Author: TSA Press

Attempts
by Masvingo
Mirror to
determine
why
Mwonzora
has
not
yet
been
arrested,
nearly
two
months
after
a
Harare
magistrate
issued
the
warrant,
were
unsuccessful.

National
Police
spokesperson
Commissioner
Paul
Nyathi
had
promised
to
respond
to
the
publication
but
had
not
done
so
by
the
time
of
going
to
press.

Mwonzora
told
Masvingo
Mirror
that
he
was
unaware
of
the
warrant
of
arrest,
although
he
confirmed
the
civil
matter.
He
said:

“I
haven’t
received
the
warrant
of
arrest
you
are
talking
about.
I
don’t
deserve
any
warrant.
This
is
a
sniff
campaign.”

Mwonzora
was
ordered
by
the
courts
in
February
2024
to
pay
US$500
a
month
in
maintenance
for
his
10-year-old
son
with
Getrude
Chuma,
in
addition
to
school
fees.

The
arrest
warrant
relates
to
his
failure
to
pay
maintenance
from
March
to
July
2025.

The
total
arrears
have
now
ballooned
to
US$3,500
after
he
also
missed
payments
for
August
and
September.

Chuma
expressed
frustration
at
the
Harare
Central
Police
for
failing
to
serve
the
warrant
on
Mwonzora
for
the
third
time.

MUTOKO
–
Police
are
investigating
the
circumstances
under
which
a
Chinese
national
allegedly
shot
dead
a
Zimbabwean
worker
at
a
gold
mine
in
Mutoko
early
Thursday,
an
incident
that
has
reignited
tensions
over
abuses
by
Chinese
miners
across
the
country.

Zimbabwe
Republic
Police
(ZRP)
spokesman
Commissioner
Paul
Nyathi
said
the
incident
occurred
at
around
2AM
on
October
9
at
a
mine
in
Makosa
area.

“The
ZRP
is
investigating
the
circumstances
in
which
a
foreign
national,
Quijun
Yu,
43,
shot
Fungai
Nhau,
36,
at
a
mine
in
Makosa.
It
is
alleged
that
the
foreign
national
was
on
duty
when
several
people
pounced
at
the
boiler/carbon
room
resulting
in
the
shooting
incident.
The
foreign
national
has
been
arrested.
The
police
will
release
more
details
in
due
course,”
Nyathi
said
in
a
brief
statement.

The
shooting
took
place
at
China
Zhuhe
Mining,
which
later
issued
its
own
statement
claiming
the
incident
happened
during
an
attempted
robbery
by
“a
group
of
gangsters.”

According
to
the
company,
an
on-duty
Chinese
engineer
armed
with
a
registered
firearm
“fired
several
warning
shots
into
the
air
to
stop
the
criminal
act”
after
robbers
allegedly
climbed
over
the
mine’s
perimeter
wall.

At
around
7AM,
local
workers
reportedly
found
a
man
critically
injured
about
a
kilometre
from
the
mine.
The
company
says
the
man,
who
later
died,
admitted
to
being
part
of
the
gang
that
had
tried
to
rob
the
mine.

China
Zhuhe
said
police
were
called,
and
the
situation
briefly
turned
tense
when
“local
villagers,
unaware
of
the
truth,
saw
the
gangster’s
body
and
mistakenly
suspected
Chinese
employees
of
improper
conduct.”

Police
reportedly
intervened
and
restored
order.

“The
Chinese
engineer
involved
in
the
incident
is
actively
cooperating
with
the
police
investigation
and
awaiting
the
police’s
final
handling
decision,”
the
company
said.

But
the
mine’s
version
of
events
has
been
met
with
scepticism
and
anger
from
many
Zimbabweans,
including
opposition
politicians
and
activists,
who
accuse
Chinese
companies
of
widespread
exploitation
and
violence
against
local
workers.

Former
finance
minister
Tendai
Biti
condemned
what
he
called
“widespread,
unabated
and
vicious
crimes
of
extraction
being
perpetrated
by
Chinese
criminals
masquerading
as
miners
and
investors.”

“There
has
been
countless
stories
of
underpaid
black
workers
going
for
months
without
pay
and
viciously
assaulted
for
little
misdemeanours,”
Biti
said.

