronavirus, which has sent millions of jobs around the world into homes and others into virtual spaces.
Sir Patrick, in an exclusive interview with The Sunday Gleaner, said that even with the pandemic reaching the island, the office of the head of state continues to carry out its full operation, including administrative functions, swearing-in for judges, and handling a flurry of gazettes announcing orders for curfews, quarantine and localised states of emergency.
My work hours have not been lessened as a result of the crisis,” disclosed Sir Patrick, who represents the head of state, Queen Elizabeth, in the island.
We, hopefully, will be a kinder and more gentler society, because this experience pulls all of these qualities out of us, so I do not see why we should revert to those things,” Sir Patrick said.
Sir Patrick called on Jamaicans to exercise tolerance, especially those operating in tight spaces, telling them the viral pandemic will not last forever.
FORMER Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko and his son Siqokoqela have taken the Botswana-headquartered Choppies Enterprises, its distribution centre and Nanavac Investments to court demanding an outstanding US$44 million for their 51% shares in the company. BY SILAS NKALA The family held shares in the supermarket chain before it was pushed out in January last year. Through their lawyer Zibusiso Ncube, Mphoko and his son filed summons at the Bulawayo High Court seeking an order declaring their entitlement to payment of the true value of the 51% shares they held before being booted out. The Mphokos also claimed interest at the rate of 5% per annum from January 9, 2019, when they were unlawfully divested of their shareholding, to date of full payment. In their declaration of the claim, the Mphokos submitted that at all material time, they were the majority shareholders of Nanavac Investments, holding an aggregate of 51% shares. “First applicant (Siqokoqela) held 25,5% shares and second applicant (Phelekezela) held 25,5% shares in first defendant (Nanavac Investments), while the second defendant (Choppies Enterprises) held the remaining 49% of the first defendant (Nanavac Investments)’ shares,” reads the declaration. “In about 2018, a dispute arose between first applicant and second defendant resulting in the second and third defendants instituting legal proceedings against first plaintiff and his wife and the first defendant at the High Court. The second defendant instituted malicious and false criminal complaints to the police, resulting in the institution of magistrates’ court proceedings against the first plaintiff and his wife.” They said the proceedings resulted in their arrest and detention and on January 9 in order to secure freedom, the Mphokos signed a deed of settlement with Choppies Enterprises in terms of which they disposed of their shareholding in Nanavac Investments to Choppies Enterprises. “The deed of settlement between the parties provided that the two plaintiffs were to be paid US$2,9 million by second defendant for the acquisition of plaintiffs’ full rights and title to the first defendant’s shareholding,” they said. “The payment of first applicant’s salary which was due from first defendant had been unlawfully stopped and threats of foreclosure on a mortgage bond in which first applicant had acquired funds from a local bank which the plaintiff could only service if he was not in detention and was receiving his salary from first defendant, the second plaintiff made him sign the deed of settlement in fear of the continued persecution of his son and his daughter in law by second defendant.” The Mphokos said the unlawful deed of settlement understated value of the shareholding they owned in that US$2,9 million offered for the shares constituted about 7% as opposed to 51% of the value of the shares in Nanavac Investments, which was given as US$44 million at the Botswana Stock Exchange. “The second defendant paid the sum of US$2,9 million in local currency, where shareholding was purportedly being acquired
EDITORIAL COMMENT THE realisation of “The Africa We Want” or Agenda 2063 will remain a mirage with several African countries, including Zimbabwe dented by reports of human rights abuses, human trafficking, police brutality on citizens, torture and several other vices that will never lead to achievement of Africa’s 50-year development trajectory. There have been so many hashtags calling for sanity and an end to brutality in Africa which include #ZimbabweanLivesMatter, #EndSarsNow, #CongoIsBleeding, #AmINext, #AnglophoneCrisis, #RapeNationalEmergency, and several others that show the deep-seated problems bedevilling Africa and that will retard its economic and human development agenda. Of course, one may argue that even Europe and the United States have their own problems and there are several hashtags pertaining to those, but the difference is that their economies are developed, and besides, it is always good to copy the best practices. For Zimbabwe in particular, what is saddening is that the government seems to be focusing on the wrong priorities. While it is true that sanctions hurt a nation, it is an open secret that the biggest sanction is government itself which has outrightly refused to listen to the complaints of its citizens. The fact that the government does not want to listen to teachers, doctors and other civil servants when they cry about their poor working conditions, means that the government is their biggest sanction from achieving the development they want. What is more disturbing is that while government will lure other African countries to support its October 25 anti-sanctions agenda, and is also counting on citizens to do so, it is the same government that denies civil servants and other dissenting voices in the country the right to air their own grievances. In Parliament last week, Norton MP Temba Mliswa bluntly said if the Zanu PF government wants MPs to join their cause, then they must first sort out the welfare issues of MPs who are earning $18 000 which is far below the poverty datum line of $20 000. It is sad that Zimbabwe and other African countries like Nigeria which are experiencing human rights abuses are signatories to different African Union (AU) charters like the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, the African Continental Free Trade Area, and several other AU and United Nations charters that emphasise democracy and respect for human rights, but none of those provisions are being implemented. The country has come up with economic blueprints, like the Transitional Stabilisation Programme and its successor the National Development Plan which emphasise re-engagement, democracy and achievement of economic development. This can only be possible if there is a buy-in from citizens. After all, those that implement government policies are mostly the underpaid civil servants that have been crying out for living wages. Africa needs to increase peace and reduce conflicts if it is to achieve the objectives of Agenda 2063. All development should be people centred.
