Sunday Sermon with Apostle Chisale

GREETINGS beloved nation.

We see David in the book of Psalms speaking about God as his refuge and strength, his place of hiding. David is a man who learnt to depend on God because he had many enemies. So he found God and the presence of God as a place of hiding.

Not only that but also a place of training. His background was not favourable to him. He had been despised and not even recognised by his own family.

That on its own made David a great warrior because you cannot hide in God and come out the same, being timid, a weakling or being weak.

Let me talk to people who have been mistreated and looked down upon. They have called you many names because of your background and where you are coming from.

We are living in a world where you are given your CV because of your background, where you are coming from, where you went to school, the university you attended and the degrees you have attained.

We thank God that he doesn’t lift us because of our background. I am not saying backgrounds are not important. But I am saying stop despising yourself because of your background and stop lifting yourself because of your background.

The Bible says if you humble yourself before the Lord he will lift you.
When we read in the book of Judges 11:1, we are told a story about a man called Jephthah. We see his half-brothers and the council of Gilead chasing him away because his mother was a prostitute.

That’s how people treat us. Because of the person who gave birth to you, that’s what they look at.

They chased him away because they didn’t want him to have a share in the inheritance. Judges 11:2 says, “Gilead’s wife bore sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out, and said to him, ‘You shall have no inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.’”

In verse 3 it says, “Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob, and worthless men banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him.”

You know when people begin to dislike you, they will block you, they will chase you out, and they will reject you. But this young man fled to Tob. Tob was a backcountry used by outlaws as a place of refuge. So this is a place that was used by people who were being mistreated by society.

The word “tob” means, good, whole’, fruitful’ and beautiful. I see this place as a place of prayer. A place where you can run to when your background doesn’t favour you.

We see Jephthah’s men are coming to join him and become mighty men. I pray that God may begin to train you and you become mighty in every area of your life. Jesus himself was rejected by his own.

May the rejection turn you into a mighty person. May it not turn you to be bitter, angry or suicidal. There are people who have been rejected and they are just filled with anger.

They are angry with everyone. Some have been rejected by their boyfriends, husbands, and wives. When they see a man they see a dog, some when they see a woman they see a prostitute.

Refuse that rejection, it will not make you become negative and stop the potential God has released in your life. May the spirit of Tob, of beauty, of fruitfulness and goodness be attracted to you.

In Matthew 21:42 it says, Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD’s doing, And it is marvellous in our eyes. We see in this scripture that the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. It’s talking about Jesus, which they want to build but they are rejecting a stone that will become a cornerstone. Whosoever has rejected you, it might be at work, in our relationships, families, organisations, I prophesy that may you become a cornerstone. Everyone when they look at you, may they say, “Look at what the lord is doing, it is amazing in our eyes”.

In 1 Samuel 16:11 the Bible says, And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all the young men here?” Then he said, “There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him. For we will not sit down till he comes here.”

You see in the life of David he was even forsaken but God identified him. He is the same man who actually wrote in the book of Psalms, “if my father and mother forsake me, the lord will take me in”. You may be forsaken but the Lord is taking you into plans and purposes. In Judges 11:4 the Bible says there was war in the land of Israel. In verse 5 it tells us that the children of Ammon made war against Israel.
May God bless you all.

For feedback contact: dominionlifechurch01@gmail.com WhatsApp 0772494647

Harare Bureau

THE local music scene in Zimbabwe boasts a rich history filled with talented artistes who have captivated audiences both at home and abroad.

While some have achieved local dominance, others have successfully breached international borders, carrying the unique sounds of Zimbabwe to the world stage.

Among these global icons, the late Dr Oliver “Tuku” Mtukudzi stands tall. His soulful ballads, like Neria and Todii, resonated with listeners worldwide, establishing him as a legend.

The late Biggie Tembo’s energetic Jiti tracks, exemplified by Simbimbino, brought a vibrant energy to international music scenes. The Bhundu Boys, known for tracks like Hupenyu Hwangu, expertly blended Zimbabwean genres to create a unique sound that appealed across the globe.

Stella Chiweshe, the late legendary mbira player, was another international treasure. Her music, epitomised by her powerful performances, kept Zimbabwean traditions alive while captivating audiences worldwide.

It is also the same case with Dr Thomas “Mukanya” Mapfumo, whose music needs little or no introduction, within and outside the country’s borders.

However, the story of Leonard Dembo serves as a poignant reminder of unfulfilled potential. His music, a captivating blend of soulful vocals and the driving lead and rhythm guitar rhythms, resonated deeply with locals.

Tracks like Venenziya and Zii Zii showcased his versatility as a songwriter. His iconic song, Chitekete, with its signature beat, became a national anthem. Tragically, Dembo’s untimely demise cut short his ascent on the global stage, though his performance of Chitekete at the 1996 Miss World finals marked a significant moment for Zimbabwean music.

The question of whether Zimbabwe currently boasts a stand-out international music icon remains a topic of debate. While a new generation of talented artistes continues to emerge, capturing the global spotlight can be a difficult feat. Perhaps an artiste will rise to carry the torch of these legends, or maybe the combined influence of these musical giants will continue to shape the sound of Zimbabwean music for years to come.

Among the country’s top singers and crowd pullers at the moment are Alick Macheso, renowned for his pulsating sungura sound; Jah Prayzah, known for his energetic blend of contemporary music and traditional rhythms; and Winky D, a hugely popular reggae-dancehall artiste.

Debate has, however, been on who among them has a better international following. Yes, the singers periodically perform out of the country but in most instances, a huge chunk of the crowd will be Zimbabweans based in the diaspora. Also, the figures they are offered for international bookings are a far cry from what their colleagues — among them Davido, Diamond Platnumz, Burna Boy, Wizkid or even Master KG — charge.

Recent media reports claim Burna Boy, a Nigerian singer, declined a concert worth US$5 million in Dubai after he was restricted from taking marijuana during his visit to the country. It was not the marijuana issue that got netizens busy but the concert figure.

Locals quizzed if any of our local stars would, in such a situation, have the audacity to turn down a million-dollar concert for such a condition.Much still needs to be done to improve our artistes’ ranking abroad.

“Our group has on several occasions toured the United Kingdom, Australia, Dubai, to mention a few places, and our shows have been fairly attended. However, the majority of our fans are Zimbabweans based in the diaspora,” said Alick Macheso’s manager and publicist Tich Makahamadze in an interview.

“The numbers fluctuate when we play abroad. But we are making progress on the international scene, courtesy of our live animated performances.”

Efforts to get a comment from Jah Prayzah and Winky D’s camp were in vain. However, Marcus Gora — who manages the six-member Mokoomba Band — said they have managed to create a healthy fan-base abroad.

“Compared to fellow African singers from countries like Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa, we are still lagging behind. Our international tours mainly attract Zimbabweans abroad. This is despite the fact that we are always outside the country for tours,” said Gora.

Biggie Tembo

A Mokoomba band member who opted not to be named said foreign shows were more of “prestige than profit”. “Our band has more than a decade of experience in international shows but we have nothing to show for it. We are paid peanuts during tours. Actually, when we go outside the country, we are treated like an ordinary upcoming band,” he said.
Revered Zimdancehall music producer Michael “PTK” Murumbi weighed in.

“I have been in the game for a while and travelled to several countries as a producer or accompanying some of the artistes I record. Most of the time we have returned empty-handed. I think that is a clear signal that we do not have many, if any, internationally recognised artistes in Zimbabwe,” said PTK.

“Most of the artistes who travel outside for gigs only do so to enjoy or get a feel of flying. They are not getting any fortune there.”Last year, Zimdancehall chanter Silent Killer — born Jimmy Mudereri — toured the United Kingdom.

The singer’s younger brother Stallone “Ras Lalo” Pangeti said: “We celebrated when he boarded the plane as we considered this to be a major breakthrough for him. However, he still has nothing to show for his hard work. “As we speak, Silent Killer has no permanent residence; he stays with his friends; sometimes you find him at Kagora’s homestead or at Boss Love’s house.”

Givemore Bonde, who is affectionately known as Ndunge Yut, sums it all up. “International tours are not a money-making venture. They are all about vacation, experiencing the other side of life. I went to Poland and Germany last year. In Poland, I performed for about 30 Zimbabweans and seven locals.”

“People think we make a lot of money when we go outside the country but that is not the case.” Sungura singer Mark Ngwazi feels local artistes have a lot to learn.

“I went to the United Kingdom for the first time last year. Our shows were dominated by Zimbabweans based there. I think we need to improve our music marketing in foreign countries so that we improve our reach across borders,” notes Ngwazi.
Rising music producer Gibson Makumbe also shared his thoughts.

“As an industry, we need a collaboration of music producers, promoters and musicians to sit down and find a way to effectively penetrate the international market. I will soon be travelling to South Africa to record local musicians based there but the main challenge is that as music producers, we are failing to create an artiste who can be an international icon yet we have the talent,” he said.