“As
of
now,
police
in
Mutoko
are
investigating
the
brutal
murder
of
a
Zimbabwean
worker,
shot
in
cold
blood
and
mercilessly
dragged
in
the
gravel
and
thorn-filled
bushes
of
Nyamuzuwe.”

Biti
said
Chinese
mining
operations
had
desecrated
graves,
sacred
mountains
and
rivers
across
the
country,
adding
that
the
government’s
silence
amounted
to
complicity
in
a
“new
Scramble
for
Africa.”

Environmental
rights
advocate
Farai
Maguwu
also
weighed
in,
warning
that
public
anger
was
rising
over
what
he
described
as
“abuses
by
Chinese
criminals.”

“Read
the
mood
of
the
people
of
Zimbabwe.
The
temperatures
are
rising.
People
are
saying
enough
of
these
abuses,”
Maguwu
said.

The
latest
incident
adds
to
a
growing
list
of
violent
encounters
involving
Chinese
mine
owners
and
local
workers
in
recent
years,
with
critics
accusing
authorities
of
failing
to
hold
foreign
investors
accountable.

Hinn
visited
Zimbabwe
in
October
2025
for
a
highly
anticipated
National
Healing
Crusade
in
Harare,
marking
his
first
return
to
the
country
in
over
40
years.

Ahead
of
the
crusade,
Hinn’s
delegation
met
President
Emmerson
Mnangagwa
at
State
House
in
Harare.

They
praised
the
president
for
leading
major
development
initiatives
in
the
country,
suggesting
that
Zimbabwe’s
progress
should
serve
as
an
example
for
other
nations.

Commenting
on
Hinn’s
visit,
Mtata
said
such
trips
harm
the
progress
of
Christianity
in
Africa.
He
claimed
that
figures
like
Hinn
often
frame
issues
such
as
corruption,
poverty,
and
poor
governance
as
spiritual
rather
than
political
problems,
diverting
attention
from
citizens’
civic
responsibilities.
He
wrote
on
x:

“American
televangelist
Benny
Hinn
is
currently
in
Zimbabwe,
following
a
visit
to
Uganda.
This
is
not
his
first
trip
to
sub-Saharan
Africa
—
and
those
familiar
with
Paul
Gifford’s
research
will
know
that
such
visits
are
not
just
about
religion.

“Gifford’s
studies
have
shown
how
the
far-right
American
televangelists
like
Benny
Hinn
often
bring
to
Africa
a
form
of
Christianity
that
harms
its
progress.

”
They
do
so
in
seven
ways:
1.
Corruption,
poverty,
and
bad
governance
are
reframed
as
“spiritual”
rather
than
political
problems,
diverting
attention
from
civic
responsibility.

”
2.
Instead
of
building
institutions
or
demanding
accountability,
followers
are
urged
to
attend
mass
prayer
rallies
in
the
hope
for
“miraculous
solutions.”

“3.
Faith
becomes
about
personal
success
and
deliverance,
not
collective
transformation
or
justice.

“4.
Religious
and
political
power
is
presented
as
coming
from
God,
hence
discouraging
accountability
and
fostering
passive
submission.

“5.
Questioning
or
doubt
is
framed
as
sin,
eroding
the
intellectual
freedom
necessary
for
civic
engagement.

“6.
Wherever
he
goes,
Benny
Hinn
is
most
interested
in
close
proximity
to
political
power.
This
allows
him
to
trade
legitimacy
for
patronage,
blurring
the
line
between
faith
and
politics.

“7.
Benny
Hinn
represents
American
cultural
and
political
imperialism:
he
exports
American
religious
product
but
also
opens
up
intelligence
doors
normally
not
easy
to
open.”

On
a
hot
summer
morning,
I
sat
for
a
bit
watching
a
black-headed
heron
sifting
through
the
golden
stubble
of
a
newly
harvested
crop.
It
was
a
beautiful
day:
a
deep
blue
sky,
very
little
wind,
and
trees
alive
with
birds.
I
lingered
a
while,
letting
the
peace
and
beauty
soak
in,
gathering
my
wits
to
face
the
whispers
of
what
I
suspected
lay
ahead.

Zimbabwe
is
being
chipped
away,
one
shovel
at
a
time,
one
excavator
scoop
at
a
time,
one
mine
truck
at
a
time.
It’s
the
second
land
invasion,
people
say
–
but
is
that
really
what’s
going
on,
or
is
it
really
the
orgy
of
self-enrichment,
corruption,
and
plundering
by
people
in
positions
of
power
and
authority?

