Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) vice president, Tendai Biti has said the contract farming finance model has reduced black farmers into beggars.

Biti made the remarks in response to a Twitter post by Ryan Gosha @ryangosha who wanted to know what the CCC, led by Nelson Chamisa, a former Minister of ICT during the Government of National Unity (GNU) will do to “sort out the numerous Failed Policy Banks we have in Zimbabwe.” Gosha had said:

Beyond the funding model, the whole idea of using banks as a channel for effecting government policy needs to be done away with…

response, Biti said:

There are 4 issues central to agriculture finance which will be addressed First is ensuring that land is a bankable asset. We have made it clear that all farmers must be granted title which they can use as collateral. Without title, land remains dead capital with use value only

With land that can be hypothecated farmers can be funded through the bank sector. Remember before 2000,74 % of banking lending was to agriculture. Second agriculture subsidies need to be revisited . Zim must abandon the current Command Agriculture model that creates dependency & arbitrage. As the Auditor General s Reports confirm since 2016, Command Agriculture has been used to systematically loot public coffers. Supply-side subsidies must be provided to vulnerable farmers to break hold of cartels now choking agriculture through contract farming.

Truth is the contract farming finance model has reduced black farmers into paupers whilst guaranteeing super returns for the financiers, particularly in tobacco, cotton, wheat & barley. Contract farming in its current mode has failed & exploited farmers. It must be resisted

Next Zim must address the marketing models. The present position of marketing monopoly by GMB is a disaster that has severally prejudiced farmers. The marketing of grains should be liberalized through Agriculture Commodity Exchanges where there is market price discovery

In this regard the exchange rate distortions must be fixed so that farmers don’t subsidize markets. Farmers’ inputs are in US$ yet the controlled prices of their commodities is in Zim$. Dollarizing & floating the Zim$ a key component of addressing agriculture viability

Lastly Zim must revisit the accumulation model around agriculture. 100 years after the Rudd Concession, agriculture remains extractive. 95% of Zim tobacco is exported. Agro industrialization is urgent. Value addition & beneficiation are long overdue.

Biti, a former Minister of Finance and Economic Development during the GNU added that value addition can only be achieved if Zim agriculture is modernised and digitised as in other countries around the globe.

The lawyer said there are many distortions including multiple farm ownership, multiple leases, continued occupations, idle land, middlemen and cartels, lack of cheap finance, and weaponization of agriculture that need urgent redress.

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Harare City Council (HCC) has said most Western suburbs are now accessing water except for Budiriro.

Most of the suburbs had little to no water for over a week after the local government authority had shut down Morton Jaffray Waterworks citing “unprecedented chemical supply challenges.”

In a recent update, the city fathers said:

Water update

Most western suburbs are now accessing water except for Budiriro whose reservoir is going to be opened today when we are doing demand management. Some parts of the Northern suburbs also received water as of the last two days After 1600hrs, today pumping from Warren Control is going to be concentrated on the Letombo lines that supply areas up to Mabvuku as part of our water demand management strategy.

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Holy 10 is very much excited as he has gotten himself a new ride.

The star has been dominating his talents in the industry and his hard work is paying off.

Holy took to social media to show off his ride with a caption

“First of all I’d like to thank God for all the love that he’s been showing me from day 1.
Next I want to thank the people that have loved me, supported and pledged to stop at nothing to see me up that ladder.

We say congratulations, Mujaya put another Benz on the street

Please keep this verse in your hearts.

Deuteronomy 11:13
“Love the lord your God & serve him with all your heart and all your soul”

Many of his fans took to their social media to congratulate him on his new ride.

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China reported 2 009 new COVID-19 infections on August 11, of which 704 were symptomatic and 1 305 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Friday.

That is compared with 2 166 new cases a day earlier, 700 symptomatic and 1 466 asymptomatic infections, which China counts separately. There were no new deaths, same as a day earlier, keeping the nation’s fatalities at 5 226.

As of August 11, Mainland China had confirmed 233 513 cases with symptoms. China’s capital Beijing reported no new local symptomatic cases, compared with two a day earlier, the local government said.

Meanwhile, the financial hub of Shanghai reported five new domestically transmitted asymptomatic coronavirus cases and two local symptomatic cases for August 11. The southern technology hub of Shenzhen reported one new case.

