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RESIDENTS of Harare are complaining about poor service delivery each day. For a long time, Harare City Council has failed to provide basic services to most parts of the capital. Areas like Mabvuku have endured dry taps for long. And for more than two decades, Harare had no infrastructure policy, no city planning, and no maintenance of facilities. Street lights are a thing of the past. Harare City Council’s much-touted projects like the holding bays, suffered stillbirths. They failed to serve their purposes. There has been blame game between the political parties, one party blaming the other, the mayor blaming Zanu PF, and Zanu PF blaming MDC Alliance. Nothing is new though, from the controversial Elias Mudzuri’s days to Muchadeyi Masunda conflict era. Today, we hear there are two mayors and two town clerks, burdening ratepayers. The saddest part is that when it comes to performance, none of them has done anything tangible. Had they performed well, Harare would have moved forward. Zimbabwe is running short of leaders with integrity. Four grown underperforming men are holding on to positions of power at the expense of service delivery. They would rather explore all possible legal avenues to cling to a job they are failing at. It has become fashionable to have people occupying positions, but not performing and claim hefty perks after they are fired for incompetence. This puts into question our recruitment policy. Harare is one of the most underdeveloped cities by 21st century standards. People should fight over implementation of development projects and not positions. The government is also complicit in this maze. It claims to be restoring order, suspending mayor Jacob Mafume on allegations of corruption, but then create a disaster afterwards. Both parties compete for recognition, using any means to achieve that. But in the midst of their fights, residents suffer the most. It’s high time Zanu PF and MDC Alliance find common ground and do what’s good for the public. Yes, they are fighting to outdo each other in politics, but they should realise we elected them not to play the game blame, but to co-ordinate activities for the good of the public. The town clerk must be hired on merit and prove himself on the job. Right now, Harare is infested with wells, diminishing city standards — a situation that has escalated for decades. It’s high time the MDC Alliance and Zanu PF found common ground to improve the lives of the people that voted them into power whom they claim to serve. Let them disagree on other things, but not on issues that affect the populace. The majority of us know what needs to be done, but political parties feel they have the right to dictate to the public, causing confusion and chaos in the process.
South Africa is one of the hardest-hit countries in Africa with over 740,000 infections.
The country recorded 60 more virus-related deaths on Wednesday, bringing the death toll to 20,011.
By SARAH RANKIN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Men who have come forward with allegations of abuse by former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick expressed disgust, frustration and outrage after an internal Vatican report outlined what was known about the clergyman's behavior — and what was ignored. 'It was very emotional to read. It was very emotional because there were so many opportunities to stop him. So many opportunities to stop him. And maybe my life would be different, maybe I wouldn't be a victim if someone had,' said John Bellocchio, a New Jersey man who has sued both McCarrick and […]
The post 'It's crushing': Survivors react to McCarrick abuse report appeared first on Black News Channel.
… massive inequities in American life. Black Americans face disproportionate risks to their … for Disease Control and Prevention, African Americans have 2.6 times the …
As grief and despair over the racially-disproportionate impact of the COVID pandemic and police brutality erupted in unrest across America’s cities this summer, the National Urban League mobilized to channel the protests in the streets into power at the polls.
The post Black Lives, And Black Livelihoods Were At Stake In This Election. Black Votes Determined Its Outcome. appeared first on Los Angeles Sentinel.
Announced yesterday (Nov.11), Air Jordan 11 Adapt sees Nike's groundbreaking self-lacing technology first introduced in the Nike MAG will now take arguably one of Jordan Brand's most popular Air Jordan silhouettes to another level.
By MICHAEL R. BLOOD AP Political Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Election Day is over but California already is consumed with its next high-profile political contest — the competition to fill Kamala Harris' soon-to-be-vacant U.S. Senate seat. In this race only one vote matters, because there is only one vote. The selection falls to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is being pressured by rival interest groups, fellow Democrats and even friends intent on swaying his decision. Harris will be sworn in as President-elect Joe Biden's vice president on Jan. 20 and it's not yet clear how soon before then she […]
The post California Senate sweepstakes: Who gets Kamala Harris' job? appeared first on Black News Channel.
FOLLOWING THE announcement of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine, and speculation on the logistics and priority order...
