Zimbabwe: Mugabe Scholarship Scheme Collapses

President Robert Mugabe has stopped enrolling students under the Presidential Scholarship Fund due to non-availability of funds to bankroll the programme.

The scheme's administrators admitted there was no money to pay for new students or meet the needs of the thousands already on the scheme despite Mugabe holding a $5 million wedding for his daughter this year.

Zanu PF also threw a $1 million party in February to celebrate its leader's 90th birthday and yet the government says it owes South African universities a similar amount.

Chris Mushowe, Fund director, revealed that the programme has suspended enrolling fresh students until it pays off debts to South African universities where beneficiaries are studying.

Zimbabwe owes South African universities R11 million (US$1 million) hence it has decided to suspended enrolling further students until it clears the arrears.

Over 4,000 students are studying in South Africa, but in the last few years many have been exposed to poverty and other social ills as the cash-strapped government failed to pay living allowances to cater for their basic needs.

Some, especially girls, have been forced to resort to prostitution to raise money to survive.

The Scholarship Programme was founded in 1995 to give academically gifted students from poor families a chance to study at South African universities.

But since the collapse of the local economy, the government has been finding it hard to pay tuition fees in time, resulting in some universities refusing to admit the students into their residency compounds.

Mount Kilimanjaro

The highest mountain in Africa which is in Tanzania.

Rapists will Avoid Jail in Mozambique

The law, which was intended to protect victims of rape, favors the rapist. If the rapist is convicted of the crime but marries the victim, the law authorizes that his sentence be suspended.
Activists have marched against a new penal code currently before parliament that would include a Portuguese colonial-era provision giving convicted rapists five-year suspended sentences if they wed and stay married to their victims for five years.

South Africa Toughens Work Permit Application Process

The South African government has announced that foreigners living in that country will now have to go back home to apply for work permits.

According to Daniel Muzenda of the Zimbabwe Migrants Association, the South African government says instead of applying for work permits while in that country, Zimbabweans and other foreigners are now expected to go to their respective nations to file the necessary papers.

Millions of foreigners, including an estimated three million Zimbabweans, are studying and working in South Africa, one of Africa’s developed nations.

Muzenda said this is not workable. “We are talking about three million Zimbabweans who are here in South Africa and for them to go back to Harare and queue at the Home Affairs Department is logistically practically impossible.”

He said the Zimbabwe government should work with Pretoria to find better ways of handling this issue.

“We will be holding a meeting soon with the relevant authorities to find ways of handling this issue,” said Muzenda.

Most of the work permits expire in November this year.

Ugandan Men Steal Aids Drugs From Wives

Ugandan men who are living with HIV but are not open about their status are stealing antiretroviral medication from their wives who get the drugs from health facilities.

Humans as preditors

Humans are usually predators, but we can be prey too. The people in a village on the Niger River in Africa were losing fellow villagers at a rapid rate and called in the army, which shot a 7 m, 1200 Kg crocodile.

20 Schoolgirls Sent Home for 'Kissing' boys in Kenya

More than 20 girls from a secondary school in Murang'a county have been suspended for allegedly dancing and kissing their colleagues from a visiting school. The students of Ruchu Girls High School in Kandara district were suspended for two weeks on Tuesday by their principal following the weekend incident.

Yesterday, the Star learnt that during the function attended by several other schools, loud music was played in the hall. The girls are said to have joined their colleagues for dancing. Some of the parents accused the school management of allowing loud music to be played in the school.

"Under normal circumstances, music attracts any sober person. The principal should tell us why she allowed dancing in the school compound while boys were there instead of victimising the students," said a parent. Sources said the suspended students were on Monday and Tuesday subjected to severe punishment and denied access to classrooms before they were handed suspension letters.

In the suspension letter dated March 18 signed by EN Mwaura for the principal, P Makara, the parents were told that their daughters were sent home over gross indiscipline during a journalism club function.