The holiday city of Sanya on the southern end of Hainan island is currently fighting an outbreak. It reported 2 161 symptomatic and 2 071 asymptomatic cases between August 1 and August 11.

Source: IOL

In other news – Oskido celebrates DJ Zinhle and Murdah Bongz’ union

Oskido celebrates DJ Zinhle and Murdah Bongz’s marriage which they announced a few days ago.

On Sunday, Zinhle revealed in her reality show, that she with Murdah had secretly tied the knot at a traditional wedding. Learn more

The post China reports 2 009 new COVID cases appeared first on Mbare Times.

The High Court has ordered Vice President Constantino Chiwenga to pay $900 000 in damages to a woman who suffered a miscarriage because of negligence by health officials at Sally Mugabe Central Hospital in 2020.

Valerie Chibaya, with assistance from the Women and Law in Southern Africa (WLSA), sued Chiwenga, who doubles as the health and Child Care minister, NewsDay Zimbabwe reports.

Chibaya filed for:

i). damages for pain and suffering in the sum of $800 000,

ii). loss of amenities of life of $100 000,

iii). the indignity of $300 000 and

iv). $281 757.63 for violation of her constitutional rights.

High Court judge Justice Never Katiyo ruled in her favour after a full trial ordering Chiwenga to settle the damages within 60 days.

Her claim for contumelia damages and violation of her constitutional rights was dismissed, with the court reasoning that there was no intention by the health officials to humiliate her.

What transpired:

Chibaya claimed in her court application that she went to the hospital on June 17, 2020, after experiencing unusual stomach pains when she was 23 weeks pregnant.

Doctors and nurses did not take her temperature, blood pressure, or sugar levels nor did they do a routine check-up on her, insisting that she got a scan before they could attend to her.

Chibaya was only attended to the following day after her husband begged for help.

In defense, the defendant sought to blame Chibaya for the miscarriage saying she delayed having an Ultrasound Scan.

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Mthokozizsi Ndaba is all over the internet after he has been arrested over rape scandals.

The post Mthokozizsi Ndaba arrested over rape claims appeared first on Mbare Times.

Anne Heche, who remains hospitalized after crashing her vehicle into a Los Angeles residence last week, is “not expected to survive,” according to a statement from her family and friends shared with CNN by a representative.

“Unfortunately, due to her accident, Anne Heche suffered a severe anoxic brain injury and remains in a coma, in critical condition. She is not expected to survive,” the statement read. “It has long been her choice to donate her organs and she is being kept on life support to determine if any are viable. Anoxic brain injury occurs when the brain is deprived of oxygen.

Last Friday, Heche was in a car that was traveling at a high speed when it ran off the road and collided with a residence that became engulfed in flames, Los Angeles Police Public Information Officer Jeff Lee told CNN.
A woman inside the home at the time of the crash suffered minor injuries and sought medical attention, according to Lee.

Heche has remained in critical condition. Earlier this week, a spokesperson for Heche told CNN the actress suffered “significant pulmonary injury requiring mechanical ventilation” and “burns that require surgical intervention. We want to thank everyone for their kind wishes and prayers for Anne’s recovery and thank the dedicated staff and wonderful nurses that cared for Anne at the Grossman Burn Center at West Hills hospital,” the statement from her family and friends continued.

More than her extraordinary talent, she saw spreading kindness and joy as her life’s work — especially moving the needle for acceptance of who you love,” the statement read. “She will be remembered for her courageous honesty and dearly missed for her light. Heche rose to fame on the soap opera “Another World,” where she played the dual role of twins Vicky Hudson and Marley Love from 1987 to 1991. She earned a Daytime Emmy Award for her performance on the show. Heche followed that success with numerous films, including “Donnie Brasco,” “Wag the Dog” and “Six Days Seven Nights” opposite Harrison Ford.

In more recent years, Heche has appeared in television shows like “The Brave,” “Quantico,” and “Chicago P.D.”
Following the crash, there was an outpouring of support for the actress from the Hollywood community. Her ex and former “Men in Trees” co-star James Tupper, with whom she shares one of her two sons, wrote on Instagram: “Thoughts and prayers for this lovely woman, actress and mother tonight Anne Heche. We love you

Source: People

In other news – Mthokozizsi Ndaba arrested over r@pe claims

Mthokozizsi Ndaba is all over the internet after he has been arrested over rape scandals.

