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THE Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) has reportedly refused to restore water supplies to Binga Rural District Council until the local authority has paid at least $300 000 of its $1,5 million debt. BY PRAISEMORE SITHOLE Zinwa cut off water supplies to Binga in September, forcing residents and business operators to turn to boreholes and other unsafe water sources. Binga Residents Association vice-chairperson Samson Sibanda said Zinwa recently met council officials and indicated that it would restore water supplies after the local authority has paid at least $300 000 towards settling the bill. “We met and agreed on the way forward for water to be reopened. Council is the one that owes Zinwa money and not the residents. For water to be reopened Zinwa said they require at least $300 000 from the council,” Sibanda said. “Residents of Masoja area who are affected by the water cut started to protest and demonstrate saying they had been paying council and the issue has to be resolved immediately.” Binga district development co-ordinator Farai Marinyame confirmed that stakeholders met on Wednesday to try to resolve the crisis. “I was not on the ground, but there was a meeting between Zinwa, residents and the council to solve the ongoing water crisis. For now there is still no water as council is still negotiating with Zinwa so that they take that project,” Marinyame said. “The main problem is that residents are not paying up.” Binga RDC chief executive officer Joshua Muzamba said he was still out of Binga. “I am still out of Binga, just look for those on the ground who can give you information,” he said. Zinwa spokesperson Marjorie Munyonga, who previously pleaded with residents to pay up, yesterday said she was out of office and was yet to be briefed on the latest developments.
\t On Friday, internet and international calls were cut off across the West African nation in anticipation of the election results, according to locals and international observers in the capital, Conakry.
\t This was the third time that Conde matched-up against Diallo. Before the election, observers raised concerns that an electoral dispute could reignite ethnic tensions between Guinea's largest ethnic groups.
… rights and freedoms.
How many African Americans, Asians, Hispanics and Native Americans …
June was Men’s Health Month, and as the month comes to a close, Kaiser Permanente is encouraging men to take care of their health by sharing ways they can take steps to do that. African Americans are at higher risk of diseases like diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. Oakland Post contributor Brandon Patterson talked to []
By SIMBARASHE SITHOLE A SELF-PROCLAIMED Bindura prophetess Spiwe Gwashure (40) of Grace in Abundance Ministries was sentenced to two months in jail yesterday by Bindura provincial magistrate Tinashe Ndokera for fraud. Gwashure was ordered to pay the US$320 which she had taken from one of her congregants, Abina Maliwo (46), on the pretext that she would find him a wife to marry. Prosecutor Edward Katsvairo told the court that sometime in April 2018, the prophetess gave a prophecy to the complainant, saying she would find him a good wife to marry. In July last year, Gwashure called Maliwo to come to her house and told him that she had found a wife for him in Guruve and there was need for him to pay the bride price. The complainant raised US$320 in two months and was supposed to get his wife in October 2019.He was ordered to buy a cellphone for his intended wife and he complied for easy communication. The wife did not appear and in November, he figured out that he had been duped after he spoke to Gwashure on a mobile phone that he bought assuming that he was speaking to his intended wife. He filed a police report leading to her arrest.The magistrate ordered a full compensation of the money within two months.
The quarrel is over the rate at which Ethiopia fills the reservoir behind the dam and its effect on water supplies downstream in Sudan and Egypt--for who the Nile is the primary water source.
On and off since construction started, Egypt has threatened to go to war to secure continued access to the Nile waters.
If Egypt attacked Ethiopia, the antiquated idea that the Nile is a common good to which all have natural rights would collapse.
The Nile has two major tributaries--the White Nile is the headwaters and primary stream of the river, and the Blue Nile, containing 80 per cent of the water and originates in Ethiopia.
For now, Uganda should be able to collect custodian's fees from South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt, and invest it in protecting the polluted Lake Nalubaale from which the Nile flows, and the real estate of the river that sits on its territory as it flows north.
DESCENDANT of the Ndebele monarch, King Lobengula, Prince Peter Zwide Khumalo yesterday slammed plans by Bulawayo City Council (BCC) to pump the heavily-polluted Khami Dam water into households to alleviate supply problems.
“The Bulawayo community read with shock in one of the papers about the city’s proposal to use Khami Dam water to supplement the city’s potable water supply,” he said.
“After a series of tests of Khami Dam water, it was recommended that it would never be suitable for public consumption because of its high chemical, organic and microbiological pollution load which was not possible to bring down to World Health Organisation (WHO) standards required for potable water,” he said.