They are to resume on March 27 and face the school disciplinary committee. Kandara District Education Officer Kamau Ruitha said the students were suspended due to indiscipline.

"The information I have received from the school is that the students were found dancing and kissing with the boys over the weekend," Ruitha said.

He said when they resume, they will be grilled to shed more light on what happened during the incident. Last year, a number of students from the school were sent home for allegedly being lesbians.

Rwandan refugee met her mother

Gerardine Mukakabego (L), a Rwandan refugee living in Zambia shed tears of joy when she met her mother for the first time since 1994.

Mozambique Tables Rape Victim Marriage Law

The government faces criticism after unanimously endorsing the first reading of a new penal code which, if passed into law, will allow a rapist to avoid prosecution if a marriage takes place.

President Zuma 'Unduly Benefited' from Nkandla Upgrades

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has found that President Jacob Zuma and his family unduly benefited from upgrades made to his private Nkandla residence by about R246 million.

 President Jacob Zuma's residence in Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal

Heavy Penalties for Public Smoking in Namibia

The government has announced that smokers will pay a fine of N$500 or face one month in prison if they are caught smoking in public places.

Namibia Announces Free Secondary Education

The government has announced that as from 2016, all state secondary schools in the country will offer free education.

Etoo: Africa's richest player

Cameroon and Chelsea Football Club of England's striker; Samuel Eto'o was 0n 10th March named the richest footballer from the African continent by global football media title Goal.com.

Eto'o's earning is estimated at €85m (£70m), the highest among African stars.

The Cameroonian is at number three in the world's top earners in the game chat behind only Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi who occupied the first and second positions respectively.

Mali Begins Rebuilding Timbuktu Tombs

Local masons in Timbuktu have begun rebuilding the World Heritage mausoleums destroyed by Islamist guerrillas when they occupied the northern part of the country in 2012.

Son's Suicide Shocks Dad

THE father of a 15-year-old boy in Ndola who committed suicide on Wednesday has said he is shocked at the death of his son because he did not know why he killed himself.

Boniface Chimbala said in an interview yesterday that the family was still searching for answers to why his young son decided to take his life.

"He was too young to live with unbearable burdens. I am the father who should have burdens too hard to carry, not a 15-year-old boy," Mr Chimbala said.

Peter Chimbala, of 1321 Kapata Road in Kawama Township, who was a Grade Seven pupil at Intulo Primary School, hanged himself to a mango tree with a nylon rope around 09:00 hours.

Mr Chimbala said before the incident happened, he had a warm conversation with his son in the morning.

He said he even saw his son talking normally to his friends on the roadside.

Mr Chimbala said even his younger siblings said he behaved normally.

Peter was found by his mother hanging from the tree.

Mr Chimbala said he was shocked to be told that his son had committed suicide when he was on his way to Kitwe.

Burial for Peter, who was the sixth child out of 10, is scheduled for today at Kawama Cemetery.

Ethiopian journalist spends 1000 days in prison

On Sunday March 16th  Ethiopian journalist Reeyot Alemu has spent  1000th day of imprisonment for simply doing her job.

A columnist for several Amharic-language newspapers, Reeyot Alemu was one of the first journalists arrested in a 2011 government crackdown on dissent as authorities in Addis Ababa, unnerved by the Arab Spring revolutions, rounded up prominent journalists, intellectuals and political opponents and linked them to a vague terrorism plot.

While in pre-trial detention, she reported being pressured to sign a false confession to implicate co-defendants in imaginary crimes against the state.

Her refusal to cooperate earned her a sentence of 14 years in prison based on her newspaper columns in which she criticized the government's record on corruption, its attacks on democracy and the rule of law, and the effects of repression on the population.

Her sentence was reduced to five years on appeal but she is pursuing an international appeal at the African Human Rights Commission.

Ms. Reeyot's indomitable integrity and courage in defiance of the injustice of her imprisonment, has earned her international accolades such as the UNESCO-Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, the International Women's Media Foundation Courage in Journalism Award, and a finalist spot for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

She is among eight journalists imprisoned in Ethiopia, Africa's second worst jailer of journalists after Eritrea.

