The rate of global warming has accelerated over the last few decades and, as a result, sea levels are rising, glaciers are melting and precipitation patterns are changing.

Cesar Chelala Correspondent
A JUST released report on climate change (Climate Science Special Report) issued by 13 US federal agencies states that human activities are responsible for the global temperature rise that has led to the warmest period in the history of civilisation. The report came as the UN has convened its conference on climate change in Bonn, Germany, from November 6- 17. This will be a unique opportunity to discuss climate change effects on people’s health.

The recent natural catastrophic events in the United States and Puerto Rico – which may be related to or worsened by climate change – call attention to the effects this phenomenon has on human health. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the warming and precipitation trends associated with climate change claim over 150 000 lives annually. It is possible that the costs of this phenomenon will increase with time – both in lives as well as in economics – underscoring the need for more effective approaches to this problem.

The rate of global warming has accelerated over the last few decades and, as a result, sea levels are rising, glaciers are melting and precipitation patterns are changing. As we have recently seen in the Caribbean and North America, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and more intense, and so have been the consequences on the lives of every population in nature.

People’s health is the result of factors such as genetic make-up, nutrition, level of activity, social milieu, economic status, and education among other factors. In addition to those, there are other determinants of health such as clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food, secure shelter and access to health care, all of which are affected by climate change.

Although climate change may bring some localised benefits, such as fewer deaths in winter and increased food production in some regions as a result of temperature increase, its effects on health are mostly negative. They include infectious and allergic diseases as well as mental health problems caused by moving people out of their homes and, in most cases, placing them into much more precarious living conditions.

At a global level, the number of weather-related natural disasters has more than tripled since the 1960s, resulting in an enormous amount of deaths (some estimated indicate over 100 000 deaths per year), which occur mostly in developing countries. Rising sea levels and extreme weather conditions not only destroy homes but also affect medical facilities and other health and social services. Floods contaminate freshwater supplies, increase the risk of water-borne diseases, and create breeding ground for mosquitoes, with their considerable disease-carrying capacity.

Malaria, which is transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes, and kills almost one million people every year – mainly African children under five years old – is strongly influenced by climate. And so is the Aedes mosquito vector of dengue, a most debilitating disease. An estimated 390 million dengue infections occur worldwide each year, with about 96 million resulting in illness. It is estimated that the number of people affected by dengue will increase substantially in the next few decades.

Rising temperatures and altered precipitation patterns will likely decrease the production of staple foods, particularly in the poorest African countries. This will result in increases in malnutrition and under-nutrition – particularly among children – which currently cause 3,5 million deaths every year. A United Nations (UN) panel on climate change reported that, over all, global warming could reduce agricultural production by as much as two percent each decade for the rest of the century, while population will grow to 9,6 billion in 2050, from 7,2 billion today.

Higher temperatures increase ground-level ozone concentrations and direct lung injuries and more serious respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Climate change will also lengthen the transmission seasons of important vector-borne diseases and modify their geographic range, according to WHO. Disease migration responds to complex dynamics, of which temperature is one more factor.

Although all kinds of populations are affected by climate change some groups such as children, older people and the poor are more vulnerable. Countries with weak health infrastructure and beset by economic problems will be the least able to respond with adequate assistance, a situation starkly seen now in Puerto Rico.

Even if many actions can be carried out at the individual level, it is necessary to strengthen the awareness of governments about the seriousness of the situation and the urgency to create adequate mechanisms to respond to this challenge. Otherwise, we will ignore the damage at our own peril. – Counterpunch

It makes sense to tailor-make a medical aid society for the whole agricultural ecosystem making use of rural clinics

Charles Dhewa
Zimbabwe’s summer season is often associated with pests and diseases, not just for crops and livestock but for people as well. Climate change has seen malaria, pneumonia and other ailments increasing in many farming areas like Binga, Gokwe, Guruve, Chipinge and Muzarabani.

While there has been a recent interest by insurance companies to cover crops and livestock against unpredictable weather, those companies have shied away from setting up a medical aid scheme for farmers and other value chain actors. With many smallholder farmers embracing farming as a business, there are untapped business opportunities in the form of a medical aid facility of farmers with predictable income patterns.

A commercial mindset has fully germinated among many farmers who are now getting into horticulture and livestock as all-year round businesses. Like in any other business, it is not enough to provide insurance for the business and commodities without considering the owner’s medical needs. As agribusiness owners, farmers are the custodians and conveyors of knowledge, skills, passion and relationships with the market. Why should crops and livestock be insured without considering the owner who has the expertise and intellectual property that fuel agribusiness growth?

