Login to BlackFacts.com using your favorite Social Media Login. Click the appropriate button below and you will be redirected to your Social Media Website for confirmation and then back to Blackfacts.com once successful.
Enter the email address and password you used to join BlackFacts.com. If you cannot remember your login information, click the “Forgot Password” link to reset your password.
by RICHARD MUPONDE MDC ALLIANCE secretary-general Chalton Hwende yesterday accused the ruling Zanu PF party of trying to create a wedge between him and party leader Nelson Chamisa as a part of a grand plot to decimate the opposition party. Hwende was responding to allegations raised by former MDC Alliance senator for Midlands Lilian Timveos who accused him of single-handedly destroying the opposition party by abusing senior party members. Timveos, who was the opposition party’s deputy treasurer-general and former senator, officially defected to Zanu PF together with MDC-T secretary for local government, Blessing Chebundo on Wednesday. Timveos claimed that Hwende was in the habit of bullying senior party members during standing committee meetings in the presence of Chamisa, who remained tight-lipped. But Hwende denied the allegations and instead, accused Zanu PF of using the opposition’s “renegades” to destabilise the party. “I know that the current spate of attacks is orchestrated by Zanu PF to put a wedge between the SG and the office of the president,” Hwende said. “It is not surprising as most regimes born out of a coup entrench themselves through co-optation of opposition elements and systematic targeting of their legitimate opponents. We are a natural target since our president (Chamisa) won the 2018 election whose victory the regime stole from us.” He also denied allegations of abuse of party funds claiming the opposition party had “tried and tested systems of deploying financial resources in the party which leave no room for misappropriation of funds”. “I take pride in the systems we have put in place which cannot be manipulated in the manner suggested,” Hwende said. He said allegations that he tormented top executives during meetings to the point of tears and even drove a few to the “absurd, deplorable and treacherous act of joining Zanu PF”, were laughable. “The organ that was singled out by Zanu PF speaking through the renegades, the standing committee, is chaired by the party president,” he added. “For the record, those who have left the MDC Alliance have done so voluntarily without any undue pressure from any quarter. No one was pushed out of the MDC Alliance,” Hwende said. “It must astonish any right-thinking citizen that those who claim to be running away from being insulted in private in the MDC Alliance are joining Zanu PF, a party which has not only insulted them publicly in the past, but has maimed and killed thousands of MDC Alliance supporters. That kind of duplicity and treachery is shocking.” The MDC Alliance has always accused Zanu PF of spending millions of dollars as well as abusing State institutions to destroy the opposition party, allegations the ruling party denies. Follow Richard on Twitter @muponderichard
Nationwide protests have taken place since October 7 despite the disbanding of the controversial Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) police unit.
The demonstrators have been accused of attacking police stations and personnel.
The rallies which are mostly attended by young people have become avenues to vent against corruption and unemployment.
Rights groups say at least 15 people have been killed the demonstrations began in early October.
Observers from the African Union and the Economic Comunity of West African States (ECOWAS) have said Guinea was conducted transparently, despite opposition claims of irregularities.
On Monday, opposition leader Cellou Diallo declared himself winner, saying his own tally gave him a first-round victory over president Alpha Conde.
Diallo’s claim was swiftly rejected by the electoral commission, which called it “premature” and “void”.
Addressing journalists in the capital, Conakry, Augustin Matata Ponyo, the AU’s head of mission in Guinea, said on Tuesday the ballot was held “in transparency”.
\"The elections were held in a transparent, secure, calm and peaceful environment, once again demonstrating the maturity of the Guinean people and political actors\", he asserted.
Tension is building in the country ahead of the release of official results. Diallo's supporters have held celebrations in the capital.
Francis Behanzin, ECOWAS' Peace and Security commissioner urged candidates \"to resort to legal avenues\" if they are aggrieved.
THE MDC-T's extraordinary congress set for year-end faces a fresh hurdle with members who constituted the party’s Midlands provincial executive in 2014 demanding that MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa be among the candidates eligible for election.
Nine people, including one police officer, have died in the West African state of Guinea, the security ministry said Wednesday, following days of unrest after a tense weekend presidential election.
In a statement, the ministry pointed to shootings and stabbings in the capital Conakry and elsewhere in the country since Sunday's presidential vote.
\"This strategy of chaos (was) orchestrated to jeopardise the elections of October 18, \" the ministry said, adding that many people had been injured and property was damaged.
Clashes were ongoing in Conakry on Wednesday, where a security officer, Mamadou Keganan Doumbouya, told the press that at least three people had died.
And a local doctor, who declined to be named, said he had received two dead bodies, and nine injured people, at his clinic.
