Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Mozambique, Victor Matemadanda, has denied reports of protests in Mozambique related to the disputed October 9 elections.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the Extraordinary Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) at the New Parliament in Mt Hampden on Wednesday, November 20, Matemadanda stated that what is being described as protests are actually looting syndicates targeting supermarkets. He said:
<blockquote>
The Mozambican people are clever and they know they have won an election.
They are not worried and are not losing sleep. I did not see what you call a demonstration.
I have seen only people who are organised to commit crimes by looting. Why are you demonstrating in a supermarket?
That is what they are doing and after picking what they want, they disappear.
</blockquote>
Matemadanda said the general atmosphere in Mozambique was peaceful and denied claims that Zimbabweans voted in the Mozambique elections. He said:
<blockquote>
I have never come across a person who voted in Mozambique.
I was moving around and I did not see anyone. Those videos you are seeing are fake.
</blockquote>
The Mirror reported that hundreds of Zimbabweans, including two of its journalists, participated in the Mozambique elections at a polling station in Masvingo.
Mozambique’s FRELIMO party has successfully campaigned in Zimbabwe, while the Zimbabwean opposition faces challenges in securing clearance for election rallies.
Since 2004, Mozambicans living in Zimbabwe, as well as in countries like South Africa, Malawi, Portugal, Zambia, and Tanzania, have been able to vote in Mozambique’s general elections from their resident countries.
More: <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a>

Pindula News

Zimbabwe's ambassador to Mozambique, Victor Matemadanda, says there are no protests in Mozambique, only looting at supermarkets. He believes the people of Mozambique are peaceful and not worried about the election. Matemadanda denies claims that Zimbabweans voted in the Mozambique elections. However, reports say that Zimbabweans did vote in Mozambique. Mozambique's ruling party, FRELIMO, has support from Zimbabwe, while the opposition there faces challenges. Mozambicans living in other countries can vote in their general elections since 2004.

Matemadanda Says Looting, Not Protests, Behind Mozambique Unrest

Highlanders Football Club has offered to assist the police in apprehending supporters who allegedly looted alcohol from a supermarket in Kwekwe.
<a href="https://www.bmetro.co.zw/police-seek-rogue-bosso-fans/">B-Metro</a> reported that the alleged looting spree occurred when a group of travelling Bosso fans ransacked a supermarket on their way from an away Castle Lager Premiership match against Ngezi Platinum Stars on 30 July 2023.
Highlanders had won the match 1-0 before the looting later that afternoon.
Speaking at a mid-year meeting held at the clubhouse last Sunday, Highlanders chairman Johnfat Sibanda, said:
<blockquote>
It’s unfortunate that we still have supporters among us who continue to soil the name of the club by engaging in unruly behaviour.
We received complaints that a group of supporters who travelled for an away match looted a supermarket, stealing alcohol.
We can’t be certain if they are indeed Highlanders supporters because anyone can wear a Bosso jersey and behave in a manner that goes against the values, principles and tradition of Highlanders.
Police have been handed the security footage of the incident and if they ask us to assist them apprehend the culprits, we will certainly do so.
We have a security department that can assist us and say; the people on that footage are so and so, and these are their addresses.
</blockquote>
Meanwhile, in the same mid-year meeting, club board chairman Luke Mnkandla, praised Highlanders fans for a peaceful 2023 half-season of the Castle Lager Premiership campaign. He said:
<blockquote>
We would like to commend our members and supporters in general for good behaviour that has seen fewer cases of missile throwing at Barbourfields Stadium.
Throwing missiles and invading the pitch hurts the club financially so we are happy that the first half of the 2023 season has been peaceful.
</blockquote>
In previous seasons, Highlanders has been fined more than US$20 000 by the Premier Soccer League for unruly behaviour by supporters.
More: <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a>

Highlanders Fans Loot Alcohol From Kwekwe Supermarket

Hundreds of ZANU PF supporters reportedly looted a truckload of mealie meal at a rally at Mucheke stadium in Masvingo recently.
<a href="https://tellzim.com/hungry-angry-zanu-pf-supporters-loot-mealie-meal-at-mnangagwa-rally/">TellZim.com</a> reported that a number of trucks loaded with mealie meal were on standby at the rally that was addressed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa where he was said to be meeting first-time voters.
Masvingo Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution <a href="https://pindula.co.zw/Ezra_Chadzamira">Ezra Chadzamira</a> told the crowd that the President had brought mealie meal and everyone was going to get a share.
However, soon after Mnangagwa and his entourage left, the trucks started driving off, leaving the people who had started queuing for the mealie meal stranded.
Some people were claiming that the trucks were going to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) depot in Masvingo and the mealie meal will be distributed from there.
Hundreds of people then mobbed the last truck and started looting the mealie meal, with the driver watching helplessly.
Party supporters mainly youths went on top of the truck, removed the tent covering the mealie meal, and started throwing the 10kg packets into the cheering crowd.
Some social media users alleged that the trucks were just a campaigning gimmick and they were not meant to be distributed.
It is alleged that the same thing happened at Chambuta Children’s Home in Chiredzi recently where First Lady Auxilia Mnangagwa was a guest.
More: <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a>

