CHIPANGALI CELEBRATES 40th ANNIVERSARY

The Chipangali Wildlife Orphanage organisation yesterday celebrated the 40th anniversary at the Hillside Dams in Bulawayo.
The event was a hive of activity with a huge number of people flocking to the celebrations, which started at 10am and ended at 5pm. A number of animals from Chipangali Orphanage were brought for display at the event.
It was characterised by people showcasing art displays, including Girls’ College school of art, the sale of different wares, a marimba group band and drawing competitions for children.
In an interview with Southern Eye during the event, the Chipangali Orphanage director Nicky Wilson revealed that the orphanage had in the past 40 years cared for and released more than 500 animals into the wild.
“We have released a number of animals in these 40 years and this includes 120 hedgehogs, around 100 tortoises, around 200 birds and other animals,” she said.
Wilson said the organisation had a passion for animals and was engaged with various schools around Bulawayo and rural Matabeleland.
The organisation provided primary pupils and secondary students with educational programmes about wild animals and the Chipangali orphanage.
“We have achieved a lot in these 40 years and we even partnered with Oregun Zoo in the United States, which donated eight sets of sporting kits to schools we are engaged with,” she added.
The wildlife orphanage was established in 1973 by the late ex-game ranger Vivian Wilson and his wife Paddy. Its primary function is to offer a home to orphaned, abandoned and sick wild animals.http://www.southerneye.co.zw/2013/08/04/chipangali-celebrates-40th-anniversary/

EIGHT ZANU SUPPORTERS KILLED,56 INJURED

EIGHT Zanu PF supporters died on the spot yesterday in Norwood along Tsholotsho-Bulawayo Road when an overloaded truck they were in veered off the road and overturned.
Fifty-six others were injured in the same accident, police confirmed. The Zanu PF supporters were travelling to a party hosted by outgoing Umguza MP Obert Mpofu in Nyamandlovu.
The dead included six adults and two children.
According to sources, the accident occurred near Norwood area at the 38km peg around 10am.
The injured were rushed to Mpilo Central Hospital and United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) where they were admitted. Police national spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba last night confirmed the incident.
“The truck driver lost control at a bend and the vehicle veered off the road killing eight people on the spot,” she said.
Meanwhile, Mpofu said he would assist families of the victims with medication and burial costs. He visited some of the injured at Mpilo and UBH last night. A moment of silence was observed at the rally attended by about 10 000 people.
http://www.southerneye.co.zw/2013/07/29/eight-zanu-pf-supporters-killed-56-injured/

MIXED FEELINGS OVER VOTER REGISTRATION

The just-ended voter registration exercise has drawn mixed feelings from Bulawayo residents, with those who had failed to register labelling the process as chaotic, saying they were not happy with the process.
The intensive 30-day voter registration exercise ended yesterday and it was not without controversy.
In separate interviews with Southern Eye at registration centres characterised by winding queues, some disgruntled residents said they had failed to register while others expressed satisfaction over the exercise.
There was drama at Tennyson Primary school registration centre in Hillside suburb when a middle-aged man was left frustrated.
Bradley Frederick crumbled his registration documents in frustration and furiously threw them down before storming out of the voter registration centre before he had registered.
“I am very frustrated because they are denying me my right to vote, these ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) officials are not informing me well about what I am supposed to do, but are just good at confusing me further,” he fumed. I came here early in the morning with all my proper documents including proof of residence affidavit, but they keep on telling me different things.”
Frederick said it was always the same story with ZEC, as they aimed to frustrate the citizens so they would end up giving up.
“I have totally given up and am no longer going to vote because they have denied me that right. I will no longer try to register, I am tired,” he said.
Another resident identified as DD Makgatho said the queue was hardly moving when he turned up to register, saying this was frustrating some potential voters.
“The queue was not even moving and the same people in the queue were stuck to one spot. Some ended up leaving due to frustration and frankly, I was one of them,” he said.
Makgatho said this was the third time he had tried to register and it was always the same story as nothing productive was going on in the area.
Walter Moyo at Luveve’s Beit Hall said he had turned up early and he was not going to give up until he had registered.
“I am going to vote so that Zimbabwe will change and I will not give up because this is the last day for registration,” he said.
Matthias Hiyashe said he was happy that he had been given a chance to register.
“This is such a relief and I am very happy because I came here early in the morning determined to register and I was successful, I am done with everything,” he said.
Sikhumbuzo Nyoni at Beit Hall said he had gone to check his name on the voters’ roll but had given up as the queue was too long.
“The officials should have had separate queues for those who came to check their names and those who came to register, but there is just one long queue,” he lamented.
Nyoni said he had failed to check his name on previous occasions because he was tied up at work.
ZEC officials said there had been an increase in the number of people intending to register in the past two days, with some centres open till 11pm on Monday.
http://www.southerneye.co.zw/2013/07/10/mixed-feelings-over-voter-registration/

