Controversial preacher Passion Java and Zimbabwe Youth Presidential Support Organisation president, Tempter Paul Tungwarara, have pledged to offer loans to youths who come up with viable business plans. The duo made the promise on Monday at a private club where Java donated belated Christmas gifts to the elderly, orphans and the vulnerable. They said the loans will range from US$500 to US$3 000 and beneficiaries will be expected to repay the loans within six months. Chitungwiza, Java’s home town, is set to be the first to benefit, next year, before the programme cascades to the rest of the country. Said Tungwarara: The program will target all the youths, vendors, miners and all professionals and experts engaged in commodity selling in all parts of Zimbabwe. Java said
THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) yesterday revealed that it registered only 2 000 new voters in 2021, a drop in the ocean in the face of various campaigns by political parties and civic groups to register first-time voters. The ruling Zanu PF and opposition parties rolled out voter registration campaigns during the course of the year to register millions of first-time voters ahead of the 2023 harmonised elections. Zanu PF has set a target to increase the number of its registered voters to five million to ensure a 65% election victory.The main opposition MDC Alliance is targeting six million voters. A number of voter registration awareness campaigns running under various hashtags were launched in November ahead of the suspended Zec mobile voter registration blitz which
EXILED former cabinet minister Jonathan Moyo, wrote to MDC Alliance secretary general Charlton Hwende and his leader Nelson Chamisa strongly chastising them over the party's failure to respond to a story by NewZimbabwe.com exposing how they were wrangling over his role in assisting the opposition party during the 2023 general election. The article expose how senior MDC Alliance members were sharply divided over Moyo's offer to train 44 000 of their polling agents amid fears by some of the top brass that not the best foot forward as he count not be trusted. The article also revealed that Chamisa's co-deputies, Tendai Biti and Welshman Ncube, as well as firebrand deputy national chairperson Job Sikhala were highly antagonistic to the idea of working with Moyo. Sources in
Zanu PF and MDC-T will next year share the $500 million Treasury allocated under the Political Parties Finance Act with the split based on the number of constituency seats in the National Assembly. According to Treasury’s blue book, which goes into the ultra-fine detail of how the Budget is spent, qualifying political parties have been allocated $500 million, with the threshold being five percent of the total votes in a general election. Only Zanu PF and MDC-T led by Senator Douglas Mwonzora qualify. Zanu PF is set to get away with the largest share of the money given that it enjoys a comfortable two thirds majority in the National Assembly. A rough calculation depicts that Zanu PF will get almost $400 million while MDC-T will pocket at least $100 million. The Mwonzora
The National Prosecuting Authority suffered a fresh blow on Tuesday in Marry Mubaiwa’s trial on fraud charges when a High Court judge denied he had issued her a marriage licence or certificate without the knowledge of her estranged husband, vice president Constantino Chiwenga. The prosecution alleges that Mubaiwa fraudulently tried to procure registration or upgrade of her marriage to Chiwenga from an unregistered union to a marriage under the Marriage Act [Chapter 5:11] by misrepresenting to the marriage officer that her husband had consented to the registration, well knowing the same to be false. Through the alleged misrepresentation, she allegedly induced the then Acting Chief Magistrate Munamato Mutevedzi to prepare marriage licences and complete the marriage register in pr
GOVERNMENT doctors have certified Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga’s estranged wife Marry Mubaiwa fit to stand trial, but her lawyers dismissed the medical report as dubious. Mubaiwa was recently remanded in custody for 10 days pending a medical examination to ascertain her mental preparedness to stand trial. Her lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa challenged her detention in a bid to secure her release. Prosecutor Tafara Chirambira told the court yesterday that medical examinations by prison doctors Moses Kadhau and Itayi Macheka showed that Mubaiwa was not suffering from a mental illness. “Your worship, a medical report by two government doctors — Moses Kadhau and Itayi Macheka — shows that the accused is fit to stand trial. The State is now ready to set
South Africa’s Cabinet on Wednesday resolved to discontinue the issuance of special dispensation permits which had been extended to over 200 000 Zimbabweans working in that country since 2009. However, it decided on a 12-month grace period at the expiry of the current ZEP on December 31. In a post-Cabinet statement today, the Cabinet spokesperson Ms Phumla Williams said those Zimbabweans who previously benefited from the special dispensation permits were now free to apply for other permits appropriate to their particular status or situation. “Cabinet considered the much-talked about ZEP and also noted the fake news being spread on these permits,” she said. “The first Zimbabwean special dispensation started in 2009 and was called the Dispensation for Zimb
The High Court on Monday ordered the release from 10-day custody of Vice President Constantino Chiwenga's estranged wife, Marry Mubaiwa, who was detained by a magistrate for the purposes of undergoing a mental examination. Mubaiwa is facing a string of trials on separate charges, but her lawyers said she is no physical or mental state to sit through the trials. The National Prosecuting Authority contests this, and last week filed an application before magistrate Lazini Ncube for her detention for 10 days so that she can be assessed by two state doctors. On appeal, two High Court judges on Monday ordered her immediate release after making highly critical remarks of Ncube. Said Mubaiwa's lawyer Doug Coltart: "Justices (Benjamin) Chikowero a
Controversial founder and leader of Goodness and Mercy Ministries Prophet T Freddy has been arrested by police on allegations of rape. Prophet T Freddy stands accused of sexually assaulting 33-year-old ZBC Radio presenter Rutendo Makuti on several occasions after her husband died in 2019. A local publication has since shared a video of the self-proclaimed man of God arriving at the court with his lawyers. Prophet T Freddy’s arrest comes just a few days after Rutendo filed a rape complaint claiming the self-proclaimed man of God sexually assaulted her. According to the police memo, Rutendo claims that the Goodness and Mercy Ministries preacher forced himself on her on several occasions after her husband died. Rutendo revealed that a couple of months after her husband
It never rains but pours for Prophet T Freddy who is now under investigation for rape allegations. This comes after a 33-year-old ZBC Radio Zimbabwe presenter Rutendo Makuti Mubweza filed a rape complaint claiming the self-proclaimed man of God sexually assaulted her. Rutendo claims that the Goodness and Mercy Ministries preacher forced himself on her on several occasions after her husband died in 2019. According to the police memo, Rutendo told the police that sometime in November 2019, she sought spiritual assistance from Prophet T Freddy after her now-deceased husband fell ill. She revealed that Prophet T Freddy gave her money to take her husband to the hospital after his health did not improve from prayers. Unfortunately, her husband passed away shortly after getting admitt