The importance of prioritising the owner ahead of commodities

Ignoring such issues is the main reason why in the event of illness or death of the owner, all risks and pressures associated with agribusiness are exerted on the enterprise. Without medical aid, most farmers who fall sick end up selling crops and livestock at a give-away prices or borrow in order to meet their health challenges yet a medical aid facility would cover such issues and leave the enterprise to continue functioning undisturbed.

A sensible starting point is putting in place a medical aid facility for all farmers and farm workers whose health should be in order if an agricultural enterprise is to remain viable. While you can insure crops or livestock, if something happens to the owner, everything collapses. The owner establishes relationships with the market and when he falls sick or dies, someone else fills his/her gap in the market and his children will have problems rebuilding the market.

Some of the historical facts

In Zimbabwe, medical aid services have traditionally been confined to the formal economy, mainly for formal wage employees. These services were more of a risk mitigation measure by employers than choice by employees. In the case of employees falling sick or dying, companies were caught napping and ended up spending unbudgeted resources to meet challenges related to sickness and death of employees.

To avoid being ambushed by these scenarios, companies set up medical aid facilities to inform their budgetary decisions and resource allocation. For this model to be accepted by employees, it was coined and presented as employment benefit, with part of employees’ salaries going towards medical aid.

While this facility worked for formally employed urban people including civil servants like teachers and nurses in rural areas, most rural people depended on a binding social fabric where death within a community was everyone’s responsibility. Contributions were quick to mobilise and it was also easy to dispose assets like cattle or crops in order to meet costs related to death or illness. The extended family system was also solid. Some of these elements are still available in some rural communities.

Evolution of a new hybrid economy

A few decades ago, we started seeing an adjustment of the country’s socio-economic fabric with the formal economy being transformed into SMEs and the informal economy. The Zimbabwean economy has largely become dominated by SMEs.

This socio-economic transformation has not brought with it medical aid schemes and benefits from the formal economy. For instance, there is no structured medical aid scheme for SMEs. Owners of small enterprises cannot afford medical aid for themselves and their households, let alone their few employees.

That agriculture remains the country’s backbone is beyond question. In the past, smallholder farmers were part of the rural economy with its strong social fabric while commercial agriculture was part of the formal economy where illnesses and deaths of employees were covered by agricultural enterprises such as large scale farming operations.

The advent of the land reform saw a shift from large scale farming to semi-large, medium and small farmers who employ one or two relatives. These small farming businesses cannot afford consistent medical aid contributions. It means, new employees in the agriculture sector have been added to the number of smallholder sector which lacks medical aid.

On the other hand, the rural social fabric has been eroded by the migration of the young generation to urban centres, in pursuit of education opportunities or starting their own SMEs.

This has left rural areas with those aged mid-40s and the old, still participating in smallholder agriculture and non-farming activities like retail trading. However, along the entire agricultural value chain, there has been an increase in the number of young people participating in agro-processing, metal fabrication of agricultural implements and trading of commodities in informal markets.

Since all these activities are not covered by medical aid, it means the major risks are scattered along value chains. The old smallholders cannot cater for their medical needs while the young in SMEs cannot afford it either. For youths who have moved to the diaspora, mechanisms have not been developed for them to provide medical aid to their parents remaining in Zimbabwe. For instance, someone working in SA cannot put his parents on a foreign medical aid scheme.

A big vacuum in terms of enforcement

Just as pension was mandatory, the traditional medical aid model was mandatory so that everyone was covered in the event of unforeseen circumstances. However, in the informal, SME and hybrid economy no one can enforce medical aid. An attractive option is raising awareness of the necessity for such schemes and design appropriate facilities such as an agricultural medical aid society.

The depletion of Government social safety nets has made this initiative more necessary. Government used to provide free health care, especially for rural smallholders. However, such facilities are no longer there due to macro-economic hardships. Where such services continue to exist, related costs are prohibitive for the majority. For instance, patients who are given prescriptions at clinics and hospitals are expected to go and buy drugs and other forms of medication. As a result, rural smallholders have become exposed.

Riding on the democratisation of medical services

On a positive note, medical services are now available at growth points and rural business centres. Previously, farmers who could afford medical aid did not see the need because surgeries and pharmacies were mainly in urban centres.

Since there were no facilities for using medical aid, everyone relied on Government clinics and hospitals. Now, with the proliferation of pharmacies and surgeries in rural business centres, farmers can see the need for medical aid. In the past, they used to wait until they fell very sick from malaria and other diseases before being referred to urban surgeries. Some would visit doctors once a year, usually, after harvesting.

