Just who is a father?

Mother’s touch . . . Marondera community services manager Mrs Kumbirayi Kundiona cuddles abandoned 10-day-old baby Runako Tsimba.

By Phyllis Kachere
STARK naked and clutching her dangling umbilical cord still attached to her tiny body, abandoned new-born baby Runako was 10 days ago found lying a few steps from the entrance to a beerhall in Marondera’s high-density suburb of Cherima around 5am on a freezing morning.
Today Runako Tsimba turns 10 days old and has been surnamed after the famous Tsimba Beerhall, in line with the law which demands that for purposes of reintegration an abandoned child should be named after the neighbourhood where they were found.
Showing severe signs of hypothermia owing to excessive exposure to the cold, little Runako was rushed to Marondera District Hospital by a group of women known locally as “community mothers”.
“Runako was found crying and stark naked near Tsimba Beerhall in Cherima.
“The ‘community mothers’ — a group of volunteer women who assume motherly duties in their neighbourhoods to orphans and vulnerable children — quickly mobilised warm clothing for her,” said Marondera Municipality community services manager Mrs Kumbirayi Kundiona under whose supervision the “mothers” do their work.
The “community mothers” initiative is one of the social welfare programmes run by Marondera Municipality with support from Save the Children.
Today, Ward 2 of Marondera District Hospital has become Runako’s home and will remain so as social workers battle to find a home for her.
And as Runako celebrates her 10 days in this world today, Zimbabwe is also commemorating Father’s Day, an occasion to celebrate fatherhood.
And how the bouncing 3,5kg Runako would celebrate that day today, and in future, remains anybody’s guess as she has suffered the double tragedy of being abandoned by both her father and mother.
“We may never know why Runako’s mother abandoned her but there could be a number of reasons. And we must not be quick to judge her.
“Her mother could have been a victim of rape who concealed the pregnancy due to the shame suffered by those who disclose that they have been raped.
“Or she could have been abandoned by the man who made her pregnant and hoped to marry. Or yet still, she could have abandoned Runako for fear of being rejected by her own family for having a child out of wedlock,” said child rights activist Mrs Christine Mupande.
And Mrs Mupande.wondered: what exactly is society celebrating on Father’s Day?
“What is there for the men out there to celebrate this Father’s Day when almost half of Zimbabwe’s children are being raised by their single mothers? Just who is a father? Does fertilising an egg amount to becoming a father? Isn’t fatherhood all about raising and moulding a child?” wondered Mrs Mupande.
Marondera community mother Mrs Thokozile Mbizi explained that her group was mothering the community’s needy children while the community fathers were nowhere to be seen.
“Shouldn’t we as community mothers be working alongside community fathers? But they are just not there. Our communities need fathers.
“Our children lack the input of their fathers as we raise them and until men realise they have to stop being male and become men, we are going to be stuck with mothering our children without their fathers,” said Mrs Mbizi.
Mrs Kundiona said Marondera Municipality would continue to support vulnerable children through its district and ward child protection committees.
The municipality yesterday donated       formula milk and clothing for baby Runako.-The Sunday Mail