The star was released on R1.500 bail this week, after an alleged rape incident. Learn more

The post Anne Heche is not expected to survive, family says in statement appeared first on Mbare Times.

New data from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/ Aids (UNAids) on the global HIV response has revealed that Malawi is on track to eradicate the HIV/AIDS pandemic by 2030.

Here’s what Malawi is doing right to fight HIV
The country expanded HIV treatment with a focus on reaching both women and their partners through antenatal care.

– Among all adults living with HIV in the country, irrespective of knowledge of HIV positive status, 87.3 percent had viral load suppression (VLS).

– 88.3 percent of adults living with HIV were aware of their HIV-positive status. However, the first 95 target – ensuring that 95 percent of all individuals living with HIV are aware of their status – remains below that threshold.
Among adults living with HIV who were aware of their status, 97.9 percent were on antiretroviral treatment (ART), and among adults on ART, 96.9 percent had suppressed viral loads, according to a 2022 Population Based HIV Assessment PHIA Project

– Malawi has met the second and third UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets before the 2025 target date.

– Improvements in timely diagnosis, linkage to care, and retention on ART, particularly among younger adults, are critical factors to ending the AIDS epidemic, said Felix Kayigamba, ICAP country director in Malawi.

Differentiated HIV prevention and treatment approaches that operate adjacent to existing health systems can facilitate access for key populations to access HIV prevention, diagnostic and treatment interventions, says the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Source: IOL

In other news – Oskido celebrates DJ Zinhle and Murdah Bongz’ union

Oskido celebrates DJ Zinhle and Murdah Bongz’s marriage which they announced a few days ago.

On Sunday, Zinhle revealed in her reality show, that she with Murdah had secretly tied the knot at a traditional wedding. Learn more

The post HIV infections declined in Malawi by 61% appeared first on Mbare Times.

Elections observers deployed to monitor Kenya’s electoral process have called for calm and patience as the country awaits the results of the just concluded general election.

Representatives of the joint African Union, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC), Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the International Republican Institute, and the National Democratic Institute observer missions have urged supporters to refrain from any acts of violence during and after the tabulation of results.

They commended the electoral commission for carrying out the electoral process transparently this far. The missions, however, expressed concern about the low voter turnout and low levels of youth participation despite being the majority in the country.

Millions of Kenyans went to the polls on Tuesday this week to elect a president as well as representatives to parliament, senate, and the county assemblies.

Source: eNCA

In other news – Actress Sannah Mchunu begs for prayers

South African actress Sannah Mchunu and her family are going through a tough time.

The Gomora actress took to Facebook on Wednesday, 10 August, asking for prayers as her sister was not well after suffering a stroke. Learn more

The post Election observers in Kenya call for calm and patience as country awaits results appeared first on Mbare Times.

It looks as though Google has begun integrating Cloud Gaming services into its search results. The Nerf Report’s Bryant Chappel noted in a series of Tweets that the new feature appears to be rolling out across the search giant’s results pages. It gives users the ability to directly launch a cloud game from the search results using Google Stadia, as well as other cloud services.

The addition of a “Play” button to select search results allows you to launch the game you searched for directly from Stadia – provided it exists on the platform. And that’s a neat step forward when it comes to integrating cloud gaming across the Google platform.

It certainly feels like a natural progression for cloud gaming – reducing the time taken to go from looking up a game to actually playing it.

Considering we’re talking about Google here, integrating cloud gaming features across its other services is a neat move, but it’s not just Google products being integrated here. It turns out, that this also works for Xbox Cloud Gaming, and some other services, too.

It looks like the Google search engine has a new update for cloud gaming platforms!!!

When searching for a game players can now launch a game directly from the search results utilizing @GoogleStadia. pic.twitter.com/xblOsBpF6O

— Bryant Chappel (@BryantChappel) August 11, 2022

Source: IOL

In other news – Mthokozizsi Ndaba arrested over rape claims

Mthokozizsi Ndaba is all over the internet after he has been arrested over rape scandals.

The star was released on R1.500 bail this week, after an alleged rape incident. Learn more

The post Google is Testing Launching Cloud Games Directly From Search Results appeared first on Mbare Times.

The glitz, the glamor, the excesses of the postwar economic miracle, the genetically enhanced super soldier from 2551?