Veteran guitarist, music producer and composer Clive Mono Mukundu opines lack of professional record labels has created the predicament.Record labels in countries like Nigeria and South Africa, he said, are financially sound and have international links that benefit their artistes.

“In Nigeria, a record label can build an artiste from the grassroots until they achieve international stardom. If an artiste is not financially stable, he/she cannot make any meaningful progress,” reckons Mono.

Population density has also been cited as another factor weighing against local artistes. For instance, Nigeria has over 200 million people while Zimbabwe’s total population is around 16 million.

“Nigeria is a big state; an artiste like Burna Boy can easily amass over 50 million followers, which is not easy for our local artistes. Another challenge is on originality. Mokoomba is original; they sing their own Tonga language from Victoria Falls, which makes them unique. You cannot go international copying Nigerian or South African styles,” argued Mono.

However, one thing is certain: the vibrant music scene in Zimbabwe is brimming with talent and determination. With the right support and strategic planning, the future remains bright for Zimbabwean music on the international stage.

Lovemore Dube

A financial services practitioner, Godfrey Marongwe-Nkosi will take part in today’s Comrades Marathon in South Africa  for wellness while the elite athletes will be chasing handsome pickings from the world’s most popular ultra-marathon.

Marongwe-Nkosi who is based in Harare is excited about running the elite event of world longer marathons. It is his first time running there after two successful attempts on the Two Oceans Marathon in Cape Town, South Africa in the last two years.

The Two Oceans is a 56km ultra-marathon and is used as a qualifier for the Comrades. He ran the event in 6 hours 18 minutes last year and lowered his time to 5 hours 37 minutes.

With that improvement and being among 554 Zimbabweans taking part in the event, Marongwe-Nkosi’s attention is on the health benefits of running. 

He considers it therapeutic and something he advises fellow citizens to embrace.

“Running is good exercise. It enhances both physical and mental sharpness,” said Marongwe-Nkosi from Durban where the event is being run this morning.

Running is known for boosting cardiovascular health, helps strengthen muscles, good at managing body weight and through releasing chemicals called endorphins mood swings are managed.

“Sports are good for prompting healthy work-life balance. Productivity will obviously increase when mental, physical and social areas are well taken care of,” said Marongwe-Nkosi of running’s benefits to society.

He emphasised that working in the financial services sector, at times when he knocks off at work he is so worked out that running helps calm his nerves giving him peace of mind.

“At times working in the financial services sector can be a stressful environment, for wellness running is important it enhances sleep quality,” said Marongwe-Nkosi.

Marongwe-Nkosi is happy to be running with 553 other Zimbabweans at the event. 

“There are many of us here, 554, it’s no joke, and others are social athletes and the other lot being elite athletes running for money,” said the fitness fanatic.

He says what motivated him to try this milestone this year is that he turned 50 on 27 May.

With three wins Stephen Muzhingi remains the best Zimbabwean to ever participate in the event.

Mike Fokorani, Lyon Muchena and Monica Kativhu are some of the confirmed top elite athletes in KwaZulu-Natal.

Producer Master KG and singer Nkosazana Daughter have dismissed romance claims. Their work relationship has come under scrutiny as music fans suggest the two are dating and not just making music together.

Last year the duo recorded smash hit Amaphutha, followed by Keneilwe, a song originally created by the 1980s and 1990s popular group Dalom Kids.

Addressing the rumours, the Jerusalema hitmaker told TshisaLIVE the claims are reflected negativity towards his work ethics.

“It’s not the first time I hear this claim and I’ve got to say this has put my working relationship astray, because whenever we meet it’s work, which all our music fans have witnessed. Nkosazana and I aren’t dating and social media has concluded we are an item,” he said.

“We have a good working chemistry, that’s all, and I take Nkosazana Daughter like a sister. May this be the last time I talk about her in such a story, like we have good music to record. We come (too) far in music to let such claims prosper.”
Earlier this week, Nkosazana Daughter rubbished the claims on Instagram.

“Mara la bora shem, now men won’t ask me out, nwe nwe nwe, she’s dating Master KG, nwe nwe nwe, she’s dating Sir Trill. I am not. Zinja yekani lo doti (you dogs had better stop this nonsense). Niyabhora xem (you bore me).” ‑— Timeslive

Prince Nsingo Jele was the grandson of the great Ngoni (Nguni) King Zwangendaba Jele. His father was King Mphezeni and his mother Queen Luphoko Phakathi.

After King Zwangendaba’s death around 1848 at his Maphupho capital in present day Tanzania, the Ngoni kingdom split into several groups. Prince Mphezeni led his followers southward into the present day Chipata district of Zambia in the 1860s. There he established a new state.

King Mphezeni established friendly relations with Portuguese traders, but at the turn of the 1890s his kingdom was under surveillance of the British South Africa Company (BSAC) who wanted mineral and land concessions.

To prevent BSAC occupation King Mphezeni gave a large land concession to the German adventurer Karl Wiese. Wiese however, betrayed the now old and fragile king by selling his concession to a London-based company that became a subsidiary of the BSAC.

King Mphezeni realised his mistake when BSAC prospectors flooded his territory claiming land and prospecting for gold and other minerals. The BSAC presence in Ngoni territory infuriated the crown prince Nsingo who was also the general of the Ngoni military regiments.

Prince Nsingo assembled about 10  000 of the bravest Ngoni warriors and attacked Wiese, BSAC prospectors and soldiers in December 1897 at Fort Jameson. Initially the attacks proved to be very successful as the British were forced to retreat.

The British-led forces however, mobilized and launched a strong counter-attack on King Mphezeni’s state between January and February 1898. Reinforcements by the British and heavy artillery including the Maxim Gun soon proved a decisive factor of the war.

Prince Nsingo’s forces fought with great bravery but the Maxim guns mercilessly mowed the gallant fighters in their thousands. When Prince Nsingo realised that defeat was eminent, he retreated and went into hiding.

The British overran the Ngoni capital on February 4. Prince Nsingo was betrayed and his secret hiding place was exposed leading to his capture. King Mphezeni fled into the hills upon hearing of his son’s capture. The BSAC looted all the Ngoni cattle and burnt all their grain.

Prince Nsingo was court-martialed and sentenced to death, and was executed at dawn the following morning by being tied up. The British buried him at a secret location. King Mphezeni was also eventually captured, handcuffed and paraded in front of his subjects and imprisoned.

King Mphezeni died of depression soon after his release from prison. The year 1898 marks the last stand by gallant sons of Southern Africa against colonial rule. Prince Nsingo Jele remains an icon of resistance to colonial rule in Southern Africa. — Mzala Tom

Youth Focus with Dr. Manners Msongelwa

PERSONALITY is a way of thinking, feeling, and behaving. It embraces moods, attitudes, and opinions and is most clearly expressed in interactions with other people.

Personality is NOT a well-dressed, charming person, though being so can certainly help. Having a good personality is key to success at school. Good personality traits.

Be a better communicator and listener

Good communication is one of the most important life skills and the key to good interpersonal relationships.
With clear communication, you can navigate through adverse situations and resolve conflicts easily. So, clear your thoughts and communicate what you want to. At the same time be a good listener.

Celebrate your uniqueness

Don’t wish you were someone else. To become an effective personality, you need to feel confident by avoiding comparisons with others as such comparisons block our own strengths as the other one assumes more strength in our mind.

Know that you’re unique and incomparable and this trait of yours must be celebrated.

Imperfections make you perfect

No-one is a know-all. It’s refreshing to learn from others what we don’t know about. Imperfections make you perfect.
None in this world is perfect as everyone has some flaws. When faced with criticism, accept it if it’s positive and let it go if it’s not.

Being optimistic, grateful

Being positive is the key to a healthy, peaceful life. Driving out negativity certainly improves your mental stability as positive thoughts reduce depression and anxiety substantially.

Being self-confident

Confidence creates motivation and makes you aware of your inner capacities.
Self-confidence triggers chemical changes in the brain and leads you to a point where you start believing it. So, have confidence and tell yourself you can handle anything successfully and you will.

Being strong from the inside

Don’t give in to external pressures. Be content with what you have. Don’t feel bad because you don’t have the latest phone or latest fashion, don’t worry about that.

One day you will buy everything you want. Time and chance happen to all. Remain calm in the middle of any situation.

Dressing confidently

Be smart and presentable all the time. Smell good. This boosts your confidence.

Dr Manners Msongelwa is an author, teacher and youth coach. He can be contacted on +263 771 019 392

Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Reporter

DURING the first day of this year’s edition of the Matobo Gin Festival, taking place between 13 and 15 September, campers will be treated to a networking cocktail party at Blue Hills Resort.

Ordinarily, business networking could be classified as an activity that one would not associate with a festival, particularly one powered by an alcoholic spirit.

However, after taking a breather for a year, the Matobo Gin Fest is returning, it seems, with a fresh cocktail of ideas that seek to position it as a leader in tourism and entertainment spheres.

This may be important, as the festival comes back in an entertainment environment vastly different from the one in 2021, the year it was founded.

Since then, Covid-19 has come and gone, changing the face of showbiz. Revellers in the City of Kings have seemingly now acquired a taste for events that are out of the ordinary and it is no longer enough to slap a “hot” artiste from Mzansi on a poster and hope that fun-lovers will come flocking through the turnstiles.

Events that give revellers a well-rounded, wholesome time out have flourished, while those that rely only on the so-called big names have floundered.

It is this energy that the organisers of this year’s festival are also seeking to tap into, expanding what was initially envisioned as a one-night party into a three-day festival.

“Camping is going to enhance the spirit of positioning this event as a celebration of Matobo Hills,” Phineas Chauke, who is in charge of camping and marketing at the fest said, “In addition, this also strengthens the perception of the event as a key driver of tourism to the Matopos. So, with that in mind, on Friday the 13th, we are going to Blue Hills Camp where we will enjoy the various activities on offer.

We are collaborating with them for this year and those who camp with us will be able to enjoy activities like quad biking, archery, mountain biking, and mini-golf.

“On the 14th we are going back to the Matopos where we will have a scenic drive and also visit where Cecil John Rhodes is buried. We will also tour Amagugu Heritage Centre, where we will have our Paint and Sip because we want to see our campers’ creativity come to the fore as they drink their Matobo gin. From Amagugu we will see the Njelele Hill and on the same day, we will also do some rhino tracking because the Matobo Hills harbour the highest number of rhinos on State land in Zimbabwe,” he said.

While for many the last day will be the highlight, for campers, the business networking cocktail, a braai and an intimate djembe session with Emmanuel Nkomo of Djembe Monks on the first day will just be as exciting.

One of the organisers of this year’s extravaganza, Thembalethu Ndlovu said as it coincided with the Sanganai/Hlanganani Tourism Expo, it was an ideal opportunity to connect the festival to the movers and shakers in the sector.

“Things are different this time around. In the past, the festival was held over a single day, now it’s something that takes place over three days. We are introducing camping as well as business networking on the first two days and then the last day is going to follow the old template of the festival.

“This will be on Sanganai weekend so we are trying to work out something with the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA). We had a meeting with them and after they gave us a list of requirements, we went back to the drawing board to work out what we needed to do. The deal is not yet final. Right now they are busy pushing gastronomy tourism so since the Matobo Gin Fest is all about pairing the local gin with the local food, I think it aligns with what authorities are also pushing,” he said.

While the festival itself had been open to all and sundry, Ndlovu said they would be only taking 50 campers for the three days, with international visitors also expected to be part of that cohort.

“For the 50 campers, we are hoping that for some slots we will get some people who will be at the Sanganai/Hlanganani Expo. There will be some people coming from other parts of the world and when they do come and see the food and beverages that we have, it will help spread the word about the beauty of Matobo and other places in the region. I encourage everyone to come and take part.

This festival is yours and it will go a long way in showcasing support for the tourism sector in Bulawayo and beyond. Besides, there will be a lot of fun and we will welcome visitors with open arms to the Matobo Hills,” he said.

Speaking during a briefing last week, festival founder Langa Moyo said not only were they expecting visitors from outside the country, but some gin makers from abroad would be titillating the taste buds of imbibers over the three days of the festival.

“In terms of the gins that we will be showcasing this year, we have got some very exciting brands that have come on board. We have got Malawi Gin, which is going to be a part of the event and we have a craft gin from the UK which is also going to take part. We have Nyanga Craft, which is based here in Zimbabwe and they will also be part of this year’s festival. We have two more gins from South Africa that we are talking to and in the next two weeks or so we should be able to announce their participation,” he said.

Moyo said inviting different gin-makers from around the world lived true to the festival’s stated goal of offering a unique experience to its attendees.

“People need to know about the event and activities that will be involved in the event in time. Also, people are always in search of something unique and different, that is why we have been providing gins from different countries,” he said.

As the Motobo Gin Fest enters a new phase, Moyo reminisced on how an idea sparked by a visit to another event in Victoria Falls now stood poised to inject new life into the tourism sector in the Matabeleland region.

“I visited Victoria Falls for an event we were doing around 2021 and came across some guys who were doing an event called the Gin Connection on cruise boats. It was quite inspiring and I thought we should also have our event primarily to market our gin. We then went around Matobo looking for venues and I fell in love with Sandy Spruit Dam,” he said.

Yesteryear Greats with Lovemore Dube

IN the hustle and bustle of the country’s prime tourism destination, Victoria Falls, lives one of the country’s biggest known former footballers, Nyaro Mumba, the ex-Gwayi River Mine and Wankie FC forward.

He may not have won anything with Wankie (now Hwange), but Mumba has a special place in the hearts of the locals and a permanent slot in Zimbabwe football folklore.

It is difficult to talk about the Wankie team of the 1970s and early 1980s without mentioning the great forward.

However, fate hit him almost two decades ago when he turned blind because of an ailment preventing him from working as a tour guide in Victoria Falls.

He is a member of probably the best Wankie outfit.

A team that was ranked high up there among Arcadia, Black Aces, Caps United, Chibuku Shumba, Dynamos, Mangula (Mhangura), Metal Box, Highlanders, Risco (Zisco), Rio Tinto and Zimbabwe Saints.

Former Hwange hardman Alick Nyoni this week reached out to the Sunday News to announce plans they have for the great Mumba.

On the weekend former Hwange players will travel to Victoria Falls for a benefit match in honour of their great hero. 

A master on the ball, too skilful for a man of his size, a great ball controller, dribbler, shooter and second to none with offensive headers.

Nyoni said the initiative was the beginning of many ideas they have as former players. 

He said generations of players had been inspired by Mumba and his teammates, as they were at Wankie they watched tame giants like Dynamos, Highlanders, Black Aces, Rio Tinto and Zimbabwe Saints.

“He was our hero, he still is. He played a role in the development of the game in Hwange. Not only did he inspire us as a player but he went on to coach the club, ZPC Hwange and was involved in the local league.

“Nyaro is one of the most popular players to have played for the club, he is our everyday hero. Their team rocked. I remember as kids watching him alongside other legends Posani Sibanda, Rodrick Simwanza, Amos Rendo, Austin Ncube, Barton Mwalukuka, Skeva Phiri, Isaac Phiri and the mercurial David Khumalo. He was a big player in physique and football standing, a gentleman on the field and off it as we used to see them in the compounds,” said Nyoni.

He said by meeting around Mumba as former Hwange players, they were also coming together with a view of creating a platform to check on each other.

“We hope we can through this initiative get to meet more often, do charity work to benefit some of our former teammates and club players who may be in need,” said Nyoni.

He said that they had started with Mumba because of his sight plight.

“We want to visit him as a group some of the guys its players he coached. It will raise his spirits for him to play host to a group of former players from the town and club he got known to the world,” said Nyoni of the 69-year-old cult hero during his time.

Many remember him outjumping big defenders and unleashing ferocious headers.

Nyoni said they will fundraise and proceeds will go to Mumba and his family.

He said the saddest thing is that Mumba will not be able to watch the match.

“As a football legend it would have been great for him to watch us in action. Football remains his passion but sadly the visual impairment hit him,” said Nyoni.

Mumba started his football career in the 1960s in Mangula now Mhangura. He then moved to Gwayi River Mine which back then mined copper like Mhangura.

When the mine was closed in 1975, Mumba a star of the cast was poached by Hwange while George Phiri and George Baison moved to Kamativi who were in the South Region Division One League alongside Wankie.

At his arrival Wankie was already a household name in the local game having won the 1970 and 1973 Castle Cup finals against Arcadia and Dynamos respectively.

Mumba quickly asserted himself as a great player commanding a regular starting position either at Number Six, Eight, Nine or 10.

The most memorable moments of his career was lining up alongside Khumalo, Warriors striker Simwanza, Jimmy Sibanda, Rhodesia national team trialist Nathaniel Maduku, two time Soccer Star of the Year finalist Amos Rendo, Chris Yoyo, Skeva Phiri, Mwalukuka, David Zulu and Leonard Tembo.

He provided a number of assists and scored gems with his head and some from his terrific right foot. 

He was a marvel firing from range in full flight.

Former Highlanders and Warriors defender Douglas “British” Mloyi described Mumba as having been a great player.

“Nyaro was skilful. He was a very good guy, good at shooting and heading. He was also very aggressive as a striker,” said Mloyi.

Mloyi had a lighter moment about Wankie and his Highlanders’ clashes.

“He has a big head, I have one too, so in one match we collided and we were both treated for 10 minutes outside,” said Mloyi with a burst of laughter.

Another star who faced Mumba is Joseph Ndlovu a former Eagles centreback who served the club for over 10 years.

He said Mumba was very good in the air and one of the deadliest forwards of his era.