While the temptation is for each organisation to have its own medical aid scheme, in a fluid hybrid economy characterised by diverse interdependencies among value chains, it makes sense to tailor-make a medical aid society for the whole agricultural ecosystem. Benefits of tailor-making an agricultural medical aid scheme include the fact that you get an in-depth understanding of a particular value chain and its risks.

This is critical for planning and investment analysis, demonstrating the impact of wellness interventions on the growth of agriculture and the entire economy. Changing mindsets is not a one-step dance and requires a holistic approach. Most SMEs do not see the importance of health risks until they occur. That is why the Agricultural Medical Aid Society (AGRIMED) and Knowledge Transfer Africa have started collaborating in designing an appropriate medical aid scheme for the agricultural sector.

Harnessing the power of evidence

In order to anchor this far-reaching initiative on solid evidence, both organisations have started conducting a feasibility study in Goromonzi district and selected agricultural markets.

Using a knowledge-intensive methodology, this effort is already generating insights that will facilitate evaluation of the model after it has been rolled out nationally. Land, water, agricultural information, knowledge and inputs are less useful if people are not in good health to fully use exploit them. In addition, serious investors interested in agriculture are keen to know the health status and wellness of farmers, employees and other value chain actors before committing resources.

Existing medical aid societies are still obsessed with providing services to formally employed people yet the cheese has moved. A comprehensive agricultural medical aid scheme is long overdue. This should embrace tobacco farmers, cotton farmers, livestock farmers, horticulture farmers, small grains farmers, irrigation schemes, transporters, agro-dealers, agro-related SMEs like those who produce agricultural implements, caterers, fisheries, agricultural colleges, universities and schools.

• Charles Dhewa is a proactive knowledge management specialist and chief executive officer of Knowledge Transfer Africa (Pvt). He can be contacted on: charles@knowledgetransafrica.com Mobile: +263 774 430 309 / 772 137 717/ 712 737 430.

Donald Trump

Patrick Martin Correspondent
One year ago today, on November 8, 2016, Republican candidate Donald Trump won the US presidential election. Despite losing the popular vote by nearly three million, Trump defeated Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the Electoral College by means of narrow victories in the industrial states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

The World Socialist Web Site published a Marxist analysis of Trump’s victory within hours of the votes being counted. We wrote:

The victory of Donald Trump in the US presidential election is a political earthquake that has exposed before the entire world the terminal crisis of American democracy. Such is the degeneration of bourgeois rule that it has elevated an obscene charlatan and billionaire demagogue to the highest office in the land. Whatever conciliatory phrases he may issue in the coming days, a president Trump will lead a government of class war, national chauvinism, militarism and police state violence . . . Under Trump, America will not be made “great again.” It will be driven into the dirt.

The tumultuous events of the ensuing 12 months have richly vindicated this assessment. Trump selected a cabinet of billionaires, generals and far-right ideologues. He set as his main goal in domestic policy the enrichment of his own class of wealthy parasites through deregulation and a massive tax cut for corporate America. He worked to create a basis for authoritarian rule, appealing to the police, the military, the Border Patrol and ICE, and torch-bearing fascists like those who rioted in Charlottesville, Virginia. He embarked on a foreign policy based on militarism and the threat of nuclear war.

The corporate-controlled media and the Democratic politicians treat Trump as though he represents a deviation from the norm of capitalist politics. But far from representing an aberration, his presidency is the product of tendencies that have been developing for decades, above all the colossal growth of social and economic inequality and 25 years of virtually uninterrupted war. Both of these hallmarks of American capitalism and its two-party system are incompatible with the maintenance of democratic forms of rule.

The United States is an oligarchy in which real political power is wielded by an unelected cabal of billionaires, intelligence operatives and generals. Trump is the representative of these reactionary forces. Both of these processes—mushrooming economic inequality and rampant militarism—are characteristic of world capitalism as a whole, and not limited to the United States, although they find perhaps their most pernicious and grotesque expression on Wall Street and in Washington.

Trump is himself part of an international process, in which demagogues of the far right have profited politically from the worst economic crisis of capitalism since the 1930s. The Alternative for Germany; Le Pen in France; the ultra-right parties in Austria, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Italy; and the leading role of UKIP in the Brexit vote in Britain are all phenomena of a similar character.