On
a
14km
stretch
of
road
just
beyond
Darwendale
village,
most
signs
of
normal
life
are
gone.
No
sign
of
farms,
crops,
villages
or
homes.

This
14km
stretch
of
road
leading
to
the
boundary
with
National
Parks’
Darwendale
Dam
is
an
ugly,
scarred
wasteland.

Huge
mine
dump
trucks
loaded
with
soil
and
rocks
roar
across
the
plains
leavings
clouds
of
red
dust
in
their
wake.

They
don’t
slow
down
as
they
reach
the
tar
road
–
so
watch
out,
because
these
are
the
untouchables.

The
Chinese
are
mining
here
and
their
chrome
pits,
trenches,
and
mounds
of
black
soil,
red
soil
and
rocks
stretch
as
far
as
the
eye
can
see
on
both
sides
of
the
road.

The
devastation
is
everywhere

Across
the
plains,
up
the
hillsides,
and
even
underneath
the
main
electricity
pylons
feeding
the
national
grid,
the
devastation
is
everywhere.
An
excavator
is
at
work
up
a
steep
hill,
swinging
its
long
arm
again
and
again
as
it
scrapes
up
our
precious
earth
and
dumps
it
into
waiting
trucks,
suffocating
dust
hanging
in
our
beautiful
blue
sky.

The
sight
of
it
makes
you
heartsore,
so
heartsore.

A
couple
of
brave
souls
are
trying
to
graze
their
cattle
among
the
abandoned
mounds
of
rocks
and
between
the
trenches,
but
it’s
a
treacherous
place.

People
say
that
when
a
cow
or
calf
falls
into
one
of
the
pits
or
trenches,
they
get
stuck
or
break
their
legs
and
there
is
no
way
to
get
them
out.

A
woman
tells
me
that
when
the
Chinese
do
their
blasting
at
night,
the
explosions
shake
their
windows
and
crack
the
walls
of
their
houses
2km
away.
“It’s
awful,
so
awful,”
she
says,
“everything
has
been
completely
destroyed.
These
people
don’t
care.
No
one
can
stop
them.”

You
can
see
the
march
of
the
Chinese
and
their
yellow
excavators
along
this
14km
stretch
of
road
by
the
trail
of
destruction
they
leave
behind.

There
is
no
sign
anywhere
of
any
attempt
at
reclamation
of
the
land. They
dig
their
holes,
pits
and
trenches,
extract
our
minerals,
and
then
leave,
doing
nothing
to
fill
holes,
flatten
mounds
or
re-establish
vegetation.

Take
this
picture
and
replicate
it
in
Hwange,
Mutoko,
Shamva,
Makoni,
Haruni,
Magunje,
Chihota,
Mazowe,
Chiadzwa,
Uzumba
and
so
many
other
places.
Take
it
into
mountains
and
escarpments
such
as
at
Boterekwa
in
Shurugwi,
the
Muvaradonha
Wilderness
in
Muzarabani,
and
now
even
in
Christmas
Pass.
Nowhere
is
safe
from
the
mining
scourge
now.

Who’s
to
blame?

It’s
easy
to
blame
the
Chinese
miners,
who
have
a
bad
human
rights
track
record
in
Zimbabwe
–
but
the
real
question
is:
how
are
they
getting
away
with
it,
why
are
they
untouchable,
who
is
protecting
them?

Former
energy
minister
Fortune
Chasi
this
week
spilled
the
beans.

“Local
officials
sign
the
licences,
local
elites
pocket
the
‘facilitation
fees’,
local
silence
allows
rivers
to
turn
into
sludge,”
he
said.

“Every
destroyed
riverbed
tells
a
local
story,
a
signature,
a
bribe,
a
blind
eye
…
This
isn’t
a
‘Chinese
problem.’
It
is
a
governance
problem
… The
Chinese
did
not
destroy
our
mountains
and
rivers.
Our
signatures
did.”

Stark
honesty
from
an
ex-minister,
but
it’s
a
shame
he
didn’t
say
it
when
he
was
still
in
office.