ZANU PF Supporters Loot Mealie Meal At Mnangagwa Rally

International English-language news channel, Al Jazeera, is set to expose corrupt Zimbabwean politicians and their associates in a documentary set to be aired this March.
Posting on his social media pages, Zimbabwean award-winning journalist and filmmaker Hopewell Chin’ono said the film producers have shown the films to a select group of corruption experts and journalists to give their comments before the documentary is broadcasted.
Chin’ono said the documentary films will expose “astonishing looting, plunder and laundering in Zimbabwe” by ZANU PF officials and their associates. <a href="https://twitter.com/daddyhope/status/1630137794860392450?s=20">He wrote</a>:
<blockquote>
International news network, Aljazeera will be broadcasting mind-blowing documentary films in March showing astonishing looting, plunder and laundering in Zimbabwe.
The ZANU PF crooks and their surrogates were filmed undercover for 2 years, as they spoke about how they do it!
The film producers have shown the films to a select group of corruption experts and journalists to look at, and give their comment on the exposures.
The documentary films were made by the Al Jazeera Investigative Journalism Directorate. They filmed them since 2021.
</blockquote>
Businessman and social commentator Kuda Musasiwa said the Al Jazeera documentary should serve as a lesson to people not to talk too much. He <a href="https://twitter.com/begottensun/status/1630890260447019008?s=20">tweeted</a>:
<blockquote>
The @AlJazeera Documentary is lesson 101 of NOT talking a span. Fish get caught by opening their mouth. It’s not a secret if anyone else knows. Don’t Talk a Span. Talking a span is bad.
</blockquote>
More <a href="https://zero.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a>

Al Jazeera Investigations To Expose "Astonishing" Plunder, Looting In Zimbabwe

Police in Bulawayo on Thursday intercepted a haulage truck that is suspected to have been carrying smuggled goods looted in South Africa.
Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Officer Commanding Bulawayo Province, Commissioner Patton Mbangwa confirmed the arrest of a suspected smuggler who was offloading some goods along Harare road in the dead of night. Said Comm Mbangwa:
<blockquote>Our men were on patrol and intercepted this truck along the Zuva garage. They saw this truck offloading goods into the other truck and when they approached the truck one of the trucks took off.
It is then when police discovered that this haulage truck has these goods. The driver of the white truck was chased by police and dumped the vehicle only to appear this morning.
From the look of things, it is visible that these goods did not enter the country legally. The proper destination of this consignment is Msasa in Harare.
You may be aware that there were lootings in South Africa and we suspect that these are some of these goods.
We are now investigating how these goods managed to get into the country and who the owners are.</blockquote>
Comm Mbangwa called on members of the public to report any suspects with looted goods to their nearest police station.
He said Zimbabwe’s relationship with South Africa should remain cordial as it is and the ZRP will not allow Zimbabwe to be a destination for stolen goods that belongs to a neighbour. Added Comm Mbangwa:
<blockquote>We would want the members of the public to police each other so that we apprehend criminals. We should not be a destination of stolen goods, it is not good as neighbours, and people lost their property during the looting. Our relationship with South Africa should remain cordial as it is.</blockquote>
Recent deadly riots in South Africa’s Kwazulu-Natal and Gauteng Provinces resulted in the looting of malls and warehouses and the closure of busy highways, with the country economy estimated to have lost over 20 billion rands.
<h4>More: <a href="https://www.zbcnews.co.zw/bulawayo-suspected-looted-goods-impounded/">ZBC News</a></h4>