The seeming paradox that the capitalist crisis has strengthened the right and not the nominal left in the spectrum of bourgeois politics must be understood in class terms. The official “left” parties, whether they call themselves Social Democratic, Labour or the Democratic Party in the United States, long ago turned their backs on the concerns of working people and have adopted austerity policies that benefit the financial elite. An enormous political vacuum has been created that has been filled initially by ultra-right and semi-fascist elements using right-wing populist demagogy to appeal to grievances over declining living standards and the loss of decent full-time jobs.

The 2016 US election registered massive disaffection and anger with the entire political establishment, expressed in the rise of “insurgent” candidates in both the Democratic and Republican parties. Some 13 million people, mainly young people and workers, voted for Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries because Sanders called himself a socialist and claimed to be leading a “political revolution” against the “billionaire class.” His role was to channel mass social discontent back into the dead end of the Democratic Party, an assignment he completed by endorsing Hillary Clinton.

Trump was able to rally support among sections of workers devastated by decades of plant closures and mass layoffs by billing himself as an opponent of the establishment and playing on the disgust and disillusionment generated by eight years of an Obama administration that oversaw the biggest transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top in US history and escalated US military aggression overseas. Clinton ran as the continuator of Obama, the candidate of the status quo, allowing Trump to exploit mass discontent. The desire for change could not find any progressive outlet within the straitjacket of the corporate-controlled two-party system.

This mass discontent has been further fueled by Trump’s record since the election. His inauguration was followed by the largest protests in American history, erupting in virtually every major city. Hundreds of thousands have opposed Trump’s attacks on immigrants, his gagging of environmental scientists, his threats against social programs, including health care, and his open encouragement of racists and fascists. Trump’s standing in opinion polls is the lowest of any first-year president in modern history.

Every step of the way, the Democrats have sought to divert opposition to Trump into right-wing and pro-war channels, using bogus charges of Russian interference in the 2016 election to push the administration towards a more belligerent policy towards Moscow and demand Internet censorship to clamp down on any expression of political dissent.

A year after the election, the two capitalist parties that share and alternate political power in America are both in deep crisis. Republican senators denounce Trump as a threat to democracy, while fascistic Trump allies like Stephen Bannon target the party establishment and align themselves with street violence by white supremacists and neo-Nazis. The Democratic Party is riven by conflicts between the Clinton and Sanders wings. Both parties are widely despised by working people as tools of corporate interests.

The entire bourgeois political spectrum has shifted drastically to the right in every major capitalist country. But the sentiments of the mass of working people and youth have moved in the opposite direction—to the left. In May, a majority of people between the ages of 18 and 35 polled by the Union of European Broadcasters said they would participate in a “large-scale uprising” against the status quo. In October, a similar poll in the United States found that more American young people favored socialism or communism than capitalism.

The profit system is incapable of providing good-paying jobs for working people or decent public services. It is driven to attack democratic rights and carry out increasingly bloody wars on a regional and ultimately global scale. Hundreds of millions of people already sense the conflict between the global financial elite and their own class interests. As the crisis deepens, they must become politically conscious of that conflict and fight it out.

The day after Trump’s election, the World Socialist Web Site declared, “The coming period will be one of shock, outrage and increasingly bitter struggles.”

The experience of the past year confirms the correctness of this prediction. The central question in this unfolding political crisis is the building of a new revolutionary leadership of the working class, in the United States and in every country, committed to developing a mass struggle for a socialist and internationalist perspective.

President Mugabe, who is Zanu-PF President and First Secretary, addresses party supporters during a solidarity meeting at the the party’s headquarters yesterday. Seated to his left is First Lady Dr Amai Grace Mugabe

This is the address by President Mugabe at the solidarity rally organised by the Youth League at the Zanu-PF headquarters yesterday.

Pamberi neZanu-PF, nokubatana muZanu-PF, netsika muZanu-PF, nekutevera gwara muZanu-PF, nerukudzo muZanu-PF, neYouth League muZanu-PF neWomen’s League muZanu-PF. Pasi nevasingadi kubatana nevamwe. Pasi nevanoda kutyora mirawo yeZanu-PF, pamberi nemaWar Veterans edu. Ndinoda kutanga nekukutendesesai mayouth edu. Takagara tataura kuti kuvakuru isu zuva rakudoka, kuvana vedu vadiki rava kubuda.

Mukubuda kunoita zuva revadiki vanenge vachicherechedza kuti iri rava kudoka rafamba rwendo rwese urwu, ratara gwara ratichafambawo nesu gwara racho rakachena, gwara racho harirase, gwara racho rinotisvitsa pamadokero.