He said the Khami Dam water had high sewage content coming through public water courses such as Khami and Phekiwe rivers and was abused by the Rhodesian security system.
He added that the Bulawayo city fathers should inform the public what methods of treatment they proposed to use to deal with high BOD/COD, E-COLI, suspended solids, odours and water colour to meet WHO standards.
BY DESMOND CHINGARANDE OPPOSITION MDC Alliance vice-chair Job Sikhala yesterday walked out of the tall walls of Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison after he was granted $50 000 bail by High Court judge Justice Erica Ndewere, who blasted the State for bringing unsubstantiated allegations to court. The opposition leader was arrested last month on allegations of fleeing from justice and plotting to subvert the government. “Sikhala’s arrest was a coincidence as the police stumbled upon him while on another mission not related to him. His fleeing was not that of a fugitive, but was running away from unidentified men he reported to be following him and not the police,” Justice Ndewere ruled. The judge said the police should have called his lawyer if they were seeking him, but they did not and misdirected themselves by relying on a vague Press statement they issued. As part of his bail conditions, Sikhala was ordered to surrender his passport to the clerk of court, report thrice a week at St Mary’s Police Station and was barred from posting political audios and videos on social media. In a related matter, MDC Alliance secretary-general Chalton Hwende, who also faced charges of trying to subvert government, was removed from remand by Justice Webster Chinamhora after the State failed to provide him with a trial date more than a year on. Hwende, who was represented by Harrison Nkomo, had been on remand following his arrest in connection with January 2019 protests over the fuel price hikes. Hwende was one of several MDC Alliance legislators’ activists and supporters arrested in connection with the protests.
Violence rocked Guinea's capital Conakry on Friday as supporters of opposition leader Cellou Diallo clashed with security forces who tried to disperse them.
They threw stones and blocked roads. Police responded with teargas and bullets. The clashes erupted as soon as provisional results released by the electoral commission showed president Alpha Conde winning with a big margin.
Conde, 82, won twice as many votes as his nearest rival, opposition candidate Cellou Dalein Diallo, with 37 of 38 districts counted, according to preliminary results from the commission.
Opposition supporters accuse the electoral authorities of rigging the vote for incumbent president Alpha Conde.
Sekou Koundouno, head of mobilisation for the opposition coalition FNDC said Conde had committed 'high treason'.
\"He is an illegal and illegitimate candidate who is stubbornly pursuing his obsession to turn Guin ea into a monarchy in which, by the way, he will dictate orders to his subjects,\" said Kounduno.
Diallo maintains that he won with a landslide despite irregularities, according to his own tally. He remains barricaded in his home which security forces have besieged since Monday.
ICC warning
The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor warned on Friday that warring factions in Guinea could be prosecuted after fighting erupted.
“I wish to repeat this important reminder: anyone who commits, orders, incites, encourages and contributes in any other way to crimes … is liable to prosecution either by the Guinean courts or the ICC,” she said.
#ICC Prosecutor #FatouBensouda: "I wish to repeat this important reminder: anyone who commits, orders, incites, encourages or contributes, in any other way, to the commission of #RomeStatute crimes, is liable to prosecution either by #Guinean courts or by the #ICC."
— Int'l Criminal Court (@IntlCrimCourt) October 23, 2020
Many people have been killed since clashes began on Monday. Scores too had been killed in the run up to the vote as protestors marched against Conde's bid for a third term.
Authorities are trying to ensure a surge in deaths doesn't lead to unplanned mass burials that could contaminate water supplies
From building cemeteries away from human settlements to erecting fences around graves, South Africa is drawing up plans to protect the country's water supply from contamination if mass coronavirus burials become a necessity.
With researchers noting that little is known about how long the novel coronavirus survives in water, South Africa wants to avoid sudden, poorly planned burials that could result in the virus or other pathogens passing into water supplies.
\"If we choose burial sites that have potential to impact the environment, with no mitigation plans, there is high risk for groundwater contamination,\" Dass told the Thomson Reuters Foundation over the phone from Durban.
While finding enough physical space for a mass burial site is a priority, the depths and locations of graves and how bodies are buried are all critical to ensuring that water sources do not get contaminated, according to SACA.
\"Given the high infectivity of coronavirus, it would be best to select sites for the mass burial of COVID-19 victims far from any human settlement,\" Abia said.
Miss South Africa 2020 will be announced on Saturday evening. While you grab the popcorn, we have your top 10 finalists lined up.
