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Mugabe’s remains should be reburied at Harare monument, court rules

Published

2 years ago

September 11, 2021

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BY MACDONALD DZIRUTWE

HARARE – A Chinhoyi magistrate on Friday ruled that Robert Mugabe’s remains should be exhumed and reburied at the national heroes’ shrine in the capital city, rekindling a row over the late former leader’s resting place.

In May, a traditional chief from Mugabe’s rural Zvimba area ordered that his remains be interred at the shrine in Harare, where the ruling elite and former fighters in Zimbabwe’s 1970s independence war are buried.

Mugabe’s three children had appealed the decision at the magistrate court in Chinhoyi town, 115 kilometres west of Harare.

Their lawyer Fungai Chimwamurombe said magistrate Ruth Moyo dismissed the case, ruling that Mugabe’s children were not party to the proceedings by the Zvimba chief and so had no right to launch an appeal.

“It is a decision we do not agree with. I am consulting my clients and they have a right to appeal,” he told Reuters.

Decisions of the magistrates court can be appealed at the High Court.

Once feted as a promising leader at independence in 1980, Mugabe’s long rule divided Zimbabweans between supporters who hailed him as a champion of black empowerment, and opponents who cast him as an authoritarian who ran down a once successful economy.

Mugabe’s relatives oppose his reburial at National Heroes Acre, saying the man who ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years until he was ousted in an army coup had expressed fears before his death that some of those who overthrew him would seek to conduct a traditional ritual with some of his body parts.

Chimwamurombe said Mugabe’s wife, Grace, had separately sought a review of the chief’s ruling and the case will be heard in Chinhoyi on September 21.

Chiefs in Zimbabwe have jurisdiction over their local subjects but it is rare for them to order families to exhume bodies for reburial. – Reuters

News

Chinese-funded power plant expansion project in Zimbabwe set for commissioning

Published

2 months ago

August 2, 2023

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BY XINHUA

Zimbabwean Energy and Power Development Minister Soda Zhemu said here on Monday that prolonged power cuts are “now a thing of the past” in Zimbabwe following the completion of Hwange Thermal Power Station Unit 7 and 8 expansion project.

Chinese firm Sinohydro undertook the project, adding 600 MW to Hwange Thermal Power Station, the country’s largest coal-fired power plant.

The project will be commissioned by President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Thursday.

Zhemu said at a press conference that recent media reports predicting a return to prolonged power cuts after August were false, as Zimbabwe is now guaranteed adequate power supplies in the short-to-medium term.

He said Unit 7 is already feeding into the grid after the successful completion of tests in June and is now commercially available for operation. Unit 8 is also undergoing a similar test and is expected to be available commercially by August or September this year.

“So there is no way that we are going back to the past where we used to experience long hours of load shedding,” Zhemu added.

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Five die in Binga traffic accident

Published

2 months ago

July 17, 2023

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BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI

A Stallion Cruise bus overturned in Binga on Sunday morning killing five passengers on board, police have revealed.

According to witnesses, the bus which was travelling to Bulawayo was reportedly speeding when the accident happened.

National police spokesman Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said the bus overturned and landed on its roof in the Sikalenge area between Siabuwa and Binga centre.

“The ZRP confirms a fatal road traffic accident which occurred on 16/07/23 in the morning near Masumo Bridge, Samende area, Binga in which a Stallion Cruise bus travelling from Siabuwa to Binga overturned,” Nyathi said.

“The ZRP confirms that five people were killed whilst the number of injured is yet to be ascertained.”

The bus reportedly veered off the road at a sharp curve near the Masumu River bridge at around 7AM.

The accident comes barely a week after the same bus caught fire in Mutare on July 11 and all passengers escaped unharmed.

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Zimbabwe declares its own load shedding over, but locals are sceptical

Published

3 months ago

July 5, 2023

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BY AFP

Zimbabwe’s government on Tuesday announced a sudden end of blackouts that have crippled businesses and left millions of households without electricity for up to 19 hours a day.

The information ministry said a cabinet meeting had “noted with satisfaction” that the power utility “has announced the end to load shedding as a result of the interventions implemented” by the government.

The statement did not give details of the steps taken to end the load shedding.

The southern African country has for years been reeling under severe power shortages.

They worsened late last year when the main electricity supply, a hydro plant at the giant Kariba Dam in the north, suffered very low water levels caused by recurring droughts.

In March the power utility company said it had launched a new 300MW coal-fired unit with Chinese finance in a bid to ease repeated power outages.

But Zimbabweans greeted the news of the end of outages with scepticism, as some said they were sitting in the dark as the announcement was made.

One Zimbabwean @sammie541 tweeted “funny (be)cause we actually don’t have…(electricity) now”, adding her Harare neighbourhood had been without power since Monday.

Other Zimbabweans questioned on Twitter if the announcement was not strategically timed ahead of national elections due next month.

The country goes to the polls on August 23 to elect a president and legislature.

Eighty-year-old President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who replaced strongman ruler Robert Mugabe in 2017 after a military-led coup, is seeking re-election.

But he faces a disaffected population that is battling hyperinflation, poverty and high unemployment.

Official figures placed inflation at 175.8% in June, up from 86.5% in May, but Johns Hopkins University professor of applied economics Steve Hanke believes real inflation in Zimbabwe is more than 1 000%.