Isu vakuru tochengetedza gwara tichiramba vanoti ava masikati votsauka vachisiya gwara, chiramba nevanoti avo vakuona kuti rodoka havo pfocho voenda musango. Ndozvatinoramba. Pfocho, pfocho hatiide. Hazvinei kuti wanga unaPresident, hazvinei kuti wanga wakati chakwa naPresident vakati huya kumusangano vakati huya kumusangano vakakuisa muhomwe vakafamba newe rwendo.

Vakuburitsa iwe pachako une tsoka dzako, une maziso ako ,une nzeve dzako, unoziva kwawakabva uri kuona nemaziso ako kwaunosungirwa kuenda. Hauedze kuti rwendo rwakareba dai ndatsaukira kuti ndikurumidze kusvika. Ndoenda nechinzira chepapa, zvinzira zvacho zvine shumba, zvine makomba, zvine rufu. Chenjera, chenjera!

Mose mayouth itochenjerai. Rwendo rwurefu harudimburirwe. Aiwa. Harwudimburirwe. There is no shortcut to be the leader of the people just like there was no short cut to our independence.

We had to walk the long walk. Makatiratidza pano mukati aah tinoda kukutendai nerwendo rwedu rweOne Million Men March. Makarwuita vanhu vachiti hamugone mungabva makwanisa imi? One million men chaiyo ah mukanditi tinoiita tinoda kuratidza rutendo. Mukaita kwamakabva mativi ose makazadza mukafamba iyo One Million Men March. Kana isu takagara pano taive pano nemaVice Presidents angu aya va(Phelekezela) Mphoko nevamwe vataive navo marimwe zuro. Vagere pano apa ndakaona ndaitarisa zvangu maziso evazhinji ndaiona mufaro mumaziso avaMphoko.

Mumwe wangu uyo akanga akangoti tsi pasi kutarisa pasi sokunge aivhunduka kuti zvaitika chokwadi ndaiti zvichafoira kana zvatadza ndowana mavambiro erwanguwo rwendo. Aiwa vadiki vedu vakatiratidza vakati aah mamushure takuzoda kuti tiite misangano zvakare marallies eInterface naPresident. Kusangana topanana mazano tichinzwa President vachitipawo mazano ake ekutibatsira kufamba rwendo rwedu, maYouths ayo. Vakauya pakati apa vakati aaah tanga tichisangana nevamwewo mayouths edzimwe nyika. Kwakazonzi tose tonosangana kuRussia kunoita mufaro, a festival ikoko tikati isu mayouth edu haangashaikwe pakadaro.

Tingave vanhu vasati vapfuma, vasati vaita ndege dzakawanda asi paidzo dzatinadzo kana iyo imwe chete yandinayo yandinofamba nayo kungoiturawo parwendo irworwo rwemayouths rwemazuva mashomanana ndoti chifambisai muende nayo muendese kuRussia hazvindiuraye. Ini ndingazoite yekutsvaka ndine shamwari dzakawanda kana tinokwanisa kuti tiise chioko muhomwe tonotsvagawo yekundiendesa chete kuUruguay. Ndozvatakaita mayouths edu tikakwanisa kuatumira. Hongu haina kukwanisa kutora mazana maviri yakazotora zana nemakumi matatu. Vakaenda vakanosangana nevamwe. Vakaita mitambo yavo ikoko, vakaita nhauro dzavo ikoko, vakadya zvaidyiwawo ikoko. Vakazouya vachifara vachiti aaah tasangana nevamwe.

Ko izvoka ndozvatinoita munyika yakasununguka, ndozvatinoita munyika ine mayouth vane gwara, ndozvatinoita munyika ine vakuru vane gwarawo. Ahh takazoti ngatiitei interface yedu, hezvoo. Hakusi kubuda kwakaita vanhu kwaiita vanhu province neprovince vachiuya kumusangano iwoyu.

Takaita maprovince akakwana masere pasina dambudziko. Takati tasarirwa nemaviri emumadhorobha edu makuru Bhuruwayo neHarare. Totanga neBhuruwayo. Vakomana rongai. Kwange kuine opposition uku. Musangano waTsvangirai vanga vaine zvigaro zvakawanda kupfuura zvedu. Tinoda kukudubura izvozvi titore Bhuruwayo haingarambi ichinzi ndeyangu naTsvangirai nanaKhupe. Kwete ndeye vanhu Bhuruwayo and vakamirira vanhu ndiyani? Ndisu Zanu-PF.