The post COVID vaccine for children: To immunise or not to immunise? appeared first on Voice Online.
A suspected financier of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Felicien Kabuga, made his first appearance at a UN court in The Hague on Wednesday after decades on the run.
Felicien Kabuga's a suspected financier of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, which saw 800,000 people murdered, according to the UN.
Kabuga, now in his 80s, is accused of crimes against humanity including genocide.
UN prosecutors also accuse Kabuga of helping create a Hutu militia group and urging the killing of Tutsis through his media company.
He is also accused of helping to buy machetes in 1993 that were distributed to genocidal groups.
He denies the charges.
He is \"very tired,\" said his lawyer, Emmanuel Altit.
Kabuga, one of Rwanda's richest men was first indicted by the now-closed International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) two decades ago.
On the run
But he was not arrested until this year in May, near Paris.
He was transferred from France to The Hague in October.
The initial hearing before a pre-trial judge took place at the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, which has taken on cases left over from the ICTR.
Kabuga spent years on the run using a succession of false passports, with investigators saying that he had been helped by a network of former Rwandan allies to evade justice.
His lawyers argue he should be tried in France but France's top court ruled he should be moved to UN custody.
Kabuga was initially to be transferred to the UN court's facility in Arusha, Tanzania, which took over the ICTR's duties when it formally closed in 2015.
But a judge ruled he should first be taken to The Hague for a medical examination, and it was not immediately known when or if Kabuga might be transferred to Arusha.
Pharrell Is Finally Revealing His Skincare Routine With Latest Line Of Products
By CARA ANNA and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Up to 200,000 refugees could pour into Sudan while fleeing the deadly conflict in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, officials said Wednesday, while the first details are emerging of largely cut-off civilians under growing strain. Nearly 10,000 people have crossed the border, including some wounded in the fighting, and the flow is growing quickly. 'There are lots of children and women,' Al-Sir Khalid, the head of the refugee agency in Sudan's Kassala province, told The Associated Press. 'They are arriving very tired and exhausted. They are hungry and thirsty […]
The post Sudan braces for up to 200,000 fleeing Ethiopia fighting appeared first on Black News Channel.
Ghana’s former President Jerry John Rawlings has died in Accra Thursday morning, local media reports.
He is said to have passed on at the nation’s premier hospital, the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
Jerry Rawlings had been on admission at the hospital for about a week for an undisclosed ailment.
Local online news portal, Graphic Online reports that Mr. Rawlings felt sick after his mother's burial about three weeks ago.
As a former Ghanaian military leader and subsequent politician, Rawlings led a military junta from 1981 until 1992.
He then served two terms as the democratically elected President of Ghana from January 1993 to January 2001.
The late former president initially came to power as a flight lieutenant of the Ghana Air Force following a coup in 1979.
Before this, he led an unsuccessful coup attempt against the ruling military government in 1979, just five weeks before scheduled democratic elections were due to take place.
After initially handing power over to a civilian government, he took back control of the country on December 31, 1981 as the Chairman of the Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC).
In 1992, Rawlings resigned from the military, founded the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and became the first President of the 4th Republic.
He was re-elected in 1996 for four more years. Rawlings was 73.
[Daily News] AS the Southern African Development Community (SADC) issues food insecurity alerts likely to be caused by a swamp of the African Migratory Locusts, the government has outlined its robust measures in case of an attack.
ABC NewsBy MATT GUTMAN, IGANCIO TORRES, and ASHAN SINGH, ABC News (EL PASO, Texas) - Charlie Brown had spent years motivating his high school football team as their coach. But…
People from the Northeast are as much Indians as the people from the rest of the country
Continue reading on ZORA »
By LOUISE DIXON Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Imagine a world where you move around in your own personal sound bubble. You listen to your favorite tunes, play loud computer games, watch a movie or get navigation directions in your car — all without disturbing those around you. That's the possibility presented by 'sound beaming,' a new futuristic audio technology from Noveto Systems, an Israeli company. On Friday it will debut a desktop device that beams sound directly to a listener without the need for headphones. The company provided The Associated Press with an exclusive demo of the desktop prototype […]
The post New device puts music in your head — no headphones required appeared first on Black News Channel.
