2014 finally comes to an end! And what a year it has been, with so many twists and turns that have changed the face of the country, almost completely. It all started early this year with the fissures in the MDC-T growing and eventually throwing the losing opposition party into more fractures as Elton Mangoma and Tendai Biti broke away from the main MDC-T. By this time the factional fights in Zanu PF were beginning to manifest with bigwigs positioning themselves in view of the party’s December elective congress. A surprise event stole the limelight from politicians when Vapostori in Budiriro bashed police officers who had gone to ‘ban the church’ for abusing children and women. The incident drew massive interest on social media that saw interesting memes and sayings being coined. As the year drew towards the end, Zanu PF went on a cleansing expedition that saw some of its senior officials including former Vice President Joice Mujuru losing their positions in government. This was after a sustained public charade by First lady Grace Mugabe who surprised many with her swift rise to become a Zanu PF politburo member and head of the party’s women wing. Enough said, below is a list of 10 stories we feel have been the major news of 2014, in order of their popularity! 1. This was the best of all of times!
Masowe members run riot, beat up anti-riot cops
SEVERAL police officers were on Friday seriously injured in a brawl with members of the Johane Masowe apostolic sect in the high-density suburb of Budiriro 2 in Harare.Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe president Johannes Ndanga, in the company of anti-riot police, had gone to the Madzibaba Ishmael-led shrine seeking to enforce a ban on the church for alleged abuse of women and children.The visit resulted in a physical confrontation between members of the church and the police, and the latter had to flee. Read more here
AT LEAST 3,5 million people in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia are in danger amid disclosures that the Kariba Dam wall has developed “serious structural weaknesses” which need to be rectified within the next three years.While the Zambian government acknowledged the gravity of the situation, their Zimbabwean counterparts were attempting to downplay it. Thankfully, the fears were allayed! Read more here
FIRED Vice-President Joice Mujuru is now seeking public sympathy through her statements while also challenging President Robert Mugabe for failing to address “bread and butter” issues, analysts have said.They said Mujuru’s statement on Monday where she denied allegations of trying to topple Mugabe was a jibe at the 90-year-old leader who was focusing on “ridiculous” and “unsubstantiated” allegations aimed at her.Mujuru has been a subject of attacks from the First Family, ranging from corruption, plotting to assassinate Mugabe, witchcraft and extortion. Read more here
The confrontation between private commuter omnibus crews and the police turned nasty this afternoon when a commuter omnibus- allegedly fleeing from police- ran over a toddler at the corner of Chinhoyi Street and Kwame Nkrumah Avenue this afternoon.A witness who sent us these pictures said the driver only stopped after realising he had hit the child and cops disappeared from the scene. Read more here
5. Live updates: VP Joice Mujuru graduation party
Vice President Joice Mujuru is hosting a graduation party in Dotito, Mt Darwin at Dotito Government School. This will be the first time she will be speaking at such a huge gathering since the First Lady, Grace Mugabe accused her of being corrupt and called for her resignation. Read more here
RMG End Time Message church leader Robert Martin Gumbura, who was convicted on 4 counts of rape and one count of possession of pornographic material on Friday, was on Monday sentenced to 50 years in prison. Of these, 10 years were suspended on condition of good behaviour. This leaves him with an effective 40 year jail term Read more here
FIRST Lady Grace Mugabe yesterday sensationally claimed that she had video and audio recordings where Vice-President Joice Mujuru was captured speaking ill against the First Family.Addressing about 1 000 college students and party youths at her Mazowe Children’s Home, Grace said she always wondered why Mugabe was not keen on kicking Mujuru out of office given the overwhelming evidence they had amassed against her. Read more here
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Keep Reading
A selection of pictures from our citizen journalism platform, #AMHVoices. Launched in 2014, the platform has become one of the most popular on the NewsDay website. Read more here
A POLICE sergeant based at Mazowe Police Station was on Monday found dead in a suspected case of suicide after he failed to account for cash recovered from his car at a roadblock along Harare-Bindura highway during a spot-check by one of his superiors.The spot-check was conducted by a senior commissioner in the force. Read more here
9. When they buried him, tribute to the police-kombi war child victimA gripping account of the burial of a child victim of the clashes between police and commuter omnibus crews. Read more here
10.Emotions in pictures: Gumbura wives after sentencing
RMG End Time Message church leader Robert Martin Gumbura, who was convicted on four counts of rape and one count of possession of pornographic material on Friday, was on Monday sentenced to 50 years in prison.Of these, 10 years were suspended on condition of good behaviour. This leaves him with an effective 40 year jail term. Read more here