Modder Kashiiera over on Nexus Mods(opens in new tab) has traded one gaming sex symbol for another, replacing Yakuza 0’s sensitive hunk Kiryu with Halo’s sensitive hunk, Master Chief Petty Officer John 117. Thanks to a simple model swap, you can now rough up thugs, teach important life lessons, and unravel the mystery of the Empty Lot as a 7-foot-tall, one-ton killing machine from the 26th century.

Kashiiera specializes in modding the Master Chief Collection(opens in new tab), mixing and matching assets and maps across the various games in the pack. Their other projects let you play through the entirety of later Halo games with the weapons and HUD from Combat Evolved(opens in new tab), for example, or transplant weapons and vehicles(opens in new tab) from Halo Reach into Halo 3.

The modder used that expertise to hack Mister Chief’s Halo 3 character model into Yakuza 0 in playable form. They also seem to have tried out porting the Arbiter in similar fashion, but his gnarly alien proportions make for a less clean transition, and so far Kashiiera just has a short demonstration of the idea up on Twitter

Source: pcgamer

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Bail hearing for Job Sikhala and Godfrey Sithole on their first charge of inciting the June 14 Nyatsime violence has been rolled to Tuesday 16 August 2022 for oral bail submissions.

This was after the defence lawyers failed to access all the documents in the file.

Lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa, who is seconded by the Zimbabwe NGO Forum and the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights was at the Harare Magistrates’ court tracking Sikhala’s file.

Sikhala and Sithole are citing changed circumstances, but the State is opposing saying the accused have not placed any changed circumstances to compel the court to revoke its earlier decision to deny them bail.

The two legislators, together with a dozen other Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party activists, were arrested on the 14th of June and charged with inciting the violence which erupted during the funeral wake of slain CCC activist, Moreblessing Ali.

They have all been denied bail twice by both the Magistrates and High Court and they are in Chikurubi Maximum security prison.

On top of charges of inciting violence, Sikhala was hit with fresh charges of obstructing the course of justice based on the same circumstances.

The post Job Sikhala and Godfrey Sithole’s bail hearing postponed to 16 August appeared first on Mbare Times.

FIFA 23 will mark the end(opens in new tab) of Electronic Arts’ long-running partnership with the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, the global sport governing body that gives the videogame series its name. But it won’t mark the end of FIFA loot boxes, as EA has confirmed that randomized loot boxes will be back for the swansong.

It seemed possible that EA might finally pull the plug on the controversial FUT Packs, which can be earned through gameplay or purchased with real money and contain content like players and club items. EA introduced a twist on the formula called Preview Packs(opens in new tab) in FIFA 21, which enabled players to see the contents of packs before purchasing them, thereby eliminating the element of randomization. There’s also been growing pushback against loot boxes over the past few years that has led to heightened scrutiny of their more predatory practices and even outright bans in some countries.

The timing is right, too: EA is moving into a post-FIFA world, and I have to think that ditching loot boxes would be a good way to drum up both interest and goodwill in EA Sports FC.

On the other hand, FIFA Ultimate Team is still extremely popular, and FUT Packs make a lot of money. EA didn’t release specific figures in its most recent quarterly report, but it did describe the series as “exceptionally strong on a global basis,” and said that player engagement was up nearly 40% year-over-year. That builds upon a compound annual growth rate of almost 50% over the past ten fiscal years, which powered nearly $1.5 billion in sales(opens in new tab) in the 2020 fiscal year alone. The UK also recently recommended that loot boxes should not be regulated(opens in new tab) by the government, effectively clearing the way for continued FUT Pack sales as-is in one of the biggest markets for them.

The FIFA 23 website(opens in new tab) makes a passing reference to loot boxes in the new FIFA Ultimate Team, saying players can redeem a new currency called Stars “for players, packs, and more.” EA confirmed that the packs will be back, and defended its FIFA loot box practices overall, in a statement sent to Eurogamer.

Source: pcgamer

In other news – Mod makes Halo’s Master Chief into a Yakuza enforcer

The glitz, the glamor, the excesses of the postwar economic miracle, the genetically enhanced super soldier from 2551?