Goods Looted From South Africa Impounded En Route To Harare

The South African government on Monday deployed soldiers to assist the police to quell rampant looting of businesses across the country.
The looting started a few days after the country’s former president, Jacob Zuma, was committed to a correctional facility to serve 15 months for contempt of court.
Below are some pictures showing scenes of destruction at the Sam Ntuli Mall in Katlehong, a township in the Gauteng Province located 28 km southeast of Johannesburg. The pictures were posted on the Twitter handle <a href="https://twitter.com/KingKAzania">@KingKAzania:</a>
<img alt="Image" decoding="async" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E6J68bKWUAMpnCA?format=jpg&amp;name=large"/><img alt="Image" decoding="async" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E6J69U9XsAAiCNK?format=jpg&amp;name=large"/><img alt="Image" decoding="async" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E6J6_AiXIAg0sPv?format=jpg&amp;name=large"/><img alt="Image" decoding="async" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E6J6_p2XIAYi_i6?format=jpg&amp;name=large"/><img alt="Image" decoding="async" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E6J5u-lXIAIBy8K?format=jpg&amp;name=large"/><img alt="Image" decoding="async" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E6J5vx4XsAEBOHm?format=jpg&amp;name=large"/><img alt="Image" decoding="async" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E6J5waHXoAAKdcE?format=jpg&amp;name=large"/><img alt="Image" decoding="async" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E6J5xjgXIAQRYXE?format=jpg&amp;name=large"/><img alt="Image" decoding="async" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E6JzVyBWEAITuiA?format=jpg&amp;name=large"/><img alt="Image" decoding="async" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E6JzXQTXoAIOU_w?format=jpg&amp;name=large"/><img alt="Image" decoding="async" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E6JzYTnXMAAbNb9?format=jpg&amp;name=large"/><img alt="Image" decoding="async" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E6JzaRcWUAIthQ5?format=jpg&amp;name=large"/>
<h4>More: <a href="https://twitter.com/KingKAzania">Sipho King K Kekana on Twitter</a></h4>

PICTURES: Looting And Destruction Of Property In South Africa

Zimbabwe has urged the South African government not to resort to the use of force to quell protests and looting that erupted last week in the country’s Kwazulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces before spreading to other parts of the country.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Nick Mangwana said South Africa stands at a crossroads but should resolve its issues peacefully. He tweeted:
<blockquote>Our thoughts and prayers go to our brothers and sisters in SA during this time of Crisis where the nation stands at crossroads.
We call for peaceful means of conflict resolution. We always advocate for nations to resolve their own internal contradictions, a courtesy we accord all.</blockquote>
South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, on Monday night said he would mobilise all available resources and capabilities to restore order in the country.
This came after the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) confirmed that it had deployed soldiers to support the police to quell the violent looting, a move that had been criticised by the country’s opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).
According to <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/gauteng/live-updates-saynotolooting-hope-for-an-end-to-the-looting-violence-1f4e0b9c-8c88-494e-8160-aeacff164ec1">IOL</a>, South Africa’s Small Business Institute (SBI) on Tuesday strongly condemned the wanton looting of businesses, destruction of vital economic infrastructure, burning of trucks and blockading of roads. It said:
<blockquote>We also call on law enforcement agencies to urgently protect lives, property and businesses which have become the main target of the ongoing violence.
Whilst our Constitution guarantees the right of every South African to protest, we find the violence visited on ordinary people, property, trucks and business premises completely indefensible.
We are shocked and concerned that law enforcement agencies, especially intelligence services, have allowed the situation to develop for weeks ahead of the Constitutional Court judgment on June 29 2021.
The response has been slow, fragmented and woefully inadequate.</blockquote>
Sporadic protests erupted in KZN after former president Jacob Zuma was jailed for contempt of court. The protests have, however, degenerated into an orgy of violence and looting of shops.

Zimbabwe Urges South Africa To Manage Protests Peacefully

Xenophobic attacks were on Wednesday night witnessed in South Africa’s Soweto area as hundreds of locals descended on spaza shops owned by foreigners.
The looting spree broke out in areas such as Zola, Emdeni, Moletsane, White City, Zondi and Rockville.
The incidents were confirmed by Police spokesman Capt Kay Makhubele. He said:
<blockquote>At the moment it is not clear what started this. We are yet to determine the wide scale of the looting, but we have members on the ground monitoring the situation.</blockquote>
The police were, however, not in a position to establish whether any injuries had been reported or any arrests made.
Residents said that the looting was in revenge of attacks on police officers by foreigners in Johannesburg’s CBD more than two weeks ago.
Foreign traders forced the police into a hasty retreat after coming under a sustained rain of stones as they attempted to force their way into buildings believed to be used to store counterfeit goods.
Speaking to the Sowetan, a resident, Tshepo Lehohla said:
<blockquote>How can people from out of this country attack our police officers? Police in other countries would not tolerate that. People are angry because of that.</blockquote>
<h4>More: <a href="https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2019-08-14-soweto-residents-go-on-a-rampage-looting-foreign-owned-spaza-shops/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sowetan</a></h4>

