Category: Lifestyle

Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai Friday lost a bid to have the US$15 000 maintenance claim lodged against him by his wife Ms Locardia Karimat­senga struck off the roll.

Harare Civil Court magistrate Mr Reuben Mukavhi ruled that the appli­cation was properly before the courts and that the hearing should be held.

PM Tsvangirai had argued that the application did not comply with the provisions of the Maintenance Act.

The premier’s lawyer Advocate Tha­bani Mpofu said the claim could have been brought up through summons and not a court application.

He also argued that service of the court papers was not done properly.
Adv Mpofu raised the objection just before the maintenance inquiry, but Mr Mukavhi ruled against him.

Mr Mukavhi held that the applica­tion was properly before him and that the hearing should start.

“The proceedings before me have been properly instituted.
“The points in limine (preliminary points) are without merit and are hereby dismissed.”

Adv Mpofu notified the court of his intention to appeal to the High Court challenging the lower court’s failure or omission to consider some of his sub­missions in dismissing the prelimi­nary points.

“We intend to approach the High Court so that it deals with the issues we raised concerning the attachment of an affidavit to the summons,” he said.

“The point has not been determined by this court.”

Mr Mukavhi ruled that the hearing should take off on October 15.
In the failed preliminary arguments, Adv Mpofu submitted that the maintenance claim was void and that it was an unnecessary burden on the court roll.

Adv Mpofu said a maintenance complaint should be made on oath and the fact that Ms Karimatsenga’s lawyers filed a court application rendered the process defective.

He said the law did not allow the court to condone any departure from the statutes.

Adv Mpofu described the application as “dog’s breakfast”.
He said proper service of summons should be effected by the police and not by any other person.

Responding to the objection, Ms Karimatsenga’s lawyer Mr Everson Samukange described the preliminary challenge as mischievous and a deliberate attempt to delay court proceedings.

Mr Samukange said the complaint had properly been made on oath as required by the law and that service could be done by other persons other than the police.

He said the application, although it was not brought on summons, had an affidavit which constitutes the maintenance complaint on oath.

Ms Karimatsenga is claiming US$15 000 monthly maintenance to match the high standards of life she is now accustomed to as a result of her relationship with PM Tsvangirai.

She wants the PM to contribute towards her upkeep and accessories, as she has been accustomed to.

In her claim, Ms Karimatsenga said she was customarily married to PM Tsvangirai after he paid lobola to her parents in November last year.

Rwandan artist Bruce Melody has said his mother, Zenena Muteteri, 46, died “with her family at her bedside” on September 14 following a short illness.

“Mom told us that she felt like her head was heavy and hurting so much, so we took her to (Rwanda) Military Hospital in Kanombe where she passed on in the hands of the doctors,” said Bruce Melody, the deceased’s second-born.

Muteteri born December 1, 1966 was a single mother after her husband passed away in 1996. She was laid to rest on Sunday at her home in Kanombe. She is survived by four children.

“She was a loving and caring mother, with a never-say-never spirit and she raised us well. We shall always look up to her,” Melody said.

NewTimes

Nigeria’s Chinua Achebe, often called the father of modern African literature, released his first major work in years Thursday with a long-awaited memoir centred on the war that nearly destroyed his nation.

“There Was A Country: A Personal History of Biafra” chronicles Achebe’s experiences during Nigeria’s 1967-1970 civil war, which saw his native eastern region, dominated by the Igbo ethnic group, secede as the Republic of Biafra.

The split came largely in response to massacres of Igbos in Nigeria’s north and saw Achebe, author of the revered novel “Things Fall Apart,” speak out forcefully in support of the move.

His memoir was released in Britain on Thursday and will be available in Nigeria shortly after, said publishers Allen Lane, a division of Penguin. Its release in the United States is set for October 11.

The tensions that ignited the Biafran conflict, which left around one million people dead, including many from starvation, are largely settled. Today, sporadic calls for greater Igbo autonomy have limited impact in Nigerian politics.

Experts, however, say a Biafra memoir from the 81-year-old Achebe is urgently needed in a country that remains deeply fractured on other levels, despite the book’s focus on events that happened more than four decades ago.

“Achebe is sustaining the debate on integration, on unity and on oneness,” said Dapo Thomas, a history professor at Lagos State University.

“Until there is a sovereign agreement from the peasants to the elite that we want to remain as one, we must continue that debate. A nation cannot remain comatose while these issues are unresolved.”

