Sangoma loses cash to armed robbers
A 22-YEAR-OLD self-styled sangoma was forced to withdraw US$1 600 by robbers on Friday who visited his shrine pretending to be clients.
The robbers drove Shelton Maliamba of Pfugari Complex, Whitehouse, to collect a debt of US$500 he was owed from a pig sale.
They claimed to be police officers and asked Maliamba if he was registered with ZINATHA. They ordered him to tell his wife to dismiss all patients at the shrine.
After everyone had left, they demanded that he surrenders his bank card and bundled him into their car and drove to his bank where they forced him to withdraw money.
Acting Harare provincial police spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Faith Mapisa, confirmed the case saying investigations were in progress.
“Police are investigating an armed robbery case involving a self-styled sangoma from Whitehouse.
“On January 5 at around 9am, the complainant was at his shrine when one of the three accused persons budged into his shrine.
“The accused person demanded to be healed first stating that he was going on an urgent matter somewhere.
“The accused also demanded for privacy and people who were in the shrine were told to go outside and they complied.
“When the accused person was left alone with the complainant, he pointed an unidentified pistol at him and told him that he was under arrest for operating without a ZINATHA licence.
“He subsequently produced an identity card stating that he was a policeman and the other two accused persons also entered the shrine and produced identity cards indicating that the complainant was under arrest.
“The complainant was then ordered to get into the vehicle at gunpoint.
“The accused persons took complainant’s cellphone and requested bank account balance and took his cellphone,” said Ass-Insp Mapisa.
They drove to Southerton with him where they withdrew US$1 600.
They also drove to Matombo Area to collect US$500 before dumping him at Whitehouse.
AWARD-WINNING rapper Cassper Nyovest is living his life a little bit differently than before, moving away from the spotlight and turning to God.
Nyovest in 2023 had an encounter with God that saw him come to the understanding of what it means to be a Christian. He has since opened up with his followers about the journey he is on.
As he walks his new journey with Christ, the ‘Doc Shebeleza’ hitmaker has even been baptised.
He shared on his Instagram stories a short clip of himself being baptised inside a pool. The outspoken rapper also shared his prayer for 2024 with his followers on social media as he reflected on the new season.
“It’s a very exciting time, you hear everyone talking about how they going to be doing so much better, which is all great and well, but I feel we lack something. “I don’t hear too many people talking about the excitement to do better at obeying God. I’m excited. I don’t hear people saying, I’m excited at seeking God’s face, which is the most important thing because we are spiritual beings.
“Unfortunately, it seems we only see blessings as money, power and fame. There is another life which I just realised.” The rapper went on to quote Proverbs 8:32 “blessed are those who keep my ways” which is something he is praying for, to be able to obey God’s word and seek his face and know the Lord.
Just before the new year, Nyovest explained his absence which has seen him posting less on social media and not performing at too many gigs this festive.
“Just to give you a summary, I went through a reset. I realised what life is. And my purpose in this life.
“And I am not ashamed to say that my soul was washed by the blood of Jesus. I am not ashamed of the gospel,” he explained. Nyovest’s 2024 prayer was filled with comments from his followers encouraging him on his journey and others even suggested he does a gospel song this year. — IOL.
PILES of uncollected garbage are a cause for concern in Harare City Centre as more vendors sell vegetables and shops operate without bins, despite this being a requirement for shop owners.
Residents are frustrated with the city council’s failure to deliver adequate services and angered that garbage is not being collected even during the cholera outbreak.
Council spokesperson, Stanley Gama, said that the issue is beyond their control as garbage is removed every day, but within hours it accumulates.
“Garbage is removed every day during evenings, but by 9am the following day, it will have accumulated. We call it night owl where we are pulling huge resources to clear Harare rubbish during the night,” said Gama.
He said council is imposing fines on shop owners and individuals who dump rubbish at skip points, and business premises that fail to comply with regulations on bin provision will be fined and risk closure.
“To make sure we stop this behaviour, you will notice that our municipal police have departments which have started enforcing the law that any shop owner or their employees found dumping rubbish at skip points will attract a fine of US$385 for the business and US$38 for individuals,” he said.
A resident, Patience Ngirazi, expressed concern over the council’s continued failure to deliver adequate services.
“I am frustrated by the trash accumulating in the streets. It is no longer the Sunshine City we used to know and yet we are paying rates,” she said.
Ngirazi said it was a pity that garbage was not collected even in the crisis of a cholera outbreak which has been claiming lives.
“Our council should be at least sensitive. We are battling a cholera crisis and they should have channelled more resources to refuse collection and sewer bursts, but as it stands, we are simply on our own.”
AFTER Elon Musk arrived nearly an hour late to an all-hands meeting at SpaceX, rambling and slurring his words for about 15 minutes before the meeting was taken over by the spacecraft manufacturer’s president, executives of the company privately worried if Musk was on drugs, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal.
The Journal reported Musk was unusually incoherent when he took the stage in front of his SpaceX employees to discuss the development of the company’s Big Falcon Rocket prototype, with one executive describing the event to the outlet as “nonsensical,” “unhinged” and “cringeworthy.”
SpaceX
Musk’s drug use, which includes LSD, cocaine, ecstasy, and ketamine, according to people familiar with the matter, is at the centre of an extensive new report from The Journal that details how executives at several of the billionaire’s companies have struggled to manage his substance use and erratic behaviour.
At SpaceX, where illicit drug use could jeopardize the billions of dollars of government contracts enjoyed by the defence contractor due to federal regulations, The Journal’s reports of Musk’s drug use put at risk nearly $1 trillion in assets held by investors, about 13,000 jobs, and the future of the US space program.
Representatives for Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. Alex Spiro, Musk’s attorney, told The Journal its description of the fraught all-hands meeting was “false as has been confirmed by countless people who were present.”
Reports have previously pointed to Musk’s drug use, including ketamine to treat depression, and have sparked concerns with board members. However, one particularly public incident landed the billionaire in hot water after he smoked marijuana on an episode of a Joe Rogan podcast.
After the episode aired, NASA insisted that SpaceX promise in writing that the company would follow federal guidelines on drug use in the workplace and spend $5 million in taxpayer money to train SpaceX employees, according to The Journal.
SpaceX also began cracking down on illegal substances at the company by bringing in drug-sniffing dogs, sources told The Journal.
His alleged drug use has also caused frustration among executives in his other companies, including former Tesla director Linda Johnson Rice.
According to the report, the director became so concerned about the impacts of his drug use that Rice did not seek a re-election bid at the company.
Rice did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent during the weekend.
Some of Tesla’s board members have also speculated whether Musk may have been on drugs when he tweeted in 2018 that he wanted to take the company private, which shocked shareholders and sparked an SEC investiga- tion.
The incident led to $40 million in penalties and Musk’s relinquishing his chairman role at Tesla for a time. — Business Insider.