The Chronicle

BULAWAYO, Tuesday, August 4, 1970 — An African was jailed for 30 months and fined $150 today for what a magistrate described as a “despicable type of offence”.

The man, Thomas Joelson Kandengwa Kanodereka, was found guilty of 28 counts under the Welfare Organisations Act.

He was said to have collected money, in amounts ranging from 50c to $2,10, from people in Umtali on behalf of the Good Hope Citizens’ Association for mentally handicapped children.

The Provincial Magistrate, Mr H C Duffield, found that the institution did not exist and the inference was that Kanodereka had collected the money for his own benefit.

The offences had not been committed on the spur of the moment – a number of stenciled forms were produced as evidence.

“These offences are very easily committed and are very hard to detect.

“They can result in immeasurable harm being done to bona fide welfare organisations through the reluctance of people to subscribe to them.”

On each of 10 first offence counts he was fined $10 (or five days’ hard labour) and on two second offence counts $25 (or 10 days).

It was pointed out that Kanodereka had made the collections two months after being convicted of a similar offence in Salisbury.

On each of the remaining 10 counts he was sentenced to three months. These offences were committed in Umtali 18 days after Kanodereka had been fined and given a suspended jail sentence in Bulawayo.

he said.

Researchers at the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project say Mozambique will be a big test for Southern Africa.

“It may not be long until the power of the ISIS threat toward other countries in the region is tested,” ACLED said.

The roots of the insurgency were planted more than a decade ago, and researchers such as Eric Morier-Genoud in the Journal of Eastern African Studies (July 6, 2020) say it can be traced to the activities of extreme Islamists in Cabo Delgado in 2007.

Analysts indicate Mozambique may have been slow to come alive to the magnitude of the problem, and now Sadc is responding just as slowly as countries also have to contend with their own internal issues as well as those occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic.

While Sadc ponders what to do about Mozambique, regional leaders also have their work cut-out in trying to resolve an on and off dispute between the DRC and Zambia over control of a 13km stretch of land.

Since the 1960s, the DRC has not known any prolonged period of peace and stability as internal and external interest groups tussle for control of its vast mineral wealth.

Among the stability issues it has faced has been control of a small territory on the border with Zambia, which recently saw the two countries make offensive troop movements, resulting in the displacement of hundreds of people.

Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation Chair President Mnangagwa has since tasked the bloc’s Secretariat to assemble a team of experts to deal with the issue.

The Technical Experts Border Issue team was dispatched on July 23 and is led by Ambassador Raphael Faranisi from Zimbabwe, with other members drawn from Botswana, the DRC and Zambia.

The team will be deployed to Chibanga and Kibanga, Kalubamba, Musosa, Luchinda and Pweto — areas that are in both the DRC and Zambia.

According to a report released by Zimbabwe’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, “The mission is expected to end on July 29, 2020, and a detailed report will be submitted to President Mnangagwa …”

The dispute dates back to the colonial era when state boundaries were arbitrarily drawn at the whim of European powers.

There was an attempt to settle the issue in 1989 when a treaty was signed between then Zambia President Kenneth Kaunda and DRC’s Mobutu Sese Seko, and beacons were placed along the border as markers. — The Southern Times.