Airline crew members robbed at gun point

Unknown assailants on Wednesday morning attacked and robbed at gunpoint members of the crew of a Mozambique Airlines LAM plane as they were on their way to Maputo International Airport to begin their day's work.  The robbery occurred at about 5.30 at a set of traffic lights on the road from from the centre of the city to the airport.  The Nissan Urvan in which the LAM crew members were travelling stopped at a red light and was then attached by six armed with pistols.  Two of them immobilized the driver and took the keys from the ignition.  The rest of the gangs took all the bags of the crew members out of the boot of the vehicle.  This is the second such incident involving airline.  Pilots so far this year on 15 January an attach was reported against 2 pilots of the Portuguese airline TAP.  They were travelling in a tax which was stopped by five armed men using pick up.  One of the gang entered the tax and forced the driver to drive to a more remote area of the city.  The thieves then obliged the 2 pilots to hand over all the money in their wallet.  No one has yet been arrested in connection with these thefts.

King Mswati's airport

Swaziland a country of 1.2 million people in Sub Saharan Africa launched a new airport last week worth  280 million US dollar that will eventually be able to 300 passengers per hour and its runaway can accommodate jumbo jets.  The construction began 11 years ago, the airport was known as Sikhupe Airport.  At the opening on Friday 7th March its new name was revealed as King Mswati III International Airport.  King Mswati has ruled Swaziland since 1986.  The Airport has not yet granted an Operating Licence by the International Air Transport Association IATA and no airlines were expected to make use of the airport for the years to come.  On other hand journalists were pulled out the area for failing to produce accreditation cards to security officials. A member of the public was also reported to have been ejected from the event for recording the proceedings.

Birthday party for Mugabe

A party to celebrate president Mugabe turning 90 years of age last month was held on Friday in Harare with more than 1000 people thought to have attended.

90 beasts were slaughtered cost more that $ 1 million.  That was followed a few weeks later by Mugabe's daughter Bonna's wedding which reportedly cost $ 5 million.  On the first occasion few journalists from the independent media were admitted while none were  allowed into the second event which was held at Mugabe's house in Borrowdale on Friday a number of journalist told SW Radio Africa that they did not bother themselves this time around. It came as a shock that the government is capable of such extravagant at a time when it is struggling to pay civil servants.

Single East Africa Passport by 2015

Citizens of Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda will be traveling using the new generation East African Passport, a modern regional traveling document likely to replace their national ones. TA communiqué from the Heads of State Summit, taking place in Uganda, which was made available here via the Arusha-based East African Community (EAC) Secretariat, quoted the five presidents agreeing to launch the new passport by November 2015.

The communiqué was signed by presidents Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi at the weekend in Kampala.

The current East African passport apparently is only valid within the five countries and thus holders also had to depend on their respective national passports when travelling abroad.

However, the new regional travelling document, to be released in 2015, will be an international one which means is likely to replace national passports.

Mystery perists about Bona's husband

Mystery persists about Bona’s husband, Simbarashe Chikore, who last August forked out lobolo, or bride price, of about R350 000 plus 15 cows to Mugabe for the hand of his 24-year-old daughter. Zimbabwe media said Chikore is a pilot with Emirates Airlines, but aviation sources in Harare say they have no record of him being a pilot.

Bona Mugabe was born to Mugabe’s second wife, Grace, six years before the couple wed in 1996 and while his first wife, Sally,was still alive.

Zimbabweans only found out that their president had children with Grace, his girlfriend from the typing pool, when a local magazine published a photo of Bona Mugabe entering primary school at the Harare Dominican Convent. 

Mugabe’s first child, a son, with his Ghanaian first wife, Sally, died when he was in detention in then Rhodesia

Both Emirates Air and Qatar Airlines – where media reports said Bona’s fiancé Simbarashe worked, denied he is an employee. 
4000 guests invited comprised foreign dignitaries, 3 seating heads of state and popular Congolese rhumba musician Koffi Olomide. 