Modder Kashiiera over on Nexus Mods(opens in new tab) has traded one gaming sex symbol for another, replacing Yakuza 0’s sensitive hunk Kiryu with Halo’s sensitive hunk. Learn more 

The post FIFA 23 will bring back loot boxes, EA confirms as it defends the practice appeared first on Mbare Times.

Id Software has been quietly working on making its Steam library of old games less of a confusing sprawl. Starting yesterday, the company has begun consolidating the various versions, expansions, and mission packs of the older Doom and Quake games into single packages “so that newcomers have an easier time”.

Put simply, that means that where before you had separate entries in your Steam library for things like Doom 2, Doom 2’s Master Levels, and Final Doom, you’ll now just have a single entry for Doom 2 which installs at that stuff at once.

These new combined packages will let choose which game version you want when you boot them up, rather than finding the precise thing you want in your voluminous Steam library. It’ll make the installations a little bigger, but most of these games are from the ’90s, so we’re only talking about a size difference of a few megabytes.

Alongside the changes to Doom and Quake’s Steam packages, Id says it’ll be delisting the demos for Quake 2 and 3, too. To be honest, I can’t imagine they’re burning up the Steam popularity charts at the moment anyway. Id is also adding Doom 3 and 64 to its classic Doom bundle, so if you happen to be one of the vanishingly few people that still don’t own these games, you can grab them there.
Here’s a full list of how each of the classic games is changing:

The first Doom is changing names from Ultimate DOOM to DOOM (1993) and, well, that’s it.
Doom 2 is being integrated with the packages for Doom 2 (Enhanced), the Master Levels for Doom 2, and Final Doom.
Doom 3 is merging into a package that contains both original Doom 3 and Doom 3: BFG Edition. If you own one but not the other already, you’ll get the new package for free. The new package will also contain the Resurrection of Evil expansion.
Quake 2 is getting bundled up with its mission packs, The Reckoning and Ground Zero.
Finally, Quake 3 Arena and Quake 3 Team Arena will be merged into a single package.
The news comes ahead of QuakeCon, which starts next week on August 18. Although I’ll always welcome a slightly neater Steam library, I can’t help but hope this reconfiguration is partly to clear the way for something due an announcement next week. Can’t you hear the people (me) cry out for a Quake 4 remaster, id?

Source: pcgamer

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The Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) has announced new prices for liquified petroleum gas (LPG) for the month of August. In a statement seen by the publication, ZERA said:

LIQUIFIED PETROLEUM GAS (LPG) -AUGUST 2022

Stakeholders are advised that the LPG prices for August 2022 calculated according to the Petroleum (Liquid Petroleum Gas Pricing) Regulations 90 of 2021 are as follows:

Operators are advised to display the prices at their retail outlets at a prominent place in clearly legible letters. Please note that it is permissible to sell LPG at prices below the prescribed prices depending on one’s trading advantages.

Stakeholders are advised that the petroleum price released by ZERA can be verified on the official ZERA website, Facebook, or Twitter handle.

The post ZERA announces new LP Gas prices for August 2022 appeared first on Mbare Times.

All of us classic RPG enjoyers can finally stop banking action points, because our next turn is finally starting. Retro-future dystopian adventure Sunday Gold has just dropped a demo and a release date. The former I’ll be queuing up for download tonight. The latter is just a month away on September 13.

I like my RPGs to punish me. Because effectively kicking me in the shins proves how well they know me. Disco Elysium laughed in my face for being a politically non-committal people-pleaser trying to always pick the right dialogue options while not letting me get away with hoarding cash like in any other RPG.

Sunday Gold (similar in style to Disco, perhaps, but not in attitude) sounds like its turn-based combat and “escape room style puzzles” will be punishing a hell of a lot of us by forcing us to achieve both with a single pool of action points. You don’t get infinite time and tries to cram every item you own into every single problem when enemies are bearing down on your heist with every turn. Same goes for being a total loot goblin nicking even the most pointless junk off every dead goon.

Ted took a spin with Sunday Gold’s early hours last month and came away optimistic. “A particularly fun moment is having to search a dead body for a security keycard—there are more places to search than useful items on the body, and each pocket you pat down deals bonus stress damage to the character doing it, in addition to wasting valuable AP,” he said.

I’ll take his word for it, as one of our major enjoyers of the classic RPG, but I definitely don’t mind forming my own opinions with its demo. Bkom Studios refer to the free prologue as the “opening chapters” of Sunday Gold.