Foreign-owned Shops Ransacked In Looting Spree In Soweto - Reports

Bulawayo Provincial Affairs Minister  Judith Ncube yesterday said residents are saying there was group of people who allegedly moved around breaking into shops and encouraging residents to loot.
Ncube said residents who might have information on those who moved around breaking into shops should inform the police. Said Ncube:
<blockquote>Investigations on the matter are already in progress. I’m happy that some of the people have started providing the police with information. Those with this information may they please approach the police so that police can investigate the cases, because what happened is uncalled for. Looking at the nature of destruction, particularly Choppies Supermarkets, it is quite clear that it was not random looting, but it was planned and we also noted that some chemicals were used to burn these shops and certainly this requires further investigations. Most of our people just got into the bandwagon without knowing that this was planned arson and precisely this is terrorism.</blockquote>
More: <a href="https://www.chronicle.co.zw/police-probe-third-force-behind-looting-orgy/">Chronicle</a>

Group Allegedly Moved Around Breaking Into Shops, Urging Residents To Loot- Minister

Speaking during a tour of shops looted and burnt down by protestors in Bulawayo’s western suburbs yesterday, Minister of Industry and Commerce, Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndlovu said Government is working on modalities to assist affected businesses to restock.
Said Ndlovu:
<blockquote>It was good to appreciate and have a physical feel of what businesses went through and seeing how communities are struggling to buy basic commodities such as mealie-meal, sugar, bread and so forth after the lootings which emanated from violent protests. As Government we are now trying to come up with ways of assisting businesses to restock and we also want to assure our people that as from tomorrow (today), supplies will begin to normalise.</blockquote>
Ndlovu was accompanied by his deputy, Raj Modi as well as Bulawayo Provincial Affairs Minister Judith Ncube, Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe chairperson Tafadzwa Musarara, Zanu-PF Bulawayo provincial leaders and church representatives.
More: <a href="https://www.chronicle.co.zw/government-to-help-looted-businesses-restock/">Chronicle</a>

Govt To Come Up With Ways Of Assisting Looted Shops To Restock

<a href="http://www.pindula.co.zw/Movement_for_Democratic_Change_-_Tsvangirayi_(MDC-T)" target="_blank">MDC-T</a> has vowed to recover all state resources that were looted by the current government after the 2018 elections.    It said government officials will be taken to task to account for state resources that they misused.  MDC-T spokesperson <a href="http://www.pindula.co.zw/Obert_Gutu" target="_blank">Obert  Gutu</a> slammed Zanu PF for using state resources to fund party business such as the purchase of 365 election campaign vehicles.  The First Lady Grace Mugabe has also been in the headlines after a fallout over <a href="http://www.pindula.co.zw/news/2016/12/09/first-lady-allegedly-seizes-3-houses-diamond-dealer-botched-deal/" target="_blank">a $1,3 million diamond ring</a> resulted in a lwasuit against her.
Said Gutu
<blockquote>As the most popular political party and indeed; as the government-in-waiting in Zimbabwe, the MDC, when we take over state power in 2018, shall immediately institute a thorough and holistic audit of all state resources to ensure that all those persons who have ransacked and stolen from the state and its various institutions shall be held to account.
In fact, the new government will effectively trace and recover all looted assets; including the billions of dollars in public funds that have fraudulently externalised to foreign countries such as Dubai, Hong Kong, China and Singapore.
Such is the brazen stealing and ransacking of State resources by senior Zanu PF politicians that it is actually fashionable and trendy to loot and pilfer State – owned funds and other material resources</blockquote>
More: <a href="http://www.newzimbabwe.com/news-34352-Gutu+Zanu+PF+looters+to+pay+after+2018/news.aspx" target="_blank">New Zimbabwe </a>

MDC-T pledge to recover looted state funds stashed in Dubai, Hong Kong, China and Singapore after 2018 Elections

The <a href="http://www.pindula.co.zw/Christopher_Mutsvangwa">Christopher Mutsvangwa</a>-led executive of the <a href="http://www.pindula.co.zw/Zimbabwe_National_Liberation_War_Veterans_Association">Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association </a>(ZNLWVA) has demanded a forensic audit of the War Veterans ministry, amid claims of massive looting of school fees for former fighters’ children.
Speaking to NewsDay, ZNLWVA spokesperson <a href="http://www.pindula.co.zw/Douglas_Mahiya">Douglas Mahiya</a> said,
<blockquote>We actually think an audit of the ministry is in order. There has been systematic looting of money due to war veterans and the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission should be allowed to look into the ministry’s books. Millions should be missing.</blockquote>
Contacted for comment over the allegations, War Veterans’ ministry permanent secretary, Walter Tapfumaneyi, said,
<blockquote>We have been talking to them and nothing has been imposed. Especially Mahiya, but they are entitled to their opinion, so let them do what they want.</blockquote>
More: <a href="https://www.newsday.co.zw/2016/10/24/govt-war-vets-showdown-looms/">NewsDay</a>

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