RIGGING IS THE ONLY WAY FOR MUGABE WIN-COLTART

MDC Bulawayo East candidate David Coltart has said the large turnouts at President Robert Mugabe’s rallies in Matabeleland and Bulawayo were not an indication that Zanu PF would gain votes from those regions.
In a statement on Sunday, Coltart said the only way Mugabe and Zanu PF could win in Matabeleland was through rigging.
“This morning (Sunday) I read some commentaries suggesting that the size of Mugabe’s rally yesterday in Bulawayo is indicative of revitalisation of support for him in Bulawayo,” he said.
“Had those journalists made their commentary based on the rallies Mugabe has had in, say Marondera or Chinhoyi, then they might have had a point, but to base it on the turnout in Bulawayo actually illustrates better than anything else the fraud which is before us.”
Coltart pointed out that Mugabe and Zanu PF failed to win in Matabeleland in 1985 even in the middle of the massive threat towards the electorate posed by Gukurahundi.
“Post the unity accord in 1990 and 1995 they won, but only because of the Zapu support, which has since gone,” he said.
“Since 2000 they have not come close save for a few rural seats in Matabeleland.”
Coltart claimed the only reason why Zanu PF received huge attendance of people in their rallies was through tactics of intimidation, false promises to the impoverished, pouring of massive resources into their rallies, employing musicians and even bussing and trucking people in from afar to attend them.
“So it has been through this carrot and stick cocktail that people have been attending these rallies,” the Education minister explained.
“Then in addition, I think there is an element of voyeurism – a bit similar to how crowds gather to watch the aftermath of a traffic accident, Mugabe is an intriguing character to many people, as devastating as his policies have been to Zimbabwe and especially Bulawayo and Matabeleland, many people are intrigued how this 89-year-old continues and will go to listen to him.”
Coltart said he remained concerned about Zanu PF plans to rig because that was the only way the party could win this election.
“They certainly will not win based on the genuine support of people on the ground,” he said.
“I can tell with absolute confidence that in my constituency, at least Mugabe and Zanu PF have minimal support, and the attendance at the rally yesterday bears no relation to the support Mugabe and Zanu PF have on the ground in Bulawayo.”
 http://www.southerneye.co.zw/2013/07/30/rigging-is-the-only-way-for-mugabe-win-coltart/

PUSH FOR FAIR POLL-SADC URGED

A United States-based non-governmental organisation has called upon Sadc countries to revise their preliminary statements and acknowledge flaws in Zimbabwe’s election process.