Ministry launches ARVs probe

Saturday, 18 June 2011 22:52 Health

By Phyllis Kachere
THE Ministry of Health and Child Welfare is probing all central and provincial hospitals following allegations that some officials at these institutions are selling anti-retroviral and other essential drugs to private pharmacies.
The criminal activities are creating artificial shortages of these drugs at the public hospitals, forcing patients to buy the medicines at the private pharmacies at exorbitant prices. Deputy Minister of Health and Child Welfare Dr Douglas Mombeshora told The Sunday Mail that his ministry had launched an internal investigation following the reports.
“We suspect officials at the major hospitals have been diverting and selling ARVs and other essential drugs meant for the public to private pharmacies where they would later refer hospital patients to buy them,” said Dr Mombeshora. “Numerous reports have been lodged with the ministry by the public, citing dubious shortages of especially ARVs at these institutions. Internal investigators are on the ground as we speak.” Dr
Mombeshora said the hospitals will also be investigated for various other underhand dealings in nurse training recruitment.
Potential nurse trainees were forced to pay bribes ranging from US$500 to US$800 to secure places.
Dr Mombeshora said the investigators will also look into allegations that some hospital officials were prejudicing the State by undercharging patients and pocketing the proceeds. Major hospitals under investigation include Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, Harare Central Hospital and Mpilo Central Hospital.
Provincial hospitals will not be spared.
Although results of the probe were still trickling in, Dr Mombeshora was optimistic that the rogue officials would soon be brought to book. The head of the Aids and TB Unit in the ministry, Dr Owen Mugurungi, confirmed the reports and said: “According to our procurement and stock status, we should not be experiencing shortages of ARVs at public hospitals.”-The Sunday Mail

Just who is a father?

By Phyllis Kachere
STARK naked and clutching her dangling umbilical cord still attached to her tiny body, abandoned new-born baby Runako was 10 days ago found lying a few steps from the entrance to a beerhall in Marondera’s high-density suburb of Cherima around 5am on a freezing morning.

Today Runako Tsimba turns 10 days old and has been surnamed after the famous Tsimba Beerhall, in line with the law which demands that for purposes of reintegration an abandoned child should be named after the neighbourhood where they were found.
Showing severe signs of hypothermia owing to excessive exposure to the cold, little Runako was rushed to Marondera District Hospital by a group of women known locally as “community mothers”.
“Runako was found crying and stark naked near Tsimba Beerhall in Cherima.
“The ‘community mothers’ — a group of volunteer women who assume motherly duties in their neighbourhoods to orphans and vulnerable children — quickly mobilised warm clothing for her,” said Marondera Municipality community services manager Mrs Kumbirayi Kundiona under whose supervision the “mothers” do their work.
The “community mothers” initiative is one of the social welfare programmes run by Marondera Municipality with support from Save the Children.
Today, Ward 2 of Marondera District Hospital has become Runako’s home and will remain so as social workers battle to find a home for her.
And as Runako celebrates her 10 days in this world today, Zimbabwe is also commemorating Father’s Day, an occasion to celebrate fatherhood.
And how the bouncing 3,5kg Runako would celebrate that day today, and in future, remains anybody’s guess as she has suffered the double tragedy of being abandoned by both her father and mother.
“We may never know why Runako’s mother abandoned her but there could be a number of reasons. And we must not be quick to judge her.
“Her mother could have been a victim of rape who concealed the pregnancy due to the shame suffered by those who disclose that they have been raped.
“Or she could have been abandoned by the man who made her pregnant and hoped to marry. Or yet still, she could have abandoned Runako for fear of being rejected by her own family for having a child out of wedlock,” said child rights activist Mrs Christine Mupande.
And Mrs Mupande.wondered: what exactly is society celebrating on Father’s Day?
“What is there for the men out there to celebrate this Father’s Day when almost half of Zimbabwe’s children are being raised by their single mothers? Just who is a father? Does fertilising an egg amount to becoming a father? Isn’t fatherhood all about raising and moulding a child?” wondered Mrs Mupande.
Marondera community mother Mrs Thokozile Mbizi explained that her group was mothering the community’s needy children while the community fathers were nowhere to be seen.
“Shouldn’t we as community mothers be working alongside community fathers? But they are just not there. Our communities need fathers.
“Our children lack the input of their fathers as we raise them and until men realise they have to stop being male and become men, we are going to be stuck with mothering our children without their fathers,” said Mrs Mbizi.
Mrs Kundiona said Marondera Municipality would continue to support vulnerable children through its district and ward child protection committees.
The municipality yesterday donated       formula milk and clothing for baby Runako.-The Sunday Mail

Clr Gomba at it again

Sunday, 12 June 2011 11:05 Features

Ward 27 councillor Herbert Gomba embroiled in the occupation dispute of number 4910 Nata Lane, Glen Norah A.

By Phyllis Kachere and Charlotte Musarurwa
HOUSE No. 4910 Nata Lane in Harare’s Glen Norah A high-density suburb looks just like some of the “matchbox-sized” houses in the neighbourhood.
In fact, unlike most of the houses in that area that appear generally well kept, House No. 4910 has all the signs of neglect.
The dirty, charcoal-stained walls and the blocked water running through the small yard even make this council-owned house unsuitable for human habitation.
This three-roomed house is the home of 32-year-old Ms Ndakaitei Masutso, her husband Tonhodzai Togara (37) and their four children. The family has been staying in this house since 2009.
Despite looking run-down, this house is at the centre of an “ownership” dispute between Ms Masutso and Ward 27 councillor Herbert Gomba, who also claims to have been allocated the same house.
Having been allocated the residence through a special arrangement between the Harare Municipal Workers’ Union (HMWU) and Harare Municipality, Ms Masutso was advised to move in while her stay was being regularised. A letter dated July 22 2010, signed by HMWU chairperson Mr Cosmas Bungu, to Harare’s director of human resources challenging Masutso’s pending disciplinary hearing over the matter stated that:
“This occupation (Masutso’s) was done in the spirit of assisting council employees . . . It was agreed that non-council employees  occupying council-owned houses be identified.
“After identification of such houses those in critical situations were to occupy the houses and regularisation would follow.”
In fact, an earlier memo by HMWU written on November 2 2009 confirmed Ms Masutso’s assertion.
“N. Masutso of No. 4910 Glen Norah and L. Kurewa of Flat No. 6960 are staying at the stated addresses and are not regularised. They are facing incessant harassment by councillors and certain directors
“May your good offices assist them regularise their stay before the matter gets out of hand.”
And Ms Masutso says ever since she moved in, her family has not enjoyed peace.
“Soon after we moved in in 2009, Clr Gomba would come in person telling us to leave this house. He would threaten to evict us.
“He said he would use all his powers to have us thrown out of this our allocated council-owned house in Glen Norah,” said Ms Masutso.
She said she was not alone in her ordeal as several other families faced eviction in what the board of inquiry dubbed connivance between councillors and senior officials to repossess and allocate themselves council property.
The threats came to a head last August when Dr Ignatius Chombo set up a board of inquiry to investigate the widespread evictions alleged to have been instigated by named councillors and officials.
Councillors and employees implicated in the scam included:

• Clr Marange tried to grab 2321 Glen Norah;

• Clr Gomba tried to grab 4910 Glen Norah;

• Clr Mbadzi tried to grab 4708 Highfield;

• Clr Gorekore tried to grab 5051 Highfield;

• Clr Katsande tried to grab 5577 Highfield;

• Council worker Wilfred Ganyira tried to grab 5836 Highfield; and

• Council worker Nelson Zimba tried to grab 4999 Highfield.

In an interview with Minister Chombo, he said he had not yet received reports concerning the matter, but he was going to make investigations.

Mr Tonhodzai Togara, husband of Ms Ndakaitei Masutso, at the entrance of No. 4910 Nata Lane, Glen Norah A.

“The matter has not come to my attention, but I am going to carry out investigations,” he said.
Some of these councillors were subsequently sacked from their positions, but Clr Gomba was spared. She said bills have been coming in Clr Gomba’s name and the May bill now shows the house is no longer a council-rented house but is now owned by the councillor.
“While the matter appeared to have died after the disciplinary hearings, it appears it is persisting behind the scenes. Last month’s bill came and it was still in Clr Gomba’s name, but this time the bill no longer indicates this is a council-rented house.
“We have objected to our bills coming in his name, but nothing seemed to have changed,” said Ms Masutso.
This, she said, has caused anxiety to her and suggests the house now belongs to Clr Gomba. But a senior official in the office of the director of housing and community services, who declined to be identified, said:
“Since the time of the evictions, the bills that were appearing in Clr Gomba’s name were never changed. They are still to be reversed. The house still remains council-rented property; the tenant who resides there is supposed to pay the bills,” said the official.
Clr Gomba told The Sunday Mail last Friday that the house remained council property even though the bills still appear in his name.
“Because the bill is appearing in my name, this does not translate to my ownership of that house.”
But Clr Gomba would not explain why the bills were appearing in his name in the first place. While the matter is simmering, Harare Municipality does not seem to be in a hurry to effectively deal with clear traces of corruption right under its nose.-The Sunday Mail

They live by the sword, but should they die by it?