“Nyaro was good in the air, one of the deadliest strikers of that time. He was good at heading and could shoot while in full flight. He was quite strong with good balance. Despite giving you a torrid time on the field in duels, he was a gentleman on and off the field,” said Ndlovu.

Former PTC (Hwange) star Israel Chitalu Kasomo who was a teenager when Mumba was winding up his career in the early 1980s described him as having been a prolific scorer with the head and a dependable player.

He rarely was cautioned as he was a smart player.

“He was a prolific scorer with the header and ever dependable player during his football time. A disciplinarian to the core. I recall vividly he came from the bench to put Chipangano on level terms with a deadly header from a Kakoma Kayonga corner kick in one game clad in his favourite Number 10 jersey. 

“It’s never complete to write about Chipangano legends without mentioning Nyaro Mumba. After the heydays at Chipangano FC, he continued with his passion for football. Mumba scored more goals with his head than foot. Indeed he had a powerful right foot strike that mesmerised goalkeepers.

“At the Wankie Amateur Football Association, the local league that nurtured and polished young talents, Mumba was ever on the bench of Rufaro Rovers, doing what he loved most, grooming young stars into the senior Chipangano outfit,” said Kasomo of the man who also turned out for Erieta, Project Warriors and Zulu Royals in Hwange.

After serving Rufaro well, he got an opportunity to coach ZPC (Hwange) before relocating to Victoria Falls where poor sight cut short his coaching career.

Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Reporter

CLAD in a brown suit jacket, black jersey, and white shirt, Thabo Bester held the audience captive as he spoke at the Pretoria High Court last Wednesday.

It was one of the few times that Bester had an opportunity to address the court since he was arrested in Tanzania in April last year, as he and his sweetheart, disgraced medical practitioner, Dr Nandipha Magudumana, beat a hasty retreat to Tanzania with law enforcement authorities hot on their trail.

Dr Nandipha Magudumane

A man of considerable charisma, Bester’s speech did not disappoint, as he turned what was meant to be a mundane pre-trial hearing into an exhibition of his oratory skills.

In an emotional speech, Bester spoke of how he had been mistreated by the South African prison system, left “to rot” in his cell on his own without human companionship. Known for his snazzy dressing style, Bester also complained that he was no longer allowed to wear some of his favourite clothing brands like Burberry and Louis Vuitton, whenever he appeared in court.

For added flourish, Bester said he felt that due to the “oppression” he was suffering at the hands of South Africa’s criminal justice system, the authorities should just slap him with a death sentence and put a wrap on all proceedings.

“I request that if the public and the prosecution are so convinced that I am the waste of these people’s lives that the public signs a petition and I be given a death sentence and I will immediately agree to it so we end this matter,” he said.

As he spoke, cameras at the Pretoria High Court swivelled to Magudumana who was either fighting back tears or, if some social media naysayers are to be believed, was trying to fake them.

Zanda Moyo and Thabo Bester

Also present in the courtroom, without anybody seemingly taking notice, was 31-year-old Zimbabwean national Zanda Moyo. As the Thabo Bester case has taken twists and turns, Moyo has almost become the forgotten man. Of the 10 other people that were initially charged alongside Magudumana and Bester, Moyo now remains as the last man standing with them in the dock.

This has led some to question why the Zimbabwean has been singled out for treatment as harsh as Mzansi’s Bonnie and Clyde couple. Moyo’s charge sheet certainly does not cast him in a good light.

According to authorities, it was Moyo who collected a body under false pretences at the National Hospital in Bloemfontein, claiming that it belonged to his brother Themba Ndlovu, a taxi driver born in Zimbabwe.

That body, which was alleged to be used as a decoy in Bester’s escape plan, was later found in Bester’s jail cell in May last year, charred.

An autopsy report revealed that the deceased, who was later identified through DNA testing, was Katlego Bereng and he had died from blunt force injury to the head. But just who is Zanda Moyo?

Zanda Moyo

According to eNCA’s Silindelo Masikane, Moyo initially worked at Magudumana’s aesthetics’ clinic, before he moved in with the disgraced medical professional and Bester in their luxury mansion.

“It is alleged he met Magudumana after she left her marital home. It is also alleged that Moyo worked for Magudumana at her aesthetic clinic as a nail technician. She then hired him to be her driver and provided a roof over his head by letting him live in the R12m mansion that she shared with Bester,” Masikane said.

According to Calvin Rafadi, a forensic investigator who worked on the case, while Moyo initially carried out tasks for the couple, he was later allegedly thrown out of their house when he started demanding larger sums of money, as he believed that he was privy to some of their darkest secrets.

“Most of the time, he was driving her to prison to see Bester and he also drove her on most of her trips to Cape Town, as they claimed to have properties on that side. Some of the trips shown on some of the records showed that they were driving a lot to Botswana. It came to a point where now he was demanding a lot of money to keep quiet because he knew that the real TM Motsepe (Bester’s alias) was Thabo Bester. There came a point where they had to chuck him out of the house,” Rafadi said.

While the question of Moyo’s alleged criminality is still before the courts, it has been at least established that he was resident in South Africa lawfully. “From the information that we got from the investigating officers, it emerged that he had relevant papers to be in South Africa,” said Phaladi Shuping of South Africa’s National Prosecuting Agency (NPA).

“So, he is not here illegally but his travels make an interesting part of the investigation. So, we have to wait for everything regarding the investigation to be finalised.”

Meanwhile, an old Bulawayo associate of Moyo who spoke to Sunday News anonymously said while they suspected that he might be dabbling into a criminal lifestyle when he started living lavishly, they had never thought it would be to the scale of the Thabo Bester case.

“I knew him here in Bulawayo when he was also hustling like everyone else and trying to make a living. I never thought that he would be involved with criminal activity at this scale. His life seemed to have changed over the last few years and he seemed to be living quite lavishly. He was certainly different from the Zanda we knew when he was still struggling and trying to make ends meet.

When we started seeing his face in newspapers and the TV things started clicking into place. It all started to make sense because some of us thought he was now into armed robbery in Mzansi. It was a shock because this is a crime that was beyond our imagination,” said the source.

Sunday Sermon with Apostle Chisale

GREETINGS beloved nation. Welcome to the new season. We shall be focusing on spiritual garments and their meanings. Garments have the following spiritual meanings; i) garments signify ranks, ii) garments are decorative and iii) garments are symbolic. In 1 Samuel 2: 18-19 it says “But Samuel ministered before the LORD, being a child, girded with a linen ephod. 

Moreover, his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.” We see Samuel entering a new season wearing a new garment. Samuel’s mother was led by the spirit year after year to make a new garment for her son. Spiritually you grow in levels because there is a demand in Heaven. 

With the dawn of each season, the garment changes. A change of garment in Samuel’s life symbolises growth and change of status. Samuel could not wear the same garment every year. Spiritually as you walk with God, you will grow in certain levels and graces. As you grow the mantle also grows. New levels also mean new devils. As we have entered this new season of January 2024, there is a demand in Heaven that we should grow like Samuel. The God we serve is not stagnant. He deals with us progressively. God is infinite meaning unlimited and men is limited, that’s why He deals with us progressively. We get to know him progressively. 

That’s why the Bible says we should grow in the knowledge of God. As we enter into new seasons, we must make sure that spiritually we are wearing the right garment for that season. Wrong garments disqualify us from the new thing that God is doing for that particular season. In Matthew 22:11-13 it says, “And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” We see here a man being disqualified from the wedding as he was wearing a wrong garment, and so it is in the realm of the spirit. If we do not discern spiritual garments that we are supposed to wear in this season of January 2024, our lives will be disqualified. 

God reveals himself progressively. Through revelation certain aspects of God’s character get uncovered to us. God’s destiny for our lives unfolds progressively, He takes us one step at a time. The Bible says the steps of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord. In John 1:42 it says, “And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.” We see a prophetic word that was given to Simon and the name Peter starts in Matthew 16:17-19. After he had grown, now Jesus calls him Peter. God is doing a new thing on earth, seasons come and go. You cannot control time and seasons nor can you bind them, you just have to co-operate with them. We need to discern in the spirit the times and seasons and we need to position ourselves. 

To explain further about garments. Firstly, garments are decorative, meaning they are meant to decorate those wearing them e.g a priestly garment was meant to convey the authority from God as we see in Exodus 28:2 “And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty.” Secondly, garments are symbolic as we see in Exodus 28:29 “And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place, for a memorial before the LORD continually.” We see here that when Aaron was wearing this garment, he represented the tribes of Israel. This garment provided a major realisation of the task which was representing Israel before God. Thirdly, garments are worn to determine an identity. A pauper could not wear a garment of a king. A garment distinguishes who you are, e.g blind Bartimaeus’ garment in the scripture speaks of identification. 

The rich man in Luke 16:19-21 his garment speaks of wealth. Fourthly, garments speak of change in status. When the status of the prodigal son changed, he took off the strange garments and was given a new garment in Luke 15:22. We see in Esther 6:7-10 that when Mordecai was honoured he changed garments. And in Esther 5:1-2 “Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel and stood in the inner court of the king’s house, over against the king’s house: and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, over against the gate of the house.