Vakaronga zvakanaka vakati tichakufadzai kuBhuruwayo. Tichakufadzai, chokwadi takaenda nemoyo wekufadzwa. Takatanga kusvika Mai Mugabe vachiti ahh uku vari kuti boo, ukuwo vari kutiwo boo, uku vari kuti ko chava chii ichi ahh ndopinda ini, ahh handina kunzwa mazwi andaichinzwa ekupururudza mupururu. Kozopinda ivo vakanga varonga ahh tonzwa mupururu. Tonzwa mupururu manga muchiti vanhu taive kurestriction vaiti ahh musarase moyo wekuti Zanu-PF haisati yaita vanhu vakawanda.

Ko munoshamiswa here imi? Chimwe chiparty chinokwanisa kupururudzirwa, Satan akauya pamusha penyu vanhu vese vanogona kuti regai ndichione kuti chakaita sei icho. Vanongoti icho icho hecho. Ndozvaiita vamwe vachiti Satan anopururudzirwa. Imi mati hee McBeth. Waitosekwa Mcbeth papo achinzi uchava Caesar zvaasina kuzoita.

Zvino vakuru vacho ahh ndakazoona kuti painzi ehe chimbo chedu chatanga tichiimba ‘Mudhara Vachauya’ ivo vachizvitiwo ehe, ehe nezvigunwe zviviri kuzvinongedzera ndikati ko chava chiiko ichi? Ndakagara ndaziva zvangu kare musi wacho ndowamakazovawo neruzivo aiwa. Taingogara tichifukidzira kuti vanhu varege kuzviona, vadiki varege kuzviona. Zvanga zviripo ndoda kukuudzai ndozvimwe chete zvakabvisa Mai Mujuru. Kungoti Mai Mujuru aida makwikwi naPresident ndosaka aive nenyungururwi mbiri dzaigara dziri mumvura.

Yake yave nerwumwe rudzi yangu ichidzi iyi zvichinzi zvichirwisana ipapo dzakasungirwa nekashinda dziri mumvura muchirongo. Yangu ichinzi icharumwa ikafa Mai Mujuru vanobva vati ahh ndahwina. Zvino ava vanga vasina izvozvo. President ndivo vakandipinza vakunyepera vanhu vari kubva munaMarch gadzirirai, gadzirirai vanhu. Tiri muna January izvozvo ndini ndichatora munaMarch. Vadiki gadzirirai vobva varongwa nezvitoto zvese zvavanazvo ehe vanogara nazvozve.

Rongai rongai vananaJuly (Moyo) nevamwe ndini ndiri kutora. March youya, zvokona. Ah zvonzi zvakakona pakati. Njere dzakauya pakuti regai ndimboenda kun’anga, kumapositori kwazvo ndinoudzwa kuti munhu achafa rinhi? Kunotsvaga rufu rwaPresident. Ndokuchienda kumwe kwavakanzi ah iwewe usambofunge zvako ndiwe uchatanga.

Zvino apo saka njere yanga iri yokuti President vakandiita Vice President. Ndini ndakatanga Mphoko akauya mushure. Musi waenda President vanenge vakandibereka kumusana ini ndobva ndapinda ndova Acting President. Zvozobva imomo chigaro chinenge chakanditarisa ndozoti zete pachiri. The President will carry me to victory. Ndoyavanga vachifunga zvino President varamba kufa, varamba kubva.

Zvino zvaramba kudaro vakati ndakuita zvekupovera ndokuchironga zvino kuti vanhu vakupai mbiri kuimbira imimi nenzwi riri pamusoro uyu mudzimai uyu anonzi mudzimai waPresident anoramba achikucriticiser ndiye achatanga kutaura. Ngatiite midungwe yemota dzichauya nevanhu vachaita manoise chete vamwe uku vamwe uku. Mabhazi acho tinomawana kupi? Ndokuchienda kuzvikoro mufunge zvevana vadiki kunotora mabhazi avo ezvikoro kuKwekwe ikoko ndoakauya nevanhu vachiburutswa vanhu vaudzwa zvekuita zvino.