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country with 160 million people, groups around 250 ethnic groups and is roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south.

Achebe strongly backed his native Biafra in the civil war and even toured to speak on its behalf. Echoes of the conflict emerge in his writing, including his collection “Christmas in Biafra and Other Poems.”

The octogenarian remains a towering figure in Nigerian and African literature, though he has been based in the United States in recent years where he has been a professor at Brown University in Rhode Island. He travels infrequently due to a 1990 car accident that left him in a wheelchair.

Achebe’s novel “Things Fall Apart”, about the collision between British colonial rule and Igbo society, remains a landmark work 54 years after its release.

“Just as we read Shakespeare, it’s not possible for any student in this department to graduate without reading the works of Chinua Achebe,” said the head of the English department at the University of Lagos, Adeyemi Daramola.

On September 29th 2012, Events Africa and Illume Creative Studio present the launch of “A September Affair”, the inaugural dining event series that will feature a different theme every year designed to promote a product or activity to a select group of invited guests.

Guests will enjoy delicious cuisine, entertainment and will be able to sample products on offer—from wines , to clothing and jewelry, music and art.

This year’s theme is ‘Kigali Uncorked’ and the featured product is a collection of South African wines from the Mont Rochelle vineyards in Cape Town ,South Africa.

The Mont Rochelle vineyards were first planted in 1994 and were bought by the late Miko Rwayitare in 2001, making him the first black African to own a wine farm in South Africa.

Along with the wine, invited guests will enjoy a 6- course meal prepared by world class South African chefs, and be entertained by South African jazz musician Nomfundo Xaluva.

Xaluva is a rising star and her qlbum, titled Kusile, will be in stores this September.

“A September Affair” seeks to create an annual event to showcase international, regional and local products, introduce Culinary Tourism to Rwanda, and add to Rwanda’s social calendar of prestigious events.

An American couple Sayli and Jon Gibbs got married on Sept. 1 at Living History Farms in Urbandale in the State of Iowa, in front of close friends and family.

They expected that it would be a romantic day they would never forget. What they did not expect was that the barn they chose would also be the site of a last-minute rally for President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign.

The couple was told that the president’s event, which started in the morning, may run past schedule, and that the parking lot of the venue would be closed to cars. So Sayli had to walk across the parking lot carrying her wedding gown.

Luckily for the couple, the president left on time, and he also left behind a special gift: a silver tray and a mint julep cup, both with the presidential seal, and a handwritten note that read, “Congratulations on the wedding. Michelle and I wish you a great life together. Barack Obama.”

Neither Sayli nor Jon is a registered Democrat; nonetheless, they were still delighted to receive the gift. Jon Gibbs said, “Love him or hate him, it’s a gift from the president.”

Photographer Loren Paul snapped a picture of the gift, and a friend posted it on Reddit, where it made the front page and received hundreds of comments.

One commenter questioned how the president had gifts like that on hand, writing, “I wonder if the President has a box of emergency presents, just for times like these.”

It’s not clear if the president carries around a stash of gifts, but one thing’s for sure: Sayli and Jon Gibbs will have an incredible wedding story to share for a lifetime.

A SOUTH African woman — who claims to be engaged to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai — has joined Ms Locardia Karimatsenga in seeking to have the premier’s wedding stopped.

Prime Minister Tsvangirai is scheduled to wed his fiancée Ms Elizabeth Macheka tomorrow at Raintree Lodge in Umwinsidale, Harare.

Ms Nosipho Regina Shilubane has instructed her lawyer, Mr Wellington Pasipanodya of Manase and Manase legal practitioners, to file an objection with Harare provincial magistrate Mr Munamato Mutevedzi.

Mr Mutevedzi granted the PM a marriage licence for tomorrow’s wed­ding.

The objection was filed yesterday morning.

Ms Karimatsenga’s lawyers filed their client’s objection papers before the same magistrate on Wednesday after­noon after the High Court dismissed her injunction.

Mr Mutevedzi is expected to deal with both cases today.
Lawyers representing the two women and those representing the PM and Ms Macheka briefly appeared before Mr Mutevedzi in his chambers at the Harare Magistrates’ Courts yes­terday.

The matter was adjourned to today to allow lawyers for the PM, Mr Inno­cent Chagonda and Mr Selby Hwacha, to study the objection papers.

Ms Shilubane claims to be engaged for marriage and that she was shocked to learn of the PM’s scheduled wed­ding.