Long-term
loss

But
it’s
not
just
the
pits,
mounds
and
trenches
in
Darwendale,
or
the
sludge
in
rivers;
it’s
the
cyanide
and
mercury
poisoning
our
rivers
and
devastating
aquatic,
bird
and
wild
life;
the
long-term
soil
contamination,
the
loss
of
biodiversity
and
habitat,
and
the
widespread
erosion,
siltation
and
pollution.

Everywhere
communities
are
losing
their
ancestral
homelands
and
being
silenced
with
short-term,
cheap
‘compensation’
such
as
a
fence
or
a
pump
or
a
few
dirty
dollars.

Long
after
the
Chinese
miners
have
left
we
will
all
feel
the
effects
of
this
out-of-control
mining.

While
people
say
nothing,
do
nothing,
and
look
the
other
way
our
beautiful
country
is
being
torn
apart,
ravaged,
looted
and
destroyed
by
the
untouchables,
and
by
those
in
power
in
Zimbabwe
who
give
them
permission
to
do
so.

Please
use
your
voice
to
share
this
news
and
help
us
to
stop
this
before
it’s
too
late.

©
Cathy
Buckle

The
warning
comes
amid
social
media
reports
suggesting
that
some
party
members
may
plan
to
heckle
Vice
President
Constantino
Chiwenga
during
the
event,
as
debates
over
succession
continue
to
intensify.

Chiwenga
was
heckled
at
the
National
Heroes
Acre
during
the
burial
of
national
hero
Justin
Mupamhanga
on
27
January
2025.

Information
Technology
Minister
Tatenda
Mavetera,
leading
the
Young
Women
4
ED
group
aligned
with
Mnangagwa,
led
chants
targeting
Chiwenga.

They
sang
“mupanduki
mupanduki
chera
mwena
nguva
yakwana”
—
which
translates
to
“sellout,
sellout,
dig
a
hole,
the
time
has
come”.

Chiwenga
is
widely
seen
as
the
frontrunner
to
succeed
President
Emmerson
Mnangagwa
in
2028,
when
his
second
term
expires,
although
Mnangagwa’s
loyalists
are
pushing
for
an
extension
of
his
tenure
to
2030.

ZANU
PF
Director
of
Communications,
Farai
Marapira,
stressed
that
the
National
People’s
Conference
is
a
formal
meeting
of
delegates,
leaving
no
room
for
heckling.
He
said:

“We
are
not
going
to
a
rally.
We
are
going
to
a
conference.
This
is
not
a
free-for-all.
This
is
a
meeting
of
delegates.
This
is
a
meeting
of
leadership.
There
is
no
time
to
heckle.

“This
is
just
once
again
social
media
trying
its
best
to
push
agendas
on
us
as
ZANU-PF.
But,
of
course,
it
will
fail.”

In
recent
days,
social
media
has
been
flooded
with
claims
that
ZANU
PF
youths
are
being
bused
to
Mutare
in
Manicaland
province
with
the
sole
purpose
of
booing
Chiwenga.

Marapira
dismissed
such
reports,
saying
those
promoting
the
claims
are
ignorant
of
the
party’s
internal
procedures.
He
said:

“This
issue
of
being
bused
to
boo,
how
are
they
going
to
enter
when
they
are
not
accredited?
We
are
not
accrediting
crowds,
we
are
accrediting
delegates.

“This
is
mischief
being
created
by
people
who
are
ignorant
of
the
ways
of
the
party
and
how
it
conducts
its
conferences.”

The
alleged
plans
to
heckle
Chiwenga
come
as
the
Vice
President
has
repeatedly
spoken
out
against
corruption,
which
he
describes
as
a
threat
to
national
security.

He
has
consistently
condemned
“zvigananda”,
a
term
meaning
leeches,
referring
to
individuals
who
flaunt
wealth
acquired
through
the
siphoning
of
public
resources
via
inflated
government
tenders.

A
YEAR
ago,
at
its
annual
Conference,
Zanu
PF
passed
the
notorious
Resolution
No.
1.
The
resolution,
a
vulgar
piece
of
unmitigated
buffoonery,
attempts
to
extend
President
Emmerson
Mnangagwa’s
tenure
beyond
the
term
fixed
by
congress
in
2022
and
effectively
calls
for
subverting
the
national
constitution
to
achieve
that
end.