Saka makanzwa kuchibva mazwi ekutuka. Booing yakaitwakumativi ose zvakanga zvakarongwa. Zvikanzi tikazviita izvozvo President opinda kurega kushaudhwa kurega kumutambira zviya zviya asi ini kana ndapinda mudhara achauya zvino ini ndobva ndadai mudhara achauya, mudhara achauya. Ah simba racho ratouya ratouya simba hazvichachinja zvikadzimara zvanzarwo. Hameno sometimes ndangariro dzinomboputsika nekuda masimba wofunga chokwadi kuti kamwena aka kanopinda mbeva neni ndingapindewo, panopfuura netsuro neniwo ndingapinde nepo. Aihwa hazvidaro. Nzira yekuenda kuhukuru yakareba. Yakaoma. Haina zororo. Ndinofunga mese munoziva rwendo rwacho rwatakafamba

Takanga tisinga funge nezvekuva vaPresident parwendo kudakara kuna Lancaster kuya uko. Taiti tiri kurwira vanhu vedu chete. Vanhu vanozoona kuti ah patsika, pazvinangwa zvemberi, pakuzvibata, padiscipline, papfungwa dzokuendesera musangano wedu mberi kuti ufambe uende mberi, pafungwa dzezvinangwa dzekusimudzira nyika nekusimudzira vanhu vedu watingade ndingana. Kune vamwe hazviko izvozvo. Zvinonzi ndikamira padhuze naPresident akava nekundiziva, kufara naye kana kumbomubikirawo tea ndizvozvo. Aiwa watova wangu. Aiwa uno haadaro. Haanzarwo kwete. Tinodyidzana zvakanaka.

Ungandibikire doro rinonaka sei kana rinondidhaka zvakadii asi gwara redu remusangano igwara remusangano. Hautengeswe pamhamba aiwa, hautengeswe necup of tea aiwa, hatitengwe nechingwa kana necake. Aiwa hatidaro.

Ndozvatinoda kuti vana vedu izvozvo vazive. Masarudza wamunoti ndiye mukuru wedu momupawo rukudzo. Iye ave neruzivo rwekuti handisi ndoga. Hukuru hwandinahwo ndehwedu tose. Ndisina imi munonditsigira vamwe vangu dai ndisipo apa. Ndokukwirira kwatakaita isu vamwe kuti tiri vatungamiriri vevanhu. Tisina vanhu haungave mutungamiriri ka. Usinganatse vanhu, vanhu havangazove nekukuzivawo iwe, pasina zvaunotira vanhu, pasina hutungamiriri hunoonekwa, hunorira husiku huchinzwikwa kwese kwese kuti uyu nevanhu vake zvimwe chetezvo. Ukataura kuvanhu vake panyaya yakaita seyevhu zvimwe chetezvo.

A Zimbabwean is known not by what he wears when he is outside but by what he says, by what he has in his mind, by the principles that he has and the discipline that he shows.

That is our Zimbabwean ndokusaka kwese kwese kwamunoenda munochichirirwa nevanhu kuti huya undiseenzere. KuSouth Africa makazara. Vanomboti tokutandai vozoti ahh Mabank edu anozosara asina vasevenzi. NdoZimbabwe yakativaka iyoyo.

Takazoti isu tichiona ndikati ahh zvataitirwa nhasi aya mameeting edu atange tinawo. One Million men march yese yatakaita kunzvimbo nenzvimbo tichienda tichiita Interface, tanga tichibuditsa zviuru nezviuru zvevanhu. Kwakunyangadza musangano wedu.

Haasi mucheche mumusangano watingati achiri kufunda. Ari kumusoro uko ouya pazasi kuzoita zviito zvinotinyangadza kudaro, zviito zvinosemesa kudaro, zviito zvisiri mugwara rezvinangwa zvemusangano. Lacking discipline which we should show at the top.

Vanhu havana kutiisa kumusoro kungoti endai ikoko nokuti hatina gwara tinongoita semadzvinyu anongomhanyira kwese kwese kana zvitototo kana zvura zvinongotauka tauka. Aihwa. Tiri kumusoro ikoko netsika dzavakaona kwatiri, nepfungwa dzavakanzwa kwatiri nemaitiro edu ediscipline avakaona nezvido zvevanhu zvavakatiratidza, nekuda kubatanidza vanhu kuti tive munyika yeZimbabwe vanhu vamwe chete pasina mutsauko pasina kuti ava nekuti vari kubva kuMashonaland East ndevemberi, ava nekuti vari kubva kuMidlands ndevemberi. Ava havasi kubva kune vatinoti vedu, it doesn’t matter ndeveChikaranga, ndevechiVenda.

You are not greater than any other people because you belong to a particular province which has prescribed greatness to its people. Hapana. Ndosaka ndakati hondo payakarwiwa haina kurwiwa ichinzi kwaZvimba ndokuchabva vepamusoro, kuManicaland ndokune vepapazasi, veChikalanga ndovachava pamusoro. Hatina kumborwa hondo yakadaro.