“In this prologue, you’ll step into the shoes of down-on-his-luck hardman Frank Barber, form up your band of misfits and set out on your next job: exposing the dark secrets of Hogan Industries,” the developers say. You can snag that prologue download over on Steam.

Source: pcgamer

In other news – Doom and Quake are being cleaned up for newcomers in time for QuakeCon

Id Software has been quietly working on making its Steam library of old games less of a confusing sprawl.

Starting yesterday, the company has begun consolidating the various versions, expansions, and mission packs of the older Doom and Quake games into single packages “so that newcomers have an easier time. Learn more

The post Stylish crime RPG Sunday Gold drops a free prologue and release date appeared first on Mbare Times.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has approved the appointment of Mr Pfungwa Kunaka as the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development. In a statement seen by the publication, the president’s office said Kunaka replaces Mr. Onesimo Mazayi Moyo who retired at the end of last month. Reads the statement:

APPOINTMENT OF PERMANENT SECRETARY IN THE MINISTRY OF MINES AND MINING DEVELOPMENT

1. His Excellency the President has, in terms of Section 205(1) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe No. 20 of [2013], as amended, approved the appointment of Mr. Pfungwa Kunaka as the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development.

2. Mr Kunaka takes over as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, following the retirement of Mr. Onesimo Mazayi Moyo with effect from 31st July 2022.

3. Mr. Pfungwa Kunaka holds a BSc Degree in Economics. Mr. Kunaka rose within Government services from being an Economist in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to the post of Chief Economist Revenue Expenditure; Director, National Budgeting; Chief Director, Resource Mobilisation; Chief Director, Fiscal Policy and Advisory Services and Chief Director, Expenditure Management which Chief Director posts he held since 2007. This experience exposed Mr. Kunaka to the planning, evaluation, and financing of a wide range of investment projects and programmes by all government ministries, including in the mining sector. In addition, Mr. Kunaka engaged with several development partners at bilateral and multilateral levels, and with international financial institutions to hammer out projects, programmes, and investment deals on behalf of the country. Under the Second Republic, Mr. Kunaka was seconded to the One Stop Shop Investment under the Office of President and Cabinet to establish the formative infrastructure to operationalize the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Authority (ZIDA). He sits on the Boards of various investment and financial institutions in Zimbabwe.

Mr. Kunaka thus brings a vast knowledge of, and experience in public administration and management across all sectors of government, and a deep understanding of the sectors of the economy in relation to their contribution to inclusive and sustainable national development. He is a strategic thinker with a sharp eye for financial analysis and management, evaluation of investments, and negotiation of agreements to best advantage of the country. The deployment of Mr. Kunaka to the mining sector will therefore bring the requisite stability and sustain inclusive growth in the industry in its quest to meet its strategic targets under the ongoing national development programmes in consonance with the realization of Vision 2030.

4. The appointment of Mr. Pfungwa Kunaka is with effect from Monday 22nd August, 2022.

-Pindula News

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As was likely expected for a free-to-play online game launch, Tower of Fantasy’s servers are struggling to handle day one interest with 10+ hour long server queues. We’ve already gone hands on with it and dubbed it a “messy Genshin Impact,” though it does bring customizable characters and a slightly more shared world than Genshin. Even so, no surprise that all the current Genshin lovers are jumping in to see if it’s a competitor worth fussing over before they head back to Teyvat.

Tower of Fantasy launched last night in North American time, making today the first full day that the whole world has the opportunity to jump in. It hasn’t launched on Steam just yet, available on mobile or by download from its site, so we don’t have the convenient shorthand for just how many players that might be. Developers Hotta Studio claimed four million pre-registrations as of Sunday, though of course that’s no prediction of actual day one players. The developers have noticed the complaints about server queue times and gone with the stock-standard gacha game compensation plan: free in-game cash.

“At present, the problems related to queuing, disconnection, and inability to register and login have all been fixed,” they said on Thursday. “Other problems will be fixed within the next 48 hours.
I have indeed been able to register my account today through the launcher and start the download, but can’t confirm those server wait times firsthand just yet. Guides writer Sean Martin had a bit of luck taking his wait time down from several hours to around 20 minutes by swapping to a less populous server, so if you aren’t dead-set on one, do have an eye for the shorter line.