TEACHERS have rejected the government’s 40% salary hike offer, describing it as a mockery, vowing not to return to work until their employer pays them meaningful salaries. BY HARRIET CHIKANDIWA/LORRAINE MUROMO Government on Tuesday proposed a 40% salary hike for all its workers and a 10% risk allowance to teachers as a way of enticing them to end the job boycott that started in September when schools reopened for examination classes, throwing schools into chaos. According to Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa during a post-Cabinet Press briefing, the 40% salary hike will be awarded to all grades below director level. The offer came after teachers rejected a 20% salary hike last week announced through the National Joint Negotiating Council. But teachers yesterday scoffed at the government offer that will leave them earning $18 237, which they said was grossly inadequate. “Incapacitated teachers have rejected the 40% salary increase offered by Cabinet on Tuesday, the increase is procedurally defective and grossly insufficient in quantum,” Progressive Teacher of Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president Takavafira Zhou said. “Salaries and conditions of service are subject to bargaining between the employer and workers and not a product of employer machinations. Government attempts to render unions useless must be rejected in toto.” He said the PTUZ was ready for meaningful dialogue with the government. Government has been resisting increasing salaries for reachers, with Labour minister Paul Mavima, saying such a move would trigger inflation. Schools opened on Monday for the final phase with pupils being turned away because teachers did not report for duty. The teachers are demanding US$520 per month. “We remain worried at government’s reluctance to pay its workers in forex at a time the economy has dollarised,” Zhou said, adding the 40% salary hike would not improve the standard of living for the struggling teachers. “The government is also silent on prioritisation of health and safety of teachers and pupils, more so given cases of COVID-19 in schools. In light of the foregoing, the best foot forward for incapacitated teachers remain the incapacitation modus operandi until we are capacitated.” Zhou urged parents to keep their kids in the safety of their homes. He reiterated that the educators would not be intimidated by the steps taken by government to record names of absent teachers in order to dock their incomes. “We urge school heads to resist submission of names of incapacitated teachers to any office. We urge all teachers to rise and be counted in our incapacitation struggle. The darkest hour is just before dawn,” he said. “We implore government to engage leaders of teacher unions in order to find a holistic solution to the current impasse in schools.” He added: “We reiterate that no amount of threats and brutality can force teachers back to their workplaces. Dialogue and capacitation are the only means available, and the sooner they are employed the better for the education system in Zimbabwe.” Zimbabwe Rural Teacher
MORON De La FRONTERA, Spain-Police in Spain have arrested five people after discovering a state-of-the-art cannabis laboratory hidden underneath tennis courts. More than 551 pounds of marijuana were recently seized from the 2,153-square-foot, underground plantation [...]
ZIMBABWE is trapped between State collapse and State failure because President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government has failed to provide basic amenities for its citizens, uphold civil liberties and arrest the economic freefall, analysts have said. By Richard Muponde For the past two decades, Zimbabwe has been experiencing economic turbulence characterised by high unemployment, inflation as well as the collapse of manufacturing sector. The situation deteriorated under Mnangagwa, who snatched power in 2017 through a military coup. Rising reports of gross human rights abuses under Mnangagwa further isolated the country and denied it the much-needed funding from international financial institutions to revive the collapsing industry. Doctors and nurses have repeatedly been on strike demanding better salaries. Teachers are currently on strike, after declaring incapacitation, a situation that has triggered chaos in schools that reopened from September 28 to November 3 on a staggered process. But instead of attending to the plight of the teachers, government is plotting to dock their salaries. In an interview yesterday, political analyst Alexander Rusero said the functionality and progress of a country was measured by certain indicators and more importantly, clear-cut separation of powers. “Not in Zimbabwe, everything is just decomposing to the core, and if we were to have a happiness index, Zimbabwe would score between zero and one out of 10 in terms of being happy,” he said. “Education is fast becoming dysfunctional, the health system has been down for almost a year and without health and education systems functioning properly, what else can a country have and point to in terms of functionality.” Rusero said those indicators were realities that point to a State trapped between collapse and failure. “Parliament is paralysed, the Judiciary is paralysed and only partially, the Executive is functional, however, devoid of public policy, strategy and vision. More importantly, the State has become bankrupt much to the threat even of its own existence,” he added. Rusero’s sentiments were amplified by professor Austin Chakaodza, who said Zimbabwe was a failed State, claiming it had been subjected to arbitrary, oligarchic and undemocratic leadership. “It’s clear that Zimbabwe is a failed State in that citizens are suffering from a wide range of problems,” he said. “These include lack of employment opportunities, lack of income to obtain basic necessities including food, shelter, health and education services. Poverty is the order of the day in Zimbabwe.” Chakaodza said other factors that showed that the country was a failed State included lack of democracy and good governance. “When governance is democratic — that is infused with the principles of participation, rule of law, transparency and accountability, among others — it goes a long way towards improving the quality of life and the human development of all citizens,” he said. “The current government has proved to be incapable of coming up with the institutions and processes identifi
U.S. retail sales were expected to reach $5.94 trillion by 2024, but new coronavirus estimates anticipate retail sales to decline by $4.89 trillion, leaving many retail service employees jobless.