Kana muine pfungwa idzodzo throw them away. Hatidzide. Vanhu vese vakafanana. Hunhu hwavo humwe chete, zvido zvavo zvimwe chete. Vangave netsika dzakasiyana. Tinodzida tsika idzodzo dzese pakusiyana kwadzakaita hupfumi hwedu so we are one people. Tiri munhu mumwe chete, vanhu vamwe chete. Saka uko uko kwanga kwaita tumagroup twawanga uchiona tuchiti isu tiri veChikaranga tiri vemberi haa isu kuno uku tisu isu. Just four people doing that. Vachinyangadza hunhu wevazhinji. Aihwa hatidi izvozvo. Ndovatinoti they should be dealt with and thrown out. They spoil the discipline and principles of our party. Muchizvibata. Vamwe vachachema vachiti ahh tarasikirwa nemukuru wedu. Ehe marasikirwa nemukuru wenyu nekuti mukuru wenyu wanga abuda mugwara remusangano akuda kuzvisusukidza akuita zvimwechete zvatakarasira Amai Mujuru. Naiye achitisusukidza kuvarasa. Takange tisingazive kuti aizvisusukidzira kuti agowana gwara rekuita zvimwe chetezvo. Kana waida kuti vabve mugwara ugoitawo zvimwe chetezvo zvavaiita newewo kaa unoraswa sekuraswa kwavakaitwa nokuti ka haungaregerwe. Kuti iwe ndiwe ani? Well, kana kuine chikoro chokuvamba kufunda ngavaende kuchikoro chacho chemaprinciples eparty.

What to do and what not to do. What the leadership should do and what the leadership should never do.

Tiri pamusoro we have got to be very, very careful.

Isu pamusoro kuratidza vari pazasi kuti ndozvinoitwa nevakuru vari kumusoro uko.

Havazvikudze. Vanoona mose sevana veparty, sevanhu veparty, vose vane zvinangwa.

Zvino kana uchiti wava kumusoro uko wavakutarisa vepazasi vakuti ahh imi muri pazasi ko matadza kukwirawo kuno kwatakakwira isu vamwe?

Ko nekuti uri kumusoro uko hauzive kuti vari pasi ava vane matemoka.

Muti iwoyo ukangonzi midzi yacho ga ga ga unozvambuka ipapo kubva kumusoro. Ndokuzvambuka kwawaita ikoko.

Hazviitwe izvozvo.

Simba redu rinobva kuvanhu vari pasi apa ava. Simba rokuti muti uzoita mapazi nemaruva kumusoro uko rinobva kumidzi iri pasi.

Iri pasi inokweva kudya nemvura zviripasi.

Tinosungirwa kuyeuka izvozvo. Tinotenda tichange tichienderera mberi nemisangano yedu. Kwanga kwasara Harare asi ndoda kuti kuBhuruwayo hamusirimi makakanganisa kwete.

Tisu vepamusoro takakukanganisirai. Makanga mashanda. Kunyangwe izvozvo vanhu vakanga vauya. Bulawayo is not Harare, haina vanhu vakawanda seHarare kwete asi huzhinji hwakabuda, hwakandimuka we were very happy.

We were very happy, very proud of our leadership yeBulawayo but we are sorry we offended all the good work that you had done.

It was just one person who decided to disorganise. You disorganised all of us but we dealt with you and I hope we can deal with others who were conspirators. Who were conspirators alongside him. Vaishanda naye.

Mberi kwatinoenda hongu tichanatsa hedu. Tasarirwa neHarare imomu mudhorobha umo. Toshanda nesimba kuti the last interaction yatichaita vana vedu nevakuru ibva yaridza mutsindo wokupedzisirawo tozoenda kuCongress kwedu. Takabatana tichizivana kuti isu tiri mugwara.

Takabatana zvatakaita izvi tiine pfungwa dzimwe chete idzo. Hurongwa humwechete ihwo, ndangariro dzimwe chetedzo . Hatiruze. Takahwina. Asi vanhu vedu vanosungirwaka kuregister. Saka moona kuti hatisisina mazuva akawanda. Pamazuva aNovember iwaya tibve taona kuti aihwa tava nevanhu vakawanda vekuti kana vakavoter tinohwina. Asi tine hurombo.

Tanga tosekwa nanaTsvangirai havo vaiti vakabatana vachitiseka isu vanaTsvangirai nhasi uno vazvinyadzisa. Aiwa isu tinobvuma kana taita zvinonyadzisa togadzirisa pakarepo tova vanhu vari mugwara. