“Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) commander Lieutenant General Edzai Absolom Chanyuka Chimonyo is in India for medical treatment, The NewsHawks reported,” reported Pindula/Bulawayo 24.
“Lt. Gen. Chimonyo is said to be suffering from lung complications and was airlifted to the Asian country recently.”
The report reminded the reader of VP Chiwenga’s now infamous decree banning Zimbabweans from seeking health care service outside the country.
"We will not export our patients. We will not make referrals (to foreign medical facilities) for our patients. It's everybody,” said Chiwenga in September after taking on the Minister of Health Portfolio.
"Ministers are only about 20 but those who have been going out it's you, you, me, altogether.
"That export bill was too high and that's what we want to curtail. We want to do away with that, and it requires us to carry out restructuring from the village health worker right up to the quaternary hospital.”
VP Chiwenga is in China right now, his second health care trip this year alone. VP Chiwenga’s promise to stop “exporting our patients” was just hot air.
Just as President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s repeated “zero tolerance on corruption”! is another blast of hot air.
VP Chiwenga lives in the C&M mansion (before that it was C&J before he divorce his first wife and the mansion will have a new name because he is divorcing Marry, the second wife) and in the garage is a fleet of 6 posh cars.
He has 45 golden watches. Whilst Grace Mugabe was obsessed about designer goods especially Gucci shoes - beside all the other luxuries like the sprawling Blue Roof mansion. For Chiwenga it is the very, very expensive watches that turns him on.
Chiwenga has nearly US$ 250 000, all in USD, in just one bank account in Zimbabwe, according to the Court records in the ongoing divorce case with Marry. It is almost certain, he has other bank accounts in Zimbabwe and outside with cash, gold watches and other treasures.
No doubt Lt. Gen. Chimonyo, as a senior ZNA commander, has too amassed a respectable fortune, from the same source as VP Chiwenga and other ZNA top brass have amassed their fortunes. Chimonyo’s fortune may not be as large as that VP Chiwenga; he is playing catch-up!
It is one thing issuing a decree that no one should seek health care services outside Zimbabwe but quite another to enforce it; especially when the country cannot provide even the most basic health case services let alone the specialist services. And, most significant of all, when the individual seeking the services has the wherewithal to pay for it!
VP Chiwenga defied his own decree not to seek health care services outside Zimbabwe precisely because he has the wherewithal to pay for it! The man is loaded and his obsession with very expensive watches; of course it down right stupid to buy 45 gold watches; is just a manifestation of one who has so much money and has run out of ideas of what to do with it!
If anyone is serious about stopping the VP Chiwenga, the Lt. Gen. Chimonyo, etc.; Zimbabwe’s filthy rich who are squandering billions of dollars on sprawling mansions, posh cars, luxury goods galore, health care services outside the country even for minor ailments, etc. etc.; we must first find the sources of their fabulous wealth.
If the source of one wealth is legal and there are all the supporting documents including the tax returns to prove it; then, why not, let the individual spend their earned wealth as they please.
However, if the lifestyle audit showed that the fabulous riches were not earned legally; then every dollar of the ill-got wealth must be taken away. And all those guilty of the illegal activities must be hunted down, tried in a court of law and duly punished.
It is an open secret that VP Chiwenga, Lt. Gen. Chimonyo and all the other top brass in the Army have amassed their wealth from the ZNA’s diamond mining concession in Marange and Chiadzwa. Similar concession were granted to the other security services sectors like the Police and CIO and to a select Zanu PF leaders. The first concession were granted back in 2006 and there are still valid to this day.
Indeed, the diamond mining concessions have been ruled a great success, as far as this Zanu PF government is concerned, the idea has since been replicated in other areas.
It was the late Zanu PF MP, Edward Chindori-Chininga who, in a parliamentary report in 2012, shed some light on the very nature of these diamond mining concessions. The report showed the miners kept no record of the quantity and quality of the diamonds mined, where the diamonds are sold and for how much, who the beneficiaries were and how the spoils were shared, etc. With no records, there are no cooperate or individual tax obligations.
The 2012 GNU parliament read and all other parliaments since have known of Chindori-Chininga’s report and have all done nothing about it. Silence, in this case, is consent.
The wholesale looting of diamonds and other resources in Zimbabwe has all been approved by both the Zimbabwe cabinet and parliament. Corruption is institutionalised!
People like VP Chiwenga know they will never get away with naming the ZNA mining concession as the source of they wealth when there are no records to prove he receive a single dollar from the activity. He knows the reason for keeping no records was to hide the truth, to hide the institutionalised corruption.
Of course, every one knows that what is going on in Marange and Chiadzwa is illegal, no democratic and competent government in the world would ever grant a blank cheque to anyone to loot and plunder. And it is for this reason that the top brass in ZNA and all the other beneficiaries of the institutionalised corrupt in Zimbabwe will never allow any democratic reforms and regime change in Zimbabwe. They fear a lifestyle audit will reveal the corruption and rot in the country.
If VP Chiwenga was serious about ending health care travellers and Mnangagwa was serious about stamping out corruption then they must demand a lifestyle audit for all citizens.
Both President Mnangagwa and VP Chiwenga will never lift a finger to end institutionalised corruption because they are the Godfathers of corruption.
As long as Zanu PF remains in power, Zimbabwe will never ever stamp out corruption. Never!
Making sure those in the Army, Police, CIO, judiciary and other key sectors of society are well looked after by granting them generous salaries and allowance has been a key strategy in Zanu PF's patronage system. It kept all these people doggedly loyal to the de facto one-party state goal.
ReplyDeleteHowever as it became clear that Zimbabwe's economy was sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss Zanu PF realised the party would have to dig deeper too tif it was going to continue enjoying the blind loyalty of everyone. Granting the top brass in the security services the licence to loot the diamonds and other resources was a game changer.
The Police, Army, CIO and Prison Services top brass were not just being spoilt by the regime, they were now looting as much the as Mugabe and the other politicians. When Chihuri and his Police Officers were actively harassing, disrupting, beating and even murdering the opposition leaders and their supporters they were not doing the looting Zanu PF thugs a big favour; they were looting too and so were not just defending Mugabe's right to loot but their own right to loot too.
The idea of implementing the democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections is as unthinkable to Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies as it is to the top brass in the Army, Police and CIO. Each one has a lot of loot to lose as well as a very dirty past to keep under wraps!
As for people like VP Chiwenga and Lt. General Chimonyo using some of their vast wealth to seek medical care they cannot get in Zimbabwe, that makes sense. VP Chiwenga is dumb but not that stupid to squander his money buying yet another gold watch whilst denying himself life-saving medical attention for the sake of upholding a stupid decree.
VP Chiwenga is the one who proclaimed the no more "patient export" decree and the fact that it has comeback to haunt him only serves to underline it was a foolish notion from a foolish person! As you rightly pointed out, if he wanted to save the nation from the mounting health care export bill then ask those seeking health care services outside the country to explain where they are getting the money to pay for it!
ASPIRING MDC-T leader and current party secretary general Douglas Mwonzora has urged the government to compensate Gukurahundi survivors.
ReplyDeleteAddressing journalists in Bulawayo ahead of the party’s Annual Congress to be held on the 19th of December 2020, the opposition politician said even though he was impressed because the government is willing to talk about the matter, authorities still have to take action.
MDC leaders had the opportunity to say something on the matter during the 2008 to 2013 GNU but chose to say nothing for 5 years. They have since brought up the matter for no other reason than for cheap political gain. Gukurahundi is a serious matter not to be used as a political football.
Tinashe Sambiri|The MDC Alliance says Mr Douglas Togaraseyi Mwonzora cannot fire members of another political party.
ReplyDeleteThis comes after Mr Mwonzora “fired” more than 60 members in Mashonaland East Province.
The MDC-T party fired the members for being loyal to President Nelson Chamisa.
“The MDC-T Mashonaland East province has expelled its members who joined another party,” read the notice written by Mr Mwonzora.
MDC’s self-destruct gene has kicked, there is no going back!
A Harare school recorded 37 Covid-19 cases days before the end of the third term on Friday, sparking a standoff between parents and Health and Child Care ministry officials over the handling of the matter.
ReplyDeleteParents were not happy with plans by Roosevelt Girls High to send the affected children to Wilkins Hospital for quarantine amid fears that the outbreak had affected more people as results for 30 students were still pending.
Takavafira Zhou, the Progressive Teachers Union president, said more pupils and teachers were testing positive to the virus.
“Cases of Covid-19 have been reported at Dangamvura Primary in Mutare, with several teachers and pupils testing positive at Chibi High School in Masvingo province yesterday (Friday) while many more are waiting for results today (yesterday)” Zhou said.
“With several students showing signs that resonate with Covid-19, it would be prudent to test all the students at Chibi High rather than allow them to leave the school and infect their family members.”
Zanu PF has failed to carry out the testing, tracing and tracking as per WHO recommendation, the country has been doing 1 500 tests or so per day when our neighbour, SA, has been doing 44 000 tests per day. Our population is 1/4 that of SA and so we should be doing 11 000 tests but are doing 10%!
Most of our schools and colleges do not have adequate facilities to allow students to follow even the most basic corona virus advice such as washing hands regularly and social distancing. Why government has insisted in reopening schools, especially when it has no testing regime in place beggars belief!
It really is an outrage that students, many of whose school mates have tested positive of the virus, are going back home without being tested!
VP Chiwenga who is also the Minister of Health has just returned from China for medical attention. You know Lt. General Chimonyo is in India for health care reasons. The cost of flying these gentlemen there and back and the medical bills must be millions of USD.