By Nyarai Mudimu

HARARE, Jun 9, 2011 (IPS) - In her glory days, death-row inmate Rosemary Khumalo (66) lived life dangerously on the edge. She was a sanguinary fortune hunter who would resort to anything, even murder, to land her loot, according to court records of her trial.

Her last crime in 1998, which ended with the murder of her businessman suitor Maxwell Sibanda, marked the end of her life of crime, and ushered in her new life as a death-row inmate at Zimbabwe’s notorious Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison in 2000.

Convicted of the murder of Sibanda and armed robbery in 2000 and sentenced to death, now a frail and pale shadow of her former self, Khumalo has been waiting for her execution for over a decade.

"I have petitioned the President (Robert Mugabe) for clemency more than five times. Two of these petitions have been turned down while three have not yet been responded to.

"I am now frail and suffer ill heath. I have become hypertensive and all I plead for is mercy. This waiting, not knowing when I will be executed has become torture that is worse than the death sentence I am waiting for," Khumalo told IPS from her cell at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison.

While Khumalo has been on death row the longest, she is not alone; there are 51 others awaiting execution in Zimbabwe. The last person to be hanged in this southern African country was Mandlenkosi ‘Never’ Masina Mandha who was executed in July 2005.

Zimbabwe is drafting a new constitution and during the consultative outreach programmes, mixed reactions were recorded. Both President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF and Professor Lovemore Madhuku’s National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) agree on the retention of the capital punishment on Zimbabwe’s statutes.

NCA’s draft constitution states that: "As part of the Bill of Rights, this draft proposes that the death penalty be abolished in Zimbabwe in respect of all other offences except serious cases of murder."

Section 37 of the controversial Kariba draft signed by the three parties in the government of national unity (Zanu PF, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change-Tsvangirai (MDC- T) and the Deputy Prime Minister Prof Arthur Mutambabra’s Movement for Democratic Change- Mutambara (MDC-M) states: "Every human being has the right to life and may not be deprived of it intentionally. A law may permit the death penalty to be imposed on persons convicted of murder but the penalty may be carried out only in accordance with a final judgment of a competent court…" (Although the MDC-T is a signatory of the Kariba draft they have backtracked on its contents and now say their position is anti-capital punishment.)

While the politicians call for the retention of the death penalty, civic society has been engaged in a spirited campaign against it.

The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace Alouis Chaumba said his organisation was lobbying the minister of justice and legal affairs Patrick Chinamasa for the review of the death penalty. Human rights activist and lobbyist for the abolishment of the capital sentence Sanderson Makombe believes now is the time for Zimbabwe to remove ‘this uncivilized sentence’ from its statute books.

"There is no scientific evidence to support the death sentence as a deterrent to criminal behavior compared to other forms of punishment.

"The death penalty is retributive and justified vengeance with the high costs of the litigation far outweighing life in prison sentences," said Makombe.

He said if put to a referendum, the majority of Zimbabweans might favour its retention on the country’s laws.

"Because we are more prone to want revenge, we do not believe those that kill should be spared and treated differently.

"In fact, the majority will probably say prisoners have no rights at all. They forfeit their rights when they commit crime. However, the arguments for abolishing are technical and not populist," noted Makombe.

Because of the long lapse since the last execution, former deputy minister of justice and legal affairs Jessie Majome believes Zimbabwe could be on the road to the abolishment of the death sentence.