Hotta Studio is handing over 300 Dark Crystals as a make-good on login and disconnection issues and another 300 Dark Crystals for account registration and login failures. That’s one of the cash shop currencies, of course—the one that can be earned either by playing or by paying real money for it by proxy through the premium currency Tanium.

You can actually snag both of those gifts, even if you haven’t played yet, by registering an account before midnight UTC+0 today, August 11. That works out to 8 pm EST.

Lastly, as appreciation for all the early interest in the game, Hotta is giving 10 Gold Nucleus to all players registered before next Wednesday, August 17. That one’s the medium rarity currency (between Black and Red Nucleus) used for purchasing gacha pulls.

No telling just yet if the freebies will carry new players past the first busy days of a new free online game, especially one that may or may not rise above Genshin clone status, but ah heck, I guess I’m downloading it to find out too, aren’t

Source: pcgamer

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Zimbabwe Vice President Constantino Chiwenga who doubles as the Minister of Health and Child Care has denied reports saying he was yesterday admitted to the Trauma Centre and Hospital for a “long-planned procedure.”

A local publication on Friday reported that Chiwenga arrived at the Trauma Centre and Hospital in Borrowdale just before 3 PM in a six-vehicle convoy where he was “due to have surgery to correct some discomfort in his stomach. It must be routine, otherwise, he would have gone to China.”

In a video clip circulating, Chiwenga suggested that the reports were untrue adding that he had every right to visit health institutions as a minister of Health.

Watch the video below for more:

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Following Sbahle Mpisane‘s Instagram Live, you would think she would have gained sympathy from people. In the live session, Sbahle addressed some of the nasty hurtful things trolls have been saying about her but that was sparked by a “sincere” DM she received from a lady advising her to cut off her leg.

She shed a few tears in the live which was also influenced by the nasty comments she received during the session.

All of this proved to be too much for Sbahle who could not fight back the tears anymore. She has been called many things and been given many names like some people, including Sithelo’s sister Ze Shozi saying she is disabled.

But Sbahle said what happened to her can happen to other people, but some might not even survive.

Sithelo did not budge in the sympathy train so she trolled her using her hairstyle. “Alikho ikhanda elisebenzayo elisenziwa iMohawk,” which translates to “No working head still wears a mohawk.”

Fans knew who she was referring to because Sbahle’s current hairstyle is a mohawk.

alikho ikhanda elisebenzayo elisenziwa iMohawk

— Sithelo Shozi (@sithelo_shozi) August 11, 2022

In the IG live, Sbahle was seen crying after addressing some of the hurtful things said about her.

“I came across a DM from a girl suggesting that I should amputate my foot so I can wear heels and run and be flexible like her. So when I read it, I was like ‘ugh whatever’ and after reading her message I decided to just get off Instagram and just like not focus and just continue doing my tattoo.

“But I kept thinking about it and it kept passing. And then I start crying, I cried out loud in the studio it was big and there were people there as well. They were all wondering if my tattoo was sore. I could not explain to them why I was crying.

“I was so heartbroken at how a person could just tell me I should just cut off my foot. Like why would I want to cut off my foot?”

“The doctor said I was like a toasted slice of bread that was crumbled up and he had to put all of that together,” said Sbahle.

“I’ve said so many times ukuthi I broke 80% of my bones. People have so much to say to me and I always look at them and say what I went through, 95% of people would not survive that. My face is perfectly fine, my body is fine, I can still walk, I can touch the ground with both my feet. So to have this girl tell me to o and cut off my foot, the foot we spent so much money putting together, a foot my doctors had to try put together. For her to tell me to cut it off so I can wear heels, what are heels guys?”

She then spoke about how she had attempted to commit suicide in the past so such comments make her feel some type of way. “I have [attempted] to commit suicide twice because of you people’s f***n words.”

Source: News365.co.za

In other news – Dineo Ranaka finds love again, few months after quitting mjolo

“Bazoku hurtaa’, they said. Was it out of anger, when she said she was done with men? Kaya FM presenter Dineo Ranaka shocked her fans recently after announcing that she is in a relationship. Yes, Dineo is seeing someone, after announcing recently that she is not interested in a relationship/marriage.

Dineo made the announcement earlier this week in one of their celebrity interviews. “So listen, I am in a relationship now. I just need to tell everyone. Learn More

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