So the country has the money to pay for the ruling elite’s extravagant specialist health care needs but cannot afford to buy a US$5 test kit to help stop the spread of corona virus! What a nightmare.
The tragedy is this is a nightmare that has lasted 40 years and counting and one set to get worse by the day.
It is a great pity that the nation wasted the golden opportunity during the 2008 to 2013 GNU to end the Zanu PF dictatorship. MDC leaders sold-out big-time during the GNU and all those who look to MDC to end the dictatorship are very naive!
Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) coronavirus/COVID-19 situation report as of 19 December 2020:
ReplyDeleteNew cases: 102
PCR Tests Done: 1581
Active Cases: 1 849
Total Cumulative Cases: 12 151
Total Deaths: 318
We are a nation that likes to be led by the nose like a bull, we assume those leading know where they are going and hate asking any relevant questions even when it is clear things are not right.
If there are less than 2 000 active corona virus cases out there and, one assumes, they are all in isolation or should be, then where are the new cases coming from? There is something horribly, horribly wrong here. It is obvious we have not been doing enough testing and tracking.
Dadaya High School has 1 000 students living check by jowl and when there were confirmed covid-19 cases among the students the best government could do was test 47 students per day! Many of the students have since been allowed to back to their homes without being tested.
Any other nation would be outraged by the sheer callousness and blundering incompetence at the way Zimbabwe has handled of the corona virus pandemic; but not in Zimbabwe. All this is water off a duck’s back, there is the usual deafening silence.
Alarm bells should be ringing loudly like church bells at the country’s utterly meaningless corona virus figures! What will it take to finally rouse this nation out of its sloth-like mental slumber?
Nations get the government they deserve, we in Zimbabwe, with our laissez faire attitude to everything, certainly deserve this corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous Zanu PF dictatorship complete with its equally corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless MDC opposition.
@ The Newshawk
ReplyDeleteAnother local said “this disease will never be contained because our country is rotten. Our government is corrupt, citizens are corrupt. I heard a nurse was seen stealing tests from the hospital. We are doomed either way. The best thing is to preach to your friends about staying at home as much as possible. Schools must just close.” Our only hope is that, as with the first wave, our fears do not come true. Because if Covid-19 does spread as it has in other countries, we are doomed.
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After 40 years of this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship, it is a historic fact that we, Zimbabweans, have wasted many golden opportunities to end the dictatorship. The best opportunity was during the 2008 to 2013 GNU when all Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends needed to do was implement the raft of democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 Global Political Agreement. MDC failed to implement even one reform in five years!
We are very lucky that covid-19 is not as deadly as Ebola still the economic damage is going to force millions into extreme poverty for many years to come!
Nations get the government they deserve, we certainly deserve this corrupt, vote rigging and murderous Zanu PF dictatorship complete with its compliment of equally corrupt and incompetent MDC opposition. We have done nothing to ensure we have a competent leaders and government.
I totally agree, unless we snap out of our sloth-like mental slumber, we are doomed!
We are aware Mukaro High School is a big school with students coming from across the country. It is not the case of Mukaro High School perse but many other schools such as John Tallach, Matopos High, Mufakose High (Triangle), Dadaya High, Chibi High, Chinhoyi High, Waddilove High, Sanyati Baptist, Goromonzi High, to mention just but a few schools, where cases of covid 19 have been reported. There is need at most schools to judiciously trace and track contacts between covid 19 positive pupils and teachers and those whose status had not been determined when schools closed. This is a mammoth task that need resources, manpower and careful navigation in an attempt to foster the health and safety of pupils, teachers and community.
ReplyDeleteThere is, therefore, an urgent need for covid 19 risk assessment in schools before schools open for 2021 academic year. It is our humble submission to both the Ministry of Education and gvt that the opening of schools on the 4th of January would not afford such a feat given the limited time between now and the opening of schools on 4 January 2021. It is best in our view to allow the current ‘O’ and ‘A’ level students to complete the writing of 2020 examinations before contemplating the opening of schools for the 2021 academic year.
This Zanu PF has handled the corona virus pandemic with the usual blundering incompetence that has become the whole mark of this regime. What is notable here is how the regime has falsified the corona virus cases and deaths to hide its incompetence by the simple act of not testing for the virus and under reporting the figures.
It is simply unforgivable that a school like Dadaya High with 1 000 students had only 47 tested after the school had covid-19 confirmed cases. At this rate, it was going to take 20 days to test all the students, 20 days of some one who should be in isolation living freely amongst the rest and thus spreading the virus.
It is clear that many students were allowed to go back home without being tested and so increasing the chances of the virus being spread far and wide.
Thank God, corona virus has not been as deadly as Ebola nonetheless the sheer incompetence Zanu PF has shown in the handling of this pandemic has left many more people infected and many will die.