"The country executed in 2005 and if you check the trends in our courts, you will notice the reluctance to impose the death sentence. There is restraint on the death sentence from the courts," said Majome, who is also a Member of Parliament.

In support of this Zimbabwe’s two former Chief Justices are recorded to have voiced their concern over executions. The late former Chief Justice Enoch Dumbutshena is noted to have said: "I believe that many people we sentence to death for killing somebody should not be sentenced to death but given a life imprisonment term."

In apparent reference to the capital sentence, his successor former Chief Justice Antony Gubbay is recorded as having said: "What may not have been regarded as inhuman or degrading a few decades ago may be revolting to new sensitivities, which emerge as civilization advances."

Makombe explained that Britain only abolished the death penalty in 1964 after reviews showed that some people had been executed following erroneous court judgments.

"Equally tragic mistakes have been made by the courts in Zimbabwe. An innocent woman Sukholuhle Kachipare, who was on death row for a long time in Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison was only released in 2001 following a judgment review that showed she was innocent," said Makombe.

Globally, more than 96 countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes, eight for ordinary crimes and 43 are de facto abolitionists (countries with a death sentence but haven’t used it in the last 10 years and have committed not to use it). Africa has 15 countries that have abolished the death sentence while 21 have committed not to use it although it is still in the statutes.

(END)

Boys in sex for favours with their teacher

Sunday, 05 June 2011 01:10 Top Stories

By Phyllis Kachere and Kundai Shumba

(File Picture)

MORE Zimbabwean high school boys than girls are reportedly engaging in sexual activities with their teachers in exchange for favours, recent research by the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare has revealed. These initial findings of a study on adolescent sexual reproductive health, commissioned by the Southern Africa HIV/Aids Information Dissemination Services (SAfAIDS), established that while efforts had been concentrated on “saving” the girl child, the boy child has become the “open target” of sexual predators in schools.
Last year, several boys at Goromonzi High School were found to be evading school authorities and having sex with prostitutes from the nearby Majuru township.
The favours, noted the research,  mostly centred on passing examinations and were not only confined to schools but extended to tertiary education.
These preliminary findings were made public last week during the launch of the “Scaling up access to sexual and reproductive health and rights for adolescents and young people” project by SAfAIDS in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, Women’s Action Group (Wag), Padare/Enkundleni, SayWhat and Patsime Trust.
In an interview with The Sunday Mail last week, SAfAIDS country representative Mrs Monica Mandiki said the findings had exposed the gaps in the provision of reproductive health information and services to the youths. Although there were no immediate statistics on the trend,  Mrs Mandiki confirmed a worrying increase in the number of boys having sex with their teachers.
“Of the 1 200 pupils interviewed, 7 percent confirmed they had had sex with their teacher in exchange of favours and the majority of this 7 percent were boys.
“Efforts have been concentrated on the girl child with the mistaken belief that she was more vulnerable than the boy. Now, findings suggest the boy is in a worse off situation,” said Mrs Mandiki.
The findings also confirmed the increase of teenage pregnancy in schools.
Last year, 15 girls under the age of 16 dropped out of school at Chivhanga Secondary School in Honde Valley after they fell pregnant.
The report also noted that despite proof that school children were having sex as evidenced by increased school girl pregnancies and expulsions, headmasters interviewed generally objected to any information on condoms, sexually transmitted infections and contraceptives to filter into their schools.
The interviewed school heads were of the belief that provision of this information would encourage promiscuity and experimentation by pupils.
Only four out of 32 school heads interviewed (13%) were willing to have condoms distributed at their schools.
It has been found that critical shortage of manpower trained in adolescent sexual reproductive health issues made it difficult to implement policy meaningfully at health centres.
For instance, the Midlands Province’s health facilities were all supposed to offer youth-friendly services.
“In all 45 nurses were trained to support youth-friendly services in 2010. All of them have left the public service except three,” noted the report.
While life skills were dealt with during Education for Living at schools, there was hardly focus on sexual issues and the subject was never taken seriously since it was non-examinable, said the report.