The
measure
is
both
egregious
and
unlawful,
chiefly
because
it
conflicts
with
Zanu
PF’s
own
constitutive
instruments.

Congress
v
Conference

Zanu
PF’s
congress,
which
meets
once
every
five
years,
is
the
party’s
supreme
decision‑making
body.

Depending
on
which
of
the
three
un-ratified
2022
constitutions
one
reads,
this
authority
is
set
out
in
section
23
or
27
in
materially
similar
terms.
The
provision
confers
on
congress
the
following
powers:

“Congress
shall
be
the
supreme
policy
making
organ
of
the
Party
and
shall
have
the
following
powers
and
functions:-

(1)
to
elect
the
President
and
First
Secretary
of
the
Party,
who
shall
automatically
become
the
sole
candidate
of
the
State
President
in
the
ensuing
elections;”

In
accordance
with
this
provision,
congress
in
2022
elected
Mnangagwa
as
Zanu
PF’s
candidate
for
the
2023
elections.
This
election
was
for
a
five-year
period.

By
design,
congress
is
the
body
that
meets
to
select
the
party’s
candidate
for
any
general
elections
and
Mnangagwa’s
incumbency
draws
its
lifeblood
from
the
2022
congress
resolution.
No
Zanu
PF
member
can
seek
or
maintain
state
or
party
power
as
the
president
post
2028
without
the
authority
of
congress.

Two
points
emerge
and
must
detain
me:

–
the
party
constitution
is
tailored
so
that
congress
precedes
a
general
election
for
the
purpose
of
selecting
a
presidential
candidate;
and

–
as
a
contractual
and
constitutional
instrument,
the
party
constitution
cannot
validly
contain
provisions
that
conflict
with
the
national
constitution
and
any
such
conflicting
provision
is
void.

Thus,
there
is
no
valid
basis
within
Zanu
PF’s
constitution
for
declaring
a
candidate
beyond
the
2028
elections
more
so
if
this
is
coming
from
an
organ
inferior
to
congress.
Any
attempt
to
do
so
would
violate
the
party’s
own
constitution
and
would
subordinate
congress
to
the
Mai
Welly-twerking-transactional
politics
that
we
now
see
on
display

The
national
conference
meets
annually
and
its
powers
include
receiving
central
committee
reports,
reviewing
implementation
of
central
committee
programmes,
making
resolutions
for
implementation
by
the
central
committee
declaring
the
president
elected
at
congress
as
the
party’s
state
presidential
candidate.

Outside
a
determination
made
by
congress
and
that
only
for
a
period
of
five
years,
the
national
conference
cannot
transact
any
business
bearing
on
the
question
of
a
national
leader
as
is
the
purport
of
Resolution
1.

Crucially,
the
national
conference
does
not
have
the
power
to
elect
the
party’s
presidential
candidate;
it
can
only
declare
an
election
already
made
by
congress.

Last
year’s
conference
resolution
purporting
to
elect
or
rather
select
Mnangagwa
for
a
period
outside
that
fixed
by
congress,
and
calling
for
subversion
of
congress’s
decision
to
achieve
the
purpose,
was
therefore
unlawful
under
any
of
the
three
constitutional
texts
that
are
fraudulently
used
by
Zanu
PF.

Mnangagwa’s
position
is
not
a
legitimate
matter
for
internal
debate
at
this
year’s
conference.
In
fact
concerned
Zanu
PF
members
can
stop
their
party—either
by
judicial
decree
or
through
legitimate
political
maneuvering—from
becoming
engaged
with
this
issue.

Put
in
very
simple
terms,
the
question
of
the
possible
extension
of
Mnangagwa’s
position
cannot
be
debated
by
the
national
conference.
It
is
an
act
ultra
vires.

Zanu
PF
must
abide
by
its
own
rules
and
by
the
national
constitution.
It
cannot
lawfully
transact
business
in
breach
of
those
instruments
or
call
for
their
subversion.
This
festival
of
absurdities
and
illegality
must
be
stopped.

The
men
within
Zanu
PF,
if
there
be
any
(not
vanoda
kuchengeta
vana),
should
confront
these
breaches
and
insist
on
adherence
to
both
the
party
constitution
and
the
constitution
of
the
land.

Thabani
Mpofu
is
an
advocate
in
Zimbabwe’s
superior
courts