The violence follows the high-stakes election in which President Alpha Conde ran for a third term in a controversial bid that had already sparked mass protests.
With tensions already running high, Guinea's main opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo on Monday declared victory in the election -- before the announcement of the official results, which are expected this week.
Opposition supporters are deeply suspicious about the fairness of the poll, although the government insists that it was fair.
Much of the tension in Guinea centres on Conde's candidacy.
In March, the 82-year-old president pushed through a new constitution which he argued would modernise the country. It also allowed him to bypass a two-term limit for presidents, however.
Security forces repressed mass protests against the move from October last year, killing dozens of people.
On Wednesday, plumes of black smoke rose over an opposition stronghold in the capital Conakry, where protesters erected barricades and lit fires, an AFP journalist saw.
Youths in alleyways also hurled stones at police officers stationed along a main artery who fired back tear gas canisters.
The security ministry stated that \"a police officer was lynched to death\" in a Conakry suburb, without specifying when the attack occurred.
In a social media post earlier on Wednesday, Conde appealed for \"calm and serenity while awaiting the outcome of the electoral process\".
- Clashes and barricades -
Ten candidates are in the race besides alongside frontrunners Conde and Diallo, old political rivals who traded barbs in a bitter campaign.
Despite fears of violence after the pre-vote clashes, polling day was mostly calm.
Then Diallo's self-proclaimed election victory ratcheted up tensions, and celebrations by his supporters descended into violent clashes with security forces on Monday.
The opposition politician said that security forces killed three youngsters that night, although AFP was unable to confirm the details.
Security forces also barricaded Diallo inside his house, the politician said on Tuesday.
Monitors from the African Union and the 15-nation West African bloc ECOWAS both said that Guinea's election was mostly fair, despite insistence from Diallo's camp tha
President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden took the stage Thursday in their last chance to give voters a chance to compare the two candidates head to head. It was the final of [...]
The Commission on Presidential Debates has announced several rule changes ahead of the third and final presidential debate Thursday night.
THE proposed bio bubble concept, which is expected to take the format of a two-week mini-league tournament in December as domestic football returns in a phased approach, has been thrown into uncertainty with Zifa and the government both refusing to take responsibility for the costs of running what will, in fact, be a pre-season tournament. BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA Although the government, through the Sports ministry, greenlighted the resumption of football under strict COVID-19 regulations, it has refused to commit itself to funding the tournament, which is expected to gobble over US$1 million. While the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) has clarified that Zifa and its affiliates will finance the tournament, the football federation yesterday declined to commit itself to full funding of the tournament. The soccer-controlling body said although it would lead the safe return of football, it would confine itself to only funding the testing of players and payment of referees. The pronouncement by Zifa will leave football stakeholders scratching their heads over the balance to cater for players’ accommodation and prize money. “We are grateful for government’s decision to allow the country’s most followed sport to be played, albeit in a staggered manner, because the football ecosystem is critical to the well-being of many individuals and families in Zimbabwe,” Zifa said in a statement. “Zifa is committed to leading the safe return of football by funding the testing of players and paying referees’ fees. We are still engaging government on how other cost centres can be funded to ensure that the return of football happens flawlessly. We are optimistic that government and other stakeholders will collaborate with us to allow the safe return of football. We are hoping that teams can return to training by October 26, 2020 if all engagements go on smoothly. Thereafter, it has been agreed that six weeks of preparations will take place before actual matches commence. The bubble tournament could not have come at a better time because it will give our Warriors technical team the opportunity to select a competitive squad for the 2021 African Nations Championship.” Zifa’s stance follows SRC’s earlier position that the soccer-controlling body and its affiliates would have to mobilise resources for the mini-league tournament. “The Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) hereby gives you notice, following your application, that the Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation approved the gradual and phased resumption of football activities effective the 16th of October 2020 in line with the provisions of Statutory Instrument 2020,” read the communiqué addressed to Zifa general-secretary Joseph Mamutse. “Please note that the approval at this stage is for the following: premier league teams, women soccer league teams and national soccer teams.” The Felton Kamambo-led Zifa is sitting on a huge windfall after collecting COVID-19 relief funds from both Fifa and Caf. The association has only disbursed a portion of the money to affiliates in l
In Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Sarasota, St. Petersburg and many other Florida communities, voters lined up before the polls opened Monday.
A local survey has found there is a growing pandemic fatigue and greater complacency in compliance with public health measures, increasing the unnecessary risk of exposure to Covid-19 during the lower lockdown levels.
The Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA) says the region continues to adequately safeguard the well-being of vector-control workers as they work to destroy mosquito breeding sites, in the face of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Regional...