In her affidavit, Ms Shilubane claims she first met the PM on September 5, 2009 at Monte Cassino Shopping Cen­tre in Johannesburg after being intro­duced to him by Pastor Lazarus Murir­itirwa of the Gospel Assembly Church.

The pastor, Ms Shilubane said, invited her to a hotel room where Tsvangirai was booked, on the pretext that his friend wanted to see her.

“When we were introduced at the hotel room, he (Tsvangirai) asked his pastor and his son Edwin Tsvangirai to give us some privacy and we remained the two of us in the hotel room.”

While in the room, the PM report­edly told the woman he was a widower looking for someone to marry.

He reportedly proposed to Ms Shilubane.
The woman claims she was given a business card and the following num­bers for communication —0027718972979, 00263772383532 and 00263772383593.

The PM allegedly invited the woman to Zimbabwe and she stayed at Pastor Muriritirwa’s house in Borrowdale, Harare.

Ms Shilubane said the PM bought her an air ticket for the trip to Zim­babwe.

She claims that he would visit her at the pastor’s house where they had their first sexual encounter on September 19, 2009.

“After my first visit, I returned to South Africa and he phoned me and asked me where I was staying.

“I advised him that I was staying in Yeoville and he expressed disgust say­ing ‘how can you stay in that hell hole; you need to get a nicer place in a loca­tion where I can come and see you in an uptown area’.

“I looked for a place and I found a townhouse in a place called Buccleuch in Johannesburg North near Sandton at No.53 Northfields, Fife Street, Buc­cleuch.

“R13 000 were deposited into my Standard Bank Account Number 026640473 by Morgan. I paid for the place and moved into the new place at the end of November 2009,” she said.

On December 28, 2009, Mr Tsvangi­rai reportedly met Ms Shilubane at OR Tambo Airport in the company of his twin children Millicent and Vincent and they proceeded to Seychelles for a holiday.

Tickets for the trip were pur­chased through Ms Zodwa Mtunzi of Traverse Travel Agency.

“We were intimate throughout the holiday period (12 days) and we always had unprotected sex as he had asked me to go on family planning medica­tion.

“He said he did not want to have anymore children,” said Ms Shilubane.
“Whenever he went to a foreign country, he would pass by South Africa and I would go to whichever hotel he would be staying.

“We would be intimate and make love two or three times on each occa­sion,” she said.

On November 19, 2010, Ms Shilubane claims she followed the PM to Gaborone, Botswana, where he said “he was distressing, and he missed me and wanted to make love to me”.

Ms Shilubane said she eagerly fol­lowed the PM and they “stayed together at his hotel making love”.

It is indicated in the court papers that the PM spent another two weeks in Singapore with Ms Shilubane and photographs were taken during the holidays.

The holiday that Ms Shilubane called “love cruise” was on a boat called “Leg­end of the Seas”.

The PM allegedly visited the woman in January last year in South Africa say­ing he was now serious about the rela­tionship and wanted “to throw her in the kitchen”.

During the visit, he had a motorcade and Ms Shilubane said at times PM Tsvangirai would visit in South African Police Services motorcade vehicles.

He asked to marry Ms Shilubane, which proposal was accepted and he promised her a wedding ceremony in Zimbabwe.

The PM, according to the papers, promised to talk to the pastor who would make the wedding arrange­ments before promising the woman’s children better education and a house.

Ms Shilubane said in January this year, her family members convened a meeting and waited for the PM to come and pay lobola and negotiations for a customary wedding ceremony, but he did not turn up.

PM Tsvangirai, Ms Shilubane claims in her papers, said he could not attend the meeting due to some Government commitments.
He had reset the customary wedding date for December 2012.

While she was expecting a custom­ary wedding in December, Ms Shilubane said she was shocked to hear of the planned wedding to Ms Macheka.

Herald

An interview is an opportunity to meet your possible future colleagues.

They’re not the only ones making decisions – you’ll also be sizing up whether you want to work with them.

It is the first real opportunity you’ll have to start to build a relationship with people who may be pivotal to your career success for many years to come.

Sarah Rozenthuler has coached hundreds of people over the last 10 years to perform at their best during high stakes interactions. Here is what she terms as the small things that make a big difference.

Create a ‘to be’ list

Entry is everything so think about how you want to “show up” at the interview. What qualities do you want to demonstrate? Decide in advance how you intend to come across – for example as confident, reliable or dynamic.