In a Press statement yesterday, Freedom House Africa said Sadc needed to immediately halt any actions or statements that would legitimise the Zanu PF government until a genuinely independent investigation was conducted into electoral irregularities. The organisation said it was disappointed with the statements from Sadc congratulating Zimbabwe on holding “free and peaceful” elections and called on the regional body and the international community to condemn, as deeply flawed Zimbabwe’s July 31 elections.
“These elections were plagued with voters’ roll manipulation and widespread intimidation from the ruling Zanu PF and were, therefore, neither free nor fair,” the statement reads.
“Local NGOs (non-governmental organisations) noted systematic disenfranchisement during the election process, with significantly more voters being turned away in urban strongholds of the opposition MDC than in rural Zanu PF strongholds.”
Freedom House Africa programmes director Vukasin Petrovic said the fact that MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the same number of votes this election as he did in 2008, while President Robert Mugabe received one million more than he did in 2008, raised serious suspicions.
“However, reports of vote-rigging should not come as a surprise because election results were decided long before election day,” he said.
“Sadc and its members should demand truly free, fair and credible elections from their members and lack of violence cannot become the new standard for elections in the region.”
This development comes as Sadc leaders such as Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, who is also the regional body’s chairman, sent Mugabe a letter congratulating him over his re-election last week, while South Africa President Jacob Zuma also sent a congratulatory message, applauding Zimbabwe for holding a “successful vote”.
Sadc and the African Union observer missions have already lauded the vote as free and credible, although they did not describe it as fair. Ironically, in a poll last year, Freedom House projected a victory for Mugabe.
http://www.southerneye.co.zw/2013/08/08/push-for-fair-poll-sadc-urged/

ZIPRA CRY FOUL OVER VETTING

FORMER Zipra liberation war fighters in Matabeleland have bemoaned what they term a lack of fairness in the recent war veterans vetting exercise, labelling it as an unfair plan to sideline them from benefiting from the exercise.

In a recent interview with Southern Eye, Retired Colonel Thomas Ngwenya, a former Zipra cadre, said he was deeply saddened by the way the vetting exercise was handled, as he had also been receiving many calls from his former combatants complaining that they were left out of the process.
“I was very unhappy with what I saw with my own eyes when I went to Mhlahlandlela last week to observe the process,” he said.
Ngwenya said from his observations, ex-liberation war fighters from the Zipra side were being turned away because they had worked in offices and not at camps during the struggle.
“What is also unfair is that ex-liberation war fighters from the Zanla side who worked in offices were not being turned away,” he lamented.
Ngwenya said the liberation fighters who worked in the offices and those from camps should have been equally vetted without any trouble as they had both participated in the liberation struggle. They had to both benefit from war vets programmes, he said.
“Participating in the liberation struggle does not mean that you were in the forefront training and carrying a gun all the time. People who were in offices also supported the guerillas and should benefit,” Ngwenya said.
He said it was also disheartening to note that there were some undeserving Zanu PF officials who were benefiting from the exercise at the expense of deserving beneficiaries.
“Some of those who are benefiting were not present during the struggle, but went out of the country,” he said. “They did not participate in the struggle as we did.”
An official from Zipra Veterans Trust, based at Mhlahlandlela Government Complex, Marshal Mpofu said, the vetting exercise was not properly done, much to the chagrin of most former liberation fighters.
“There was surely a lack of transparency and a lot of people were turned away over one reason or another,” he said. “There is a need for another process that will include all the formers fighters.”
Efforts to get a comment from the vetting team were fruitless, as they were said to have returned to Harare.
http://www.southerneye.co.zw/2013/06/18/zipra-cry-foul-over-vetting/

Holidays death toll declines

AT least 11 people died in traffic accidents over the Heroes’ and Defence Forces’ Day holidays, a marked decline compared to the same period last year, police said yesterday.
Last year, 24 people had died over the same period.
Police spokesperson, Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi said the total number of accidents recorded by yesterday was 86 compared to 237 recorded last year.
“The total number of the people injured from this year’s accidents is 40 compared to a total number of 129 injured people recorded last year,” he told the Southern Eye yesterday.
Nyathi attributed the decrease to increased visibility of the police on highways who mounted several roadblocks and blitz awareness programmes prior to the holidays.
He said traffic police had so far impounded 52 vehicles for various traffic offences and issued out 513 tickets.
Nyathi said the police will issue a full report on traffic incidences today.
The most fatal accident so far has been one where six people died on Friday morning when a Kukura Kurerwa bus they were travelling in collided with a two tonne truck along the Bindura-Harare Highway near Mazowe Citrus Estates.http://www.southerneye.co.zw/2013/08/14/holidays-death-toll-declines/