2 And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favour in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre.”

Esther found favour before the king because of a specific garment she was wearing. I would like to invite you to receive Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour, by believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth that he is your Lord and Saviour and you shall be saved. May God bless you all.

Contact details: dominionlifechurch01@gmail.com Whatsapp Number: 0772494647 

Tendai Chara

“THE death penalty is inherently cruel and ineffective as a deterrent.”

This statement by Dzivaresekwa MP, Edwin Mushoriwa sparked debate as he introduced the Death Penalty Abolition Bill in Parliament in 2023.

The Bill, which is awaiting Senate approval before reaching President Mnangagwa’s desk, seeks to expunge capital punishment from the country’s legal code.

Mushoriwa’s arguments go beyond just deterrence.

He criticises the system’s inherent bias.

“As a Member of Parliament representing poor communities, I have seen how the death penalty disproportionately targets those who cannot afford proper legal defence. The wealthy, with their resources, can escape the harshest punishment,” he said.

The legislator further said the fact that the death penalty can be unjustly applied to innocent victims with irreversible consequences, is another factor which motivated him to introduce the Bill.

“An execution is irreversible,” Mushoriwa noted. “There is no going back if someone is later proven innocent.”
Although there have been no executions since 2005, Zimbabwe’s courts continue to hand down death sentences. Currently, there are 63 people on death row.

Public opinion, however, seems to favour the abolishment of the death penalty, with strong support from human rights groups, ordinary citizens and influential figures.

The odds

George Govere, a lawyer, explained why there is a need to pass the Death Penalty Abolition Bill.

“In the current scenario, the Constitution allows the death penalty for specific cases. Abolishing the death penalty would require legislative changes, not a constitutional amendment.

“Despite a moratorium on executions, the presence of the death penalty in law reflects a stagnant approach, hence there was need to change the laws,” he argued.

According to Govere, the proposed law would prohibit any court from imposing the death penalty and from carrying out a death sentence previously handed down.

In the event of the abolishment of the death penalty, it is believed that the 63 death row prisoners would be taken back to court for re-sentencing.

Alien

Gogo Mamoyo (Letwin Manguwo), a traditionalist and spiritual healer, argued that the death penalty is an “alien” practice that must be abolished.

“First and foremost, the death penalty was never part of our culture. Our culture believes in a restorative justice system,” she said.

Gogo Mamoyo equated the wrath of avenging spirits in the traditional African culture to the death penalty.
“Avenging spirits would bring death and suffering to the families of those who would have committed the murder. In my view, this was a death sentence on its own.”

Father Kennedy Muguti, the Catholic Church’s Archdiocese of Harare vicar-general, said Catholics never supported the death penalty.

“Life is sacred and no one has authority over it. The Bible clearly forbids killing,” he said.

Fr Muguti said the death penalty is not deterrent enough.

“Countries in Asia impose death sentences on drug dealers. However, criminals are still dealing in drugs despite the sentences.”

Never Changadzo, a History teacher at a private school in Harare agrees.

“Before the arrival of the colonialists, African communities did not impose death sentences. The colonialists introduced it to exterminate whoever was rallying against their rule,” Changadzo said.

The local hangman position itself has remained vacant since it was advertised in 2012. The fact that there have been no takers for this grim task seems to suggest a growing societal discomfort with capital punishment. This strengthens the argument that Zimbabwean society is moving away from accepting executions.

However, the issue is not black and white.

Tonderai Mupara, a resident of Harare’s Glen View suburb, believes the death penalty acts as a deterrent and should remain in place.

“I foresee an increase in murder cases if the death sentence is scrapped. The death penalty is a deterrent factor and if it is removed, criminal elements will wreak havoc,” he noted.

Consensus

Recent nationwide consultations revealed that the majority of Zimbabweans want the death penalty scrapped.

President Mnangagwa himself is a known advocate of the abolishment of the death penalty.

Psychologist, Dr Silvester Mombeyarara said confinement to death row for a long period can have devastating effects.

“Research has shown that those who have been on death row for an extended period often suffer from delusions that can lead to insanity. Death row inmates are also prone to suicidal tendencies,” said Dr Mombeyarara.

These combined factors suggest a strong movement towards removing the death penalty from Zimbabwe’s legal system. The belief that the death sentence is not a deterrent seems widely shared.

“If the sentence was effective, we would not be seeing a rise in murder cases,” argued Nevile Akende, a Harare resident.

Statistics provided by the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service earlier this year indicate that the number of people caged for homicide rose from 730 to 845 between January 2021 and October 2021.

By November 2022, the figure had increased to 984.

Albert Pierrepoint, a well-known British executioner who once claimed to have hanged 550 people, also, at one time, believed the death penalty was not a deterrent.

In a 1974 memoir, Pierrepoint wrote: “It is said to be a deterrent. I cannot agree. There have been murders since the beginning of time and we shall go on looking for deterrents until the end of time.

“I have come to the conclusion that executions solve nothing and are only an antiquated relic of a primitive desire for revenge, which takes the easy way and hands over responsibility for revenge to other people.”

However, two years after publishing the memoir, the prolific hangman appeared to have changed his mind. In a radio interview with the BBC, he stated that he believed crime in Britain had increased since outlawing executions and that his country may need to bring back capital punishment in order to solve the problem.

Elsewhere

Globally, there has been increased advocacy for the abolition of the death penalty, with many countries in the Southern African Development Community region already doing so.

In 2022, the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights called on all member countries of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights to “take steps towards abolishing the death penalty”.

Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all circumstances because of its inherent cruelty.

To date, some 170 countries have abolished or introduced a moratorium on the death penalty in law or in practice.

In Southern Africa, Angola, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa and Zambia have abolished the death penalty for all crimes.

Zimbabwe signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights treaties that advocate the right to life and the right not to be subjected to torture or other ill-treatment.

Although Article Six of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights permits the use of the death penalty in limited circumstances, the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights Office has stated that capital punishment is not consistent with the right to life and the right to live free from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

JANITORS should be treated with dignity, respect and fairness regardless of the type of work they do. It is important to remember that all work is equal and deserving of respect.

Every worker, regardless of their job, plays an important role in society and should be treated with dignity and respect.

Janitors are often unseen people in schools. They play a very important role at school. They are the ones who clean our toilets, provide enough water to use in these toilets. Most of the toilets no longer have a flushing system, but janitors always make sure that there’s adequate water for the toilets. As students, we need to treat them with respect.

Acknowledge the janitor when he/she is around. This could be a wave, a smile, a greeting “hello” and “how are you today?”

Shake his/her hand and express some gratitude for their hard work.The school administration should make sure the janitors receive gifts and acknowledgment on prize-giving days. This goes a long way in showing how much you value them.

When a janitor is employed for many years, it seems appropriate for the school to provide added incentives.Remember the janitors are our parents so let’s treat them with respect. Respect the great job that they do at school.

Students should use the toilets responsibly. As you use the toilet, don’t forget to flush. This is an obvious one, but it can be easy to forget to flush if you are in a hurry. Check the chamber before you leave the toilet.

Clean the chamber with a toilet brush. One of the general rules in the toilet is to leave it smart. This is important because the next person will also use a clean toilet.

Always use tissue paper or flushable paper. Janitors’ work will also become easy as the toilets will always be clean.Don’t spit on walls. It is childish to write names or make designs on toilet walls.

NB — Book for your school seminars and youth church conferences

n Dr Manners Msongelwa is an author, teacher and youth coach. He can be contacted on +263 771 019 392

MANY verbs can be active or passive. When the verb is active, the subject performs the action.

For example: This is called the active voice. When the verb is passive, the subject is on the receiving end of the action, for example: This is called the passive voice.

The passive voice is frequently used in investigative reports to create a more formal tone. Active: I placed one plant in the light for 24 hours. Passive: One plant was placed in the light for 24 hours. These sentences demonstrate the use of active and passive voice. The main tenses used in reports are past and present. The selection of detail is key in report writing. For example: When writers report on a football match, they do not give a second-by-second account of the game.

It would be a ridiculously long report. Writers have to select the main points in the match, the ones the reader would be interested in and report on these. Similarly, when teachers write reports on students, they do not write everything they know about those students. They select the things that are relevant to the subject and what the students’ parents or guardians would want to know. There are different formats for reports.

As already stated, in a report, the writer gives information to the reader. This can be presented in a number of ways — through prose, graphs, tables, diagrams and charts. I am sure this destroys the myth that reports always come in the form of prose or notes. Learn all the formats of report writing as you are most likely to get any one of the formats depending on what the examiners want to test in that particular year. We take you back as we look at building paragraphs.

Organising sentences into paragraphs When you read in most cases, you find that most writing is organised into paragraphs. This helps the reader to follow the points being made more easily. Each paragraph marks a new stage or idea in the writing. The first sentence of a paragraph is sometimes called the topic sentence. This is because it often gives you a clue as to what the paragraph is going to be about.

How do you make writing interesting? When we first learn to read and write, we almost always use simple sentences.

As we develop our skills, we start to use compound and complex sentences. This makes our writing more interesting.

Punctuating sentences: when we speak, we use our tone of voice and pauses to help our listeners follow what we are saying. When we write, we use punctuation to help our reader to follow what we have written.

We put spaces between words, capital letters at the start of a sentence and full stops at the end. We use commas in sentences to mark pauses and pairs of commas to separate out extra pieces of information.

Both/both of, neither/neither of, either/either of – We use both, neither and either when we are talking about two things. You can use these words with a noun: -Both shops are very good. (not the both shops). Neither of the shops is expensive. We can go to either shop, I do not mind. (either = one or the other, it does not matter which one.) –I didn’t like either shop. (not one or the other).

You can also use both/neither/either with of . . . When you use these words with “of”, you always need the/these/those/my/your/his. You cannot say “both of shops.” You have to say “both of the shops”, both of these shops”. –Both of the shops are very good. -Neither of the shops we went to was (or were) expensive. –We can go to either of those shops, I don’t mind. With “both” you can leave out of. So, you can say: both my parents and both of my parents.

After both of/ neither of/either of, you can also use us/you/them. Can either of you speak English? – I wanted Jack and Henry to come, but neither of them wanted to. You must say both of, before us/you/them. –Both of us were tired. (not ‘Both us. . .). After neither of . . . you can use a singular or a plural verb. – Neither of the children wants (or want to go to bed. –Neither of us is (or are married).

You can say both . . . and . . . neither . . . nor . . . and either . . . or. Study the following examples: Both James and Amanda were late. They were both tired and hungry. Neither James or Amanda came to the party. He said he would contact me, but he neither wrote nor phoned. I’m not sure where he is from. He is either English or Dutch. Either you apologise or I’ll never speak to you again.

You can also use both/neither/either alone. Is he English or Dutch? Neither. He is Russian. Do you want tea or coffee? Either. I don’t mind. I couldn’t decide, which one to choose. I liked both. Practice these language structures because they are always confusing.

For views link with charlesdbe14058@gmail.com or sms to 0772113207.

Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Reporter

AS he looked around the packed room at a local hotel on Friday, 7 June, historian Pathisa Nyathi, felt strangely out of place.

Nyathi has dined with some of the most high-profile statesmen at home and internationally but this time things felt somewhat different.

The historian and iconic cultural activist was in line to receive a gong alongside several others on that night, but the other would-be award winners on that evening felt distinctly different from him.

Instead of scribes or cultural enthusiasts, Nyathi found himself rubbing shoulders with leaders of blue-chip security companies, wholesale suppliers and distributors of bakery requisites and miners.

Needless to say, the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) Annual Matabeleland Awards presented new terrain for Nyathi. However, it was also a chance for him to highlight that he is in the very important business of documenting the country’s rich history, art and culture.

“I think it would be amiss for me not to mention how grateful I am to the ZNCC for this award,” he told Sunday Life in an interview.

“I have been awarded lifetime achievement awards by the British Zimbabwe Society, the Bulawayo Arts Awards, and the Public Policy and Research Institute of Zimbabwe and so this was my fifth-lifetime achievement award and it came from the unlikeliest forum. For me, this was the least likely source of such an award because this was a business forum and I appreciate and treasure that.

“The award ceremony being a business forum meant that everyone that was being rewarded on the night was coming with a catalogue of the very serious business that they do as captains of industry. The room was full of businesspeople and so, to fit in with the mood of the night, I said I was also a busy man. I am always busy writing and selling culture. Thus, just like them, I became a businessman.”

Nyathi said he still believes he has more to offer and the award had strengthened his resolve to continue dishing out more books.

“It is important for me that I got the honour from that unexpected source because it shows that people from outside the arts, culture and heritage sphere are also watching. There’s nothing better than being rewarded by your people. If all these honours were coming from outside it would leave a sour taste because you’d wonder why your people are not recognising what you’ve been doing.

“However, when they honour you like this, it keeps you energised and motivated to keep going. When you get lifetime achievement awards before you have even retired, it gives you added impetus to continue. I have two more books on the horizon and I feel like I still have a lot more to give so this award was timely. I am grateful for good health thus far in life because you cannot write if you’re not healthy,” he said.

Nyathi said he valued the recognition that he received more than any monetary reward because it had a more significant bearing on his legacy.

“I always regarded recognition as more valuable than monetary rewards and this has strengthened my belief as well. You can receive money today and then tomorrow you will have spent it. However, when you get a lifetime achievement award, it is an honour that spotlights an entire lifetime of work,” he said.

Playwright and cultural activist Raisedon Baya said he hoped that the ZNCC would be a prelude to higher honours for Nyathi.

“It’s commendable for ZNCC to do what they did because we know what uMdala Nyathi has done in terms of documenting history but in the arts and heritage sector we regard him as our library. This applies not only to our sector but to Bulawayo, Matabeleland and Zimbabwe at large.

“We have always argued that our universities should honour him with an honorary doctorate. For me that would be the ultimate honour because it’s something that he can hang on his neck and every day we call him Dr Nyathi, we will be honouring his work,” he said.

Baya said that while ZNCC and the arts and culture sector might seem like oil and water, this was not necessarily the case as their industry usually intermingled with various others.

“It’s not surprising to see him honoured there because the arts and culture sector is not restricted and it regularly mixes and interacts with other sectors. It tends to cut across sectors and so you will find arts and culture in business, sports, education and any other department. So, this time, business has realised its impact and said let us honour.

We know he has been acknowledged in the arts but ultimately we have to applaud what the Chamber of Commerce has done,” he said.

The late Afro-pop sensation Zahara’s husband Mpho Xaba says he is still paying for her hospital bill even though he doesn’t know where she is buried.

Speaking to Sunday World on Friday, Xaba also revealed that he had to undergo months of therapy to overcome his pain. This, after he was ill-treated by the singer’s family before she was even laid to rest.

Zahara, born Bulelwa Mkutukana, passed away on December 11. She died after spending almost three weeks at a private hospital in Johannesburg. The musician was buried in her home province, the Eastern Cape, on December 23.

Kicked out of funeral preparations

Xaba says he was kicked out of her funeral preparations. He claims he was also removed from the funeral programme. The family chased him like a dog from participating in anything relating to his wife’s final honour, he said.

He was speaking out for the first time following allegations that her family has been evicted from her house in Roodepoort. This after failing to settle the bond arrears. They are currently selling her furniture on WhatsApp to the highest bidder.

Xaba added that he was legally obliged to bury his wife. This was because he paid lobola for her a few weeks before she passed away. However, he refused to take up any legal fights with her family to protect her honour.
Sidelined, barred from attending funeral

“I was completely sidelined on funeral arrangements. (They did)not consult me on anything. Myself and my family were completely sidelined. Our opinions didn’t matter. In fact, we were not allowed to make any opinions,” he said.
Xaba and Zahara made headlines in March last year after he proposed to her. The engineer and businessman then flew his uncles to the Eastern Cape to start with the lobola negotiations. Soon after, the pair had an intimate cultural lobola celebration in November.

The singer passed away a few weeks later, before they could finalise plans for their white wedding.

Xaba said he was welcomed with both arms by Zahara’s family and her sisters called him their brother. However, the entire family quickly changed tune and turned him into an enemy just days after her passing.

“The funeral I attended was the public ceremony at the ICC. I never went to the graveyard. To this day, I don’t know where she is buried because that is how bad things were.

Family lied about him being after Zahara’s assets

“Her family created a crisis. They lied, her sisters lied. …They said I was busy claiming Bulelwa’s properties, I don’t know why. I have three properties, I don’t know why they would think that because Bulelwa’s house was on the verge of getting auctioned again. And I am the one who said ‘let us get out of that situation’,” he said.

He added that he left everything to the family and started his healing process silently.
Xaba said even though he does not know where his wife is buried, he is still in charge of her hospital bill. This was sitting at just over R800,000 when she passed away.

Hospital bill at R820k, but medical aid paid R712k

“I am still paying her hospital bill. Her total hospital bill is around R820,000. Fortunately medical aid covered R712,000 of it. The rest I must pay for it. There is no one to pay for it in the family. Obviously because they only care about themselves and what they can get from all of this,” he said.

Zahara’s former manager, Oyama Dyosiba could not comment further on the matter. He referred all questions to her sisters, Bandezwa and Lumka, who have taken over her estate.

Dyosiba said: “I’m so disgusted and they should be ashamed.”

Bandezwa and Lumka were not immediately available to comment.—Sundayworld.

FOR some, the country is presently faced with a goalkeeper crisis.In the just-ended World Cup Qualifiers, Bernard Donovan and Geoffrey Chitsumba were given opportunities to assert themselves as the best in the land.

 However, errors from both goal-minders have resulted in questions surrounding who could possibly be the Warriors number one.With the Cosafa Cup set for the end of this month, there is an opportunity for one young foreign goal-minder to prove his mantle if given game time.

Marley Tavaziva (20) who plays for Brentford B is another potential future Warriors star, as he appears to have chosen to play for the country of his origin.

He is in the Zimbabwe Cosafa Cup squad together with two other goalkeepers Chitsumba and Prince Tafiremutsa.There is hope he will answer the Warriors call this time around.

He received his first national team call-up when Zimbabwe played in the World Cup qualifiers late last year though he did not turn up for duty.The goal-minder joined Brentford B on a two-year scholarship in the summer of 2022 having been part of the Brentford FC Community Sports Trust’s post-16 Education programme.

Brentford B and the Community Sports Trust have had a positive relationship with players often given the opportunity to step into the set-up at Jersey Road to train with the young Bees.Marley’s first footballing memory was Little Kickerz in nursery and his proudest moment as a footballer was signing with Brentford.

His favourite football shirt is Barcelona’s 2021/22 away shirt and his footballing idol is Jordan Pickford.On Fifa, Marley enjoys playing as Manchester City.

The Warriors are set to resume their rivalry with Zambia after they were placed in Group B alongside Comoros and a fourth team yet to be confirmed. Malawi is expected to be the fourth team.

The tournament will be held in Durban from 26 June to 7 July. Zimbabwe is making a return to the regional tournament after missing the 2023 edition due to a Fifa ban.

Organisers have retained last year’s format which saw the 12 participating teams split into three groups of four sides, with the three pool winners and the best runner-up set to advance to the semi-finals.

The tournament will be used as preparation for the Afcon Qualifiers in September.

Marley Tavaziva

THE 2024 COSAFA CUP DRAW

GROUP A South Africa, Mozambique, Eswatini, Botswana

GROUP B Zambia, Team to be confirmed, Comoros, Zimbabwe

GROUP C Angola, Namibia, Lesotho and Seychelles

Warriors Cosafa  Squad

GOALKEEPERS: Marley Tavaziva (Brentford), Geoffrey Chitsumba (Manica Diamonds), Prince Tafiremutsa (Dynamos)

DEFENDERS: Shane Maroodza (Huddersfield), Andrew Mbeba (Highlanders), Emmanuel Jalai (Dynamos), Thubelihle Jubani (Manica Diamonds), Isheanesu Mauchi (Simba Bhora), Tawanda Chisi (Manica Diamonds)

MIDFIELDERS: Daniel Msendami (Jwaneng Galaxy), Joel Phuthi (Sheffield Wednesday), Juan Mutudza (FC Platinum), Kingsley Mureremba (CAPS United), Mthokozisi Msebe (Simba Bhora), Tatenda Tavengwa (Venda Football Academy), Richard Hachiro (Ngezi Platinum), Panashe Mutimbanyoka (FC Platinum), Tinotenda Meke (GreenFuel)

FORWARDS: Macauley Bonne (Cambridge United), Takunda Benhura (Ngezi Platinum), Tinotenda Benza (Herentals), Denzel Mapuwa (GreenFuel)

AFTER the death of King Mzilikazi in 1868 Lobengula’s rise to power was bloody. A top general and leader of the feared Zwangendaba regiment: Mbiko Masuku, challenged the anointing of Lobengula as the next Ndebele king.

Mbiko was the son of Madlenya and a powerful military leader. As a reward for his bravery, King Mzilikazi had given him his daughter Zinkabi as a wife and Mbiko was elevated to royalty.

Zinkabi was Nkulumane’s sister. The Masuku clan was revered and feared.Mbiko did not believe that Lobengula was the legitimate heir to the throne. This was because Lobengula was born to a Swazi mother (MaTshabalala) and Mbiko felt that she was of a lesser class. He preferred that Nkulumane be found and made king.

Others, however, say that the issue of finding Nkulumane was just a decoy to his own secret ambitions to take over as king. He believed Lobengula had no qualities of a king like his father Mzilikazi.

The Ndebele nation’s senior political and military leadership was therefore divided into two factions; one led by Mbiko Masuku and one that was pro-Lobengula.

Mbiko decided to send a delegation to Zululand, to find and bring back Nkulumane. This was around 1870. The fate of that delegation is unknown.

In the meantime a pro-Lobengula commander, Velane, of the Mzinyathi regiment, sent his own people to another Lobengula supporter, Fakafaka Mabhena, urging him to go and take Lobengula from his regiment, Mahlokohloko, to Mhlahlandlela Palace to be officially installed as king.

The Mbiko faction boycotted the ceremony and a few days later Lobengula decided to attack Mbiko and the Zwangendaba regiment first before they pounced on him. His intelligence sources had warned him that Mbiko’s attack was imminent.

The war between the two factions was vicious and bloody. Lobengula personally killed Mbiko and set the Zwangendaba regimental village on fire. Many fled to save their families and were never to come back to the Ndebele state.

Lobengula travelled on horseback to the battlefront to motivate his warriors. He then secretly left for Mbiko’s village and found Mbiko sitting near his calves’ kraal, stabbed him with a spear and then set the village on fire whilst riding his horse.

Upon hearing of Mbiko’s death his soldiers were demoralised and fled to different places. Some Masuku people crossed the Zambezi River and sought refuge in Barotseland (Zambia).

Some retraced their way across the Limpopo back to Zululand and Eswatini.Others sought refuge among the Mataruse clan in the Zvishavane — Mberengwa region and even became culturally assimilated by that clan. Some, l said were Swazis in their places of refuge and thus hid their true ethnic identity. Others hid amongst the Kalanga people.

Lobengula had initially named his royal capital Gibixhegu, but he later changed it to Bulawayo based on the attempt to eliminate him by Mbiko and his followers. The name Bulawayo comes from the Ndebele word “bulala” and it translates in this context to “the one to be killed”.

THERE are times when I feel some deep sense of obligation to defend African communities and their maligned past. I do acknowledge that too many of us know too little by way of Africa’s past in particular with regard to Ancient African Science (AAS). This has led some people to think Africa knew next to nothing and our best minds have been captured.

Little is known regarding African science, technology, alchemy, astronomy, physics and other academic fields. Have we not seen human sculptures in Kemet (now Egypt) whose flat noses have been knocked off? It was not Africans who committed the heinous acts. The question is why were the acts committed in the first place? There were people who left the African cradle of humanity and came back later only to marvel at the civilisations that African nations such as Kemet had created.

Racism had the better of some of these. They could not countenance an inferior racial group coming up with architectural feats such as the pyramids of Kemet and the colossal Sphinx at the Pyramid of Giza. They could not figure out how stones as colossal as those that were brought down hundreds of kilometres from the north to the construction sites closer to the Nile Delta were transported.

How, in the absence of cranes, were the heavy, more than 30-tonne stones lifted more than 30 metres high? The sizes and finesse point to the more rudimentary structures as having their origins further to the south in Sudan (Kush/Nubia). The applicable science with its laws and principles was not known. Really, Africans, putting up such technological feats? No, it could not have been Africans.

Meanwhile, an art form by way of human sculptures was telling a different story. The shape of the noses was flat and pointed to the work of indigenous people, the Africans. In any case, the pyramids did not originate in Egypt. Their origins, as alluded to above, were traceable to Kush, also referred to as Nubia which was indisputably an African-run kingdom. However, the human sculptures laughed derisively at those who doubted the origins of the pyramids. The evidence was knocked off. That evidence took the form of flat noses for the builders of the edifices of rare engineering feats.

What was not realised was that Africa left evidence of what she did in several forms, including writing that today passes as art. The sculptures had heads and the heads were not bare. There was hair that was not combed. The major hairstyles back then were cornrows and what we refer to as dreads. Both hairstyles featured hair that was woolly and flowing down but not to the same extent as Western hair.

Spirituality and its roles and purposes were not recognised as an important phenomenon in the transmission of records from the past. Spirituality was a form of documentation, archiving and one that facilitated transmission of knowledge from past generations to future ones. These days there are increasing numbers of people who are featuring these ancient hairstyles.

One day, I am hoping to write a book or a section of a book that will deal with pre-colonial hairstyles and hair itself in terms of beliefs pertaining to hair from an Afro-centric perspective. We do have several cases in Africa where kings married off their daughters to other kings that they intended to overpower and subjugate. Their daughters were surreptitiously tasked to get some hair from their husbands and take it back to their fathers. Do we not come across similar stories in the Bible? Did Delilah not cut off some hair from Samson who then lost his magical power?

Spirituality and energy have been underestimated in terms of their efficacy. The two, in my view, are two sides of the same coin. If energy is the face, spirituality is the obverse side and the two are comparable. Energy is indestructible and so is spirit. It can be transformed from one form or state to another. In the absence of energy, what can take place around and in us?

While in Zambia, I engaged in conversations regarding energy and spirituality. I have observed how my literary and simultaneously cognitive journey over the decades has been transforming through numerous stages. The current stage pertains to energy and its link to spirituality. At least we agreed that energy and spirit are related.

I enquired from two young artists if they were aware of anything beyond energy and spirit. I saw them engage heavy intellectual gears. They scratched their heads and failed to come up with a package to assist me identify states that were higher than greater heights beyond energy and spirituality. In the beginning, was energy and spirit… and they were without form. In order to give them form, things and materials were provided and through them, both energy and spirits acquired form.

Are we not at the end of the detour that we took? We seem to have landed within the witchy airfield. We are back to Ancient African Science (AAS), the science that is capable of lifting stones that weigh more than 30 tonnes. It is a science that is capable, through the force of a single finger, to push the massive doors in the burial chambers of pyramids where corpses of the Pharaohs lay after their souls headed towards some distant stars as pointed to by the channels emanating from the chambers.

More of this shall, hopefully, follow later when the Egyptian Book of the Dead is perused. Preliminary scrutiny of the writings contained in the Book of the Dead shows similarities between what took place in Egypt and the rest of Africa within the cultural and cognitive spheres. This is as expected. Africa perceived the Duality of Being. A human being comprises the physical or material component and the immaterial or spiritual one.

At death, the two divorce. The spirit or soul takes on a journey of zero physical distance to the spiritual realm where life in another form continues eternally. The physical or material body remains in the material realm where it belongs. The ephemeral reside in the ephemeral realm while the eternal reside eternally in the eternal realm.

Proof of such ideas is expressed through similar cultural practices. As we often say, thought, worldview, beliefs and cosmology provide the pillars that support cultural practices including the built environment and the artefacts. The adage that we coined goes like this, “communities build as they believe.”

Seeing as we are back to our going theme of AAS, we may just recap what we were dealing with in the last article so that we lay some solid foundation for further related work. We were unpacking the law of representation whose essence is that a bit of the whole, regardless of proportion to the whole, represents the whole and in practical terms, it is the whole.

Western science certainly posits the same in terms of DNA as the identity carrier or uniqueness and individuality. This idea is at the heart of AAS. When the whole is inaccessible, a bit of it will suffice. It is not quantity that counts, but the unique identity as defined in the DNA molecules.

As it became apparent from the last article, in human terms, an iota that represents the whole will take many examples such as one’s hair, blood, urine, body fluids, nails (toe and finger), mucus, faecal matter, urine, saliva inter alia. My hair is I. My urine is I. My sweat is I.

Practitioners may not know the underlying science. All they know is how to execute the art and the craft in the same manner as the relationship between science and technology. We have, in the past, given examples of women in Matobo District working on the project titled “My Beautiful Home: Comba Indlu Ngobuciko. Over the years, since 2014, the artistic renditions observed on hut walls have improved tremendously. However, it would be futile to expect the women to explain and interpret the decorative motifs that they have executed.

In their case, they inherited the visual art forms and traditions without interpretation. They have all along been transmitting the symbol/icons and their designs minus meaning, relevance to broader thought, cosmology and worldview. That their art traditions were geometric is unknown as they do not know the inspiration behind the works that they eloquently express. That for them is unimportant.

It is the same with AAS. Practitioners are not theorists. Wizards and witches will defy the force of gravity without even knowing about its existence, let alone its nature. They are, therefore, in a way negating what they do not know. All that, they know is how to carry out their witchy businesses. Theory or the underlying science is irrelevant. They know what to do to undergo transformation. They know the ingredients to put together and become lighter and exit the material world. They know how, but do not know why in terms of theory, principles and applicable rules. This is technology and techniques without underpinning, underlying and informing science.

Agnes Dumisani Mizere was just about to tell me something. Unfortunately, her journey ended at Dete. She disembarked from the bus together with her assistant. She had, just before disembarking, held my hand to scan the lines on my palm. She held my hand to read the stories that the configuration of palm lines. These differ from person to person and thus are representative of a whole person and her identity and signature. No wonder, thumbprints were used as identities for individuals before the advent of photographic images.

The emphasis here is that this kind of singular identity is representative and encapsulates the Law of Representation. In the next article, we shall expand on this theme and delve into its application. Theory and practice go hand in glove. The gifted traditional scientists will capitalise on this identity when affixed to the soil of a similar surface.

The uniquely patterned ley line configurations for different individuals result in the uniqueness that wizards and witches may capitalise on. An individual is his/her palm ley lines. My fingerprints or footprints make unique patterns or genetic templates as it were. “I” get represented on the soil surface, the equivalent of a stamp pad. I have been transferred to the surface of the soil where my foot stepped. My footprints are mine alone, different and unique.

When I walk on bare soil, I am rhythmically transferring myself onto the smooth and bare soil surface. A traditional African scientist, with the requisite technology, will collect the soil that is now “ME,” an extension of “ME” at the microscopic level. This is true of footprints and fingerprints. All that scientists will do is summon energies from their spirits to create some ritual package that bears instructions with regard to the intended outcomes/results, the identity of a target, and the direction to be taken to access the intended victim.

THERE are many ways in which teachers provide feedback on written work. Some methods work well but may involve a huge time investment on the part of the teacher. Other methods provide deep, rich acknowledgment and constructive advice, while eating into ZERO hours of the teacher’s free-time.

Marking books is a task that takes awfully a long time, especially if you feel that you need to write long personalised comments in each book (which many new teachers do).

Why marking is important
To grade and give summative assessments of students’ performance
To correct students’ mistakes
To help students to improve their current level of performance
For teachers to receive feedback from students about how well they appear to be understanding the content being taught
To motivate students to work harder
For accountability purposes
Effective marking entails:
Planning: It’s a great idea to plan your marking out for the week. You could break it down into manageable chunks, or get it all done in one go — whatever works best for you!
Use schemes of work to think about which pieces of work should be prioritised.
Use feedback codes — These can be used to show students common strengths and areas to develop. This reduces the need for lengthy responses.
Doing your marking as quickly as possible is one of the most consistent messages. Do your marking as soon as possible and return back the books to the students.
Mark all the corrections.
Mark the dates and subheadings.
Write constructive feedback that inspires the student to do better. Select your terminology wisely. Avoid comments such as “see me, disastrous, like mother like daughter, etc.”Your comments should build the child.

NB — Book for your staff development workshops Dr Manners Msongelwa is an author, teacher and youth coach. He can be contacted on +263 771 019 392

GREETINGS beloved nation. THE devil is after the voice of the church of God because he knows that the church is the only institution in the world that has a powerful voice. Why? Because it has been anointed by God to speak.

The voice of the church brings salvation to God’s people. So, the devil wants to silence the voice of the church of God. The Bible says in Romans 10:14: “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” The Bible says how can they hear without a preacher.

So, the preacher is sent to speak on behalf of God. May God make your voice to be heard in every sphere of your life because everyone who is born again, God has given them a voice from heaven so that he will demonstrate the power of the Kingdom of God. In other words, we are apostles in the marketplace.

In the book of Ezekiel 19:1-9, we are told about a lioness that gave birth to a young lion and it learnt to catch prey.
It devoured men and the nations also heard about it, meaning that the lion had a two-fold grace of roaring, which is the voice and also of devouring, which speaks of signs and wonders.

God does not only want us to have a voice, but he also wants us to demonstrate what we teach. So, this young lion represents the generations of God on earth. The Bible says the nations heard about him and he was taken into their pit and they brought him in chains into the land of Egypt.

This is the plan of the devil that wants to silence the voices of God’s people so that they will not bring healing, deliverance and the prophetic word so that the nations will come to God. So, the kingdom of darkness wants to chain the carriers of the voice of God so that they will be taken into slavery in the land of Egypt. Egypt in the scriptures speaks of the world.

God is raising a generation that won’t be silenced by the kingdom of darkness. A generation that will take over the mountains of influence.

The Bible says in the book of Micah 4:1-2: “In the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and people shall flow unto it.

“2And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

God is raising his church and he is taking over the mountains of influence and the people shall flow unto it. In other words, they will be attracted by the power of God and many people will be taught the ways of God that bring liberty and joy.

The Bible tells us in Ezekiel 19:9: “They put him in ward in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.”

We are told that this other lion again was captured, they set against him on every side and they spread their net over him and he was taken into their pit. They put him in chains and they brought him to the king of Babylon and they brought him into their stronghold so that his voice is no longer heard in the mountains of Israel.

I pray that God may deliver his people from any satanic chains and strongholds. Wherever you are, may your voice be heard in church, may your voice be heard in your business, may your voice be heard at your school, may your voice be heard in your family, the voice of Jehovah.

I would like to invite you to receive Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour, by believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth that he is your Lord and Saviour and you shall be saved.
May God bless you all. Feedback: dominionlifechurch01@gmail.com or WhatsApp Number: 0772494647