For example, to show confidence, make sure you can talk fluidly about your strengths and successes without bragging.

Make it more of a conversation

The more you can make the interview a two-way exchange, the more likely you are to relax. Make the most of this opportunity to gather information, get to know your prospective colleagues and catch a glimpse of the way they do things.

Come to the interview with some insightful questions prepared. Don’t trot out the same old questions that every candidate is likely to ask such as what the opportunities for promotion are.

Read the company’s website and research their performance, whether on the stock market or the league tables, so that your lines of inquiry are on point.

Body language, eye gaze and gestures all play their part in an interview. If you find it hard to look someone in the eye, you risk being judged as untrustworthy

Be comfortable talking about money

Even if the job comes with an advertised salary, you may be asked what your salary expectations are. Anticipate this question and, off-line, practise saying your answer out loud.

If you want to be paid more than the ad suggests, be prepared to give your reasons, as you’ll need to justify your request.

Know your strengths

Be prepared to articulate your ‘unique selling points’. Give this question serious consideration. Think about your own combination of strengths – for example, are you that rare individual who is creative, proactive and reliable?

Before you go to the interview, complete this sentence, ‘I am someone who…’ Write down your answer and reflect on your response. Think about feedback you’ve had from friends, family and other people who have affirmed your sense of who you are.

Be prepared to talk about your weaknesses

Anticipate being asked about your shortcomings. This is a sensitive subject that needs a careful response. Don’t be insincere, such as saying you’re a perfectionist if you’re not.

This time its not about political disagreement between Prime minister Morgan Tsivangirai and President Robert Mugabe…

Locadia Karimatsenga Tembo(in photo above) an ex-lover to MDC strongman, filed the claim at the civil court in Harare September 5.

Its about a private matter of Tsivangirai involving his lover who is demanding US$15,000 as monthly upkeep because the MDC strongman abandoned her and is planned to wed a new woman.

Tsvangirai is said to have traditionally married Locadia Karimatsenga Tembo in November 2011. However, this lady fell sick and was admitted to a hospital in Neighbouring South Africa.

In a court case file Karimatsenga says; “The respondent (PM) is my husband. He married me on the 21st of November 2011 and has been supporting me until I was discharged from hospital in South Africa.

“The respondent proposed to marry me in September 2011. I accepted the proposal and he then made arrangements to meet my parents and to pay lobola(dowery) in terms of the African customary tradition,” she said.

Karimatsenga said after the PM paid lobola, he requested permission for her to stay with him, which was granted.

“He also requested for permission to have a white wedding, which was also granted . . . and satisfied the requirements laid down by my parents.”

Karimatsenga wants Tsivangirai to contribute towards her upkeep and accessories, as she has been accustomed to.

This comes barely a week before the premier’s wedding with Ms Elizabeth Macheka on September 15.

In her claim, Karimatsenga says she is customarily married to PM Tsvangirai after the latter paid lobola to her parents.

“The respondent (PM) is my husband. He married me on the 21st of November 2011 and has been supporting me until I was discharged from hospital in South Africa.

In terms of the African custom, Karimatsenga claimed, she was sent to PM Tsvangirai’s village in Buhera where she stayed with his mother for about two months.

PM Tsvangirai, she claimed, later requested her to rejoin him in Harare after he had found accommodation.

“I moved to the house and there was a double bed only. He gave me money to buy all the household goods, which ran into thousands of dollars.

“By that time, I was already pregnant and we lived together for a couple of months until I was seven-and-a-half months pregnant.

“I had problems with my hypertension, which was very high.
“Respondent advised me to get the best medical attention and sent me to Johannesburg, South Africa, where I was attended to by specialists.

(In this photo Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his new partner Elizabeth Macheka)

MORGAN TSIVANGIRAI RESPONCE

FOR the past two weeks, I have been a subject of frenzied media coverage regarding my relationship with Ms Lorcadia Karimatsenga.

Indeed as is normal, there was both a positive and negative reaction to this development.

Regrettably, both reactions were misplaced.

However, I feel that the people of Zimbabwe deserve to know my position on this matter, which to a large extent has damaged not only the reputations of the two of us involved in this relationship, but equally so the public image of the Tsvangirai and Karimatsenga families.

Indeed I had a relationship with Ms Locadia Karimatsenga. At a certain stage, she claimed that she was pregnant and that I had to be introduced to her family to own up and accept responsibility according to our culture and tradition.