THE island's public health system has been highlighted by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) for best practices in COVID-19 contact tracing.Speaking at PAHO's weekly press briefing yesterday, Assistant Director Dr Jarbas Barbosa named Jamaica, along with Costa Rica and Argentina, for doing 'particularly well' with this aspect of the prevention and control machinery, against the spread of the novel coronavirus.
A review of state distribution plans reveals that officials don’t know how they’ll deal with the difficult storage and transport requirements of Pfizer’s vaccine, especially in the rural areas currently seeing a spike in infections. By Isaac Arnsdorf, Ryan Gabrielson and Caroline Chen, ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest […]
The post Most States Aren’t Ready to Distribute the Leading COVID-19 Vaccine appeared first on Afro.
FORMER GHANAIAN President Jerry Rawlings has died aged 73. Though he was a socialist, he...
The post Jerry Rawlings: Ghana's former president has died appeared first on Voice Online.
Kobe Bryant's Childhood Home Sold For $810,000
Black people are sure to remember the remarks that a triumphant President-elect Joe Biden made shortly after taking the stage to celebrate his victory over Republican Donald Trump.
AFRICAN lithium developer, Prospect Resources (Prospect) has secured long lead equipment items, giving it a leeway to commence the pilot plant project at its Arcadia Lithium Mine (Arcadia) to produce high-purity petalite and spodumene samples. BY MTHANDAZO NYONI In a statement yesterday, the Australia Stock Exchange-listed firm said the plant would initially produce bulk samples of 500 tonnes of petalite and 120t of spodumene concentrates for customer qualification. It will also de-risk the flotation process by operating the optimised flowsheet; supply bulk samples of high purity products to customers in the technical and chemical markets and obtain product qualification and maximise market demand for Arcadia’s products. The plant will supply samples to Uranium One Group for their product validation purposes and their continuing due diligence on Prospect and the Arcadia Lithium Mine. Prospect managing director Sam Hosack said their key focus was to operate a pilot plant to replicate the Arcadia flowsheet to produce high purity petalite and spodumene. “The pilot plant delivers a number of key objectives for customers, project finance parties and investors in de-risking the Arcadia project. It is a major milestone that we have secured the long-lead purchases,” he said. “Prospect has unique geology at Arcadia allowing for production of high purity products that attract premium pricing from both the technical and chemical market. The flotation process, together with the Arcadia project, offers an attractive solution for customers seeking long term, high quality and consistent supply,” he added. Hosack said the samples would be used for qualification processes with current customers, adding that they would approach additional customers and grow market demand for Arcadia’s high purity products. The company said the design of the pilot plant was based on flotation test work done by a firm called Anzaplan and scaled up to a pilot plant size by the Beijing General Research Institute of Mining and Metallurgy using proven flotation technology solutions. It said front-end engineering and design (FEED) will be undertaken using information gathered from the pilot plant. This will determine the phasing, scale of growth and nominal capacity of the Arcadia project. The strategy for the phasing of development will be clarified with the capital expenditure estimates from FEED. “The main risk to achieving this schedule is the delivery of the long lead items that drive the critical path and are able to delay the commissioning. The key long lead items are the flotation cells, which have now been secured by (a) leading flotation cell supplier, mitigating that risk,” Prospect said.