Tribute paid to Nelson Mandela in London

Two of Nelson Mandela’s daughters joined Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Prince Harry on Monday at a memorial service for the former South African president in London.

South Africa’s deputy president, Kgalema Motlanthe, was also among about 2,000 guests invited to Westminster Abbey to celebrate the life and work of Mandela, who died in December aged 95.

In an address to the congregation, Tutu praised the anti-apartheid movement in Britain, including those who had picketed the South African embassy and helped boycott South African sport in the 1970s, such as former minister Peter Hain.

“Thank you, you who regularly picketed South Africa House, thank you elegant ladies who boycotted South African goods, thank you to all those who followed the long-haired Peter Hain to stop South African sports, thank you all those incredible young people in other parts of the world,” Tutu said.

The former archbishop of Cape Town added: “What would have happened had Mandela died in prison as was the intention and hope of the upholders of apartheid?

“I suppose most would have regarded him as no better than a terrorist — after all, persons in high positions in Britain and the US did dismiss him as such.”

Prince Harry attended as a representative of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, while other guests included Mandela’s two daughters by his second wife Winnie, Zenani and Zindziswa, and actor Idris Elba, who played Mandela in a film last year.

Hain, whose parents fled apartheid to Britain and who later served as a minister under former prime minister Tony Blair, told guests of his “great privilege” of having known Mandela.

A permanent memorial stone for Mandela will be installed at the abbey later this year, putting him in the company of Winston Churchill, Shakespeare, Martin Luther King and Oscar Wilde.

The dean of Westminster, John Hall, said: “His remarkable constancy under suffering stands as an example to everyone.

“In addition, his capacity for forgiveness and his generosity of spirit show what humanity at its best can achieve.”

London’s statue of Mandela, unveiled in 2007 in his presence, stands across from the abbey in Parliament Square. (AFP)

mugabe's daughter weds

President Robert Mugabe's daughter, Bona, 24, wed in a lavish ceremony held at the family's private home in Borrowdale.

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe gave his daughter, Bona, US$100,000 and a 55 herd of cattle at her lavish wedding to Simba Chikore in Harare on Saturday.

Bona, 24, wed  Chikore, said to be 37 years old, at her father's home in the capital's plush suburb of Borrowdale.

The presidents of South Africa, Zambia and Equatorial Guinea attended the event along with a handful of former leaders, among them Jerry Rawlings of Ghana.

Various artists including South Africa's Zahara and the Soweto String Quartet, Koffi Olomide from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and local stars Jah Prayzah and Sulumani Chimbetu provided the entertainment.

Private media organisations were barred from the event which was partially televised on national television although even the ZBC took care not to show images of Mugabe's palatial home which is said to have cost more than $10 million to build.

Some of the top gifts:

An unnamed local mining company gave the couple $100,000

Businessman Ihmad Ahmed - US$50 000

Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and his wife - US$35,000.

Gabriel Mugabe - US$25 000 and 10 herd of cattle

Public Service Minister Nicholas Goche, US$2,000

ZRP chief, Augustine Chihuri - US$10,000

President Sata of Zambia and his wife with the new couple.

Launch of SiSwapp

Prominent members of the community gathered together on Friday 21st February in Mbabane Swaziland  to witness the unveiling of Siswapp. SiSwApp is a Global Award winning concept that has pioneered the packaging of SiSwati translation tools in an app format.It is equipped with an offline English to SiSwati translator and vice-versa intergrated with an audio database and contextualized SiSwati words which will help users to not only communicate with SiSwati speakers but also to learn the language.

You can support SiSwapp by down loading it from Google play, liking it in facebook and following it on twitter SwiSwapp. 

Founders of SiSwapp (Harvey Kadyanji on the left) a Tanzanian  and Tim Mc Dermott (Australian)