Following this development, and like every cultured Zimbabwean, on Friday, November 18, 2011, I sent a delegation to the Karimatsenga family homestead to perform traditional and cultural rites.

But since the day I sent a delegation to the Karimatsenga family, everything has been played in the press and I have become an innocent bystander.

I have become a spectator and things are happening too fast, on camera and without my knowledge. This has led me to conclude that there is a greater and thicker plot around this issue which has undermined my confidence in this relationship.

I was reported to have been there in Christon Bank when in fact I was in my office. Other inferences were equally stated as fact when on the contrary these were false representations.

There have been several developments since that day which have been deliberately planted in the media and which I have had to read in the press; developments that would have taken place without my involvement and knowledge as an interested party.

The cultural rites that took place received wide, well arranged publicity clearly giving rise to a legitimate enquiry on the motive of this publicity, including the choreographed media capture of Ms Karimatsenga while she was supposedly in Buhera.

While I accept that as Prime Minister I live a public life, I believe I reserve the right to define my relationship.
I have opened up communication lines with the Karimatsenga family and they know my position regarding this matter.

I do not wish to publicise the nature and extent of my communication to them.

Ms Karimatsenga is also aware of my position on this matter.
Added to this, there is now an underhand and active political hand that is now driving the processes and this has resulted in everything regarding this relationship now taking place in camera, with the public media journalists in tow.

Everything is so well choreographed. The intention is clear: to inflict maximum damage on my person and character for political gain. This has caused me to have serious misgivings as to whether this will be a perfect union that will inspire young couples and reflect marriage as the noble and respectable institution that it is.

I am committed to serve my country with honour and distinction not only as a national leader, but as a respected family man who owned up to his responsibility by following cultural and traditional procedures.

There are many things I have learnt in the process and one is that with the benefit of hindsight, I could have done things differently.

In this regard, I apologise to every single Zimbabwean for any discomfort caused by any of my actions.

Having been happily married for 31 years, I also realised that sometimes when you are searching for a partner especially after losing your wife whom you so dearly loved, there are many stakeholders in the process some of whom have their own ulterior intentions and agendas.

I want to admit that the last two weeks have been particularly bad for me, my children, my family and even ordinary Zimbabweans who have sought to find meaning to this sordid saga.

Reputations have been bruised and mutual trust upon which such relations are built and maintained has been lost.

Marriage is a serious proposition arising out of mutual trust, intimacy and respect. When these values are undermined, that relationship is irretrievably doomed from the start.

My genuine intention has been betrayed and hearts have had to search long and hard to the true meaning of this well-choreographed drama that has now been hijacked to cause political damage on my person and character.

As has been evidently demonstrated by these past well-ochestrated events, it would be inconceivable that a normal marriage relationship can be consummated.

However, I want to assure the people of Zimbabwe that this dark patch in my private life will not dampen my commitment to serve my country and to deliver real change to the people.

I remain unfazed by this sad chapter which will not in any way deter me from my national responsibility to serve Zimbabwe.

I will not expose the people’s struggle for democratic change to machinations of infiltration.

May God bless Zimbabwe.

Morgan Tsvangirai

Prime Minister of Zimbabwe

Zim Herald & New Zimbabwe

The crown Miss Rwanda 2012 has announced plans to moblise Rwandan youths in efforts to contribute to the Agaciro Development Fund.

Over Frw7billion has so far been deposited into the Agaciro Fund.
Kayibanda Mutesi Aurore didn’t not give details of her proposed new moblisation plan.

She says,“my first objective is to moblise youths to contribute to Agaciro Development Fund as a way of showing youths how to accord themselves diginity.”

Miss Kayibanda is a student at the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST).

A wool suit that Margaret Thatcher wore on the day she was confirmed as Conservative Party leader has sold at auction for 25,000 pounds ($39,670).

An anonymous bidder bought the dress suit by British designer Mansfield, at a Christie’s auction in London late Monday.

The auction also sold six other outfits — worn by Thatcher in the 1970s before she became prime minister — to a buyer in South Korea.

Those outfits included a canary yellow dress with navy trim and a matching jacket that the former leader wore to the Conservative Party Conference in 1975.

It was a blush pink outfit Thatcher wore in a BBC show in which she was interviewed on her skin care regime; and a silver and gold cocktail ensemble.

In total, the outfits fetched a little more than 73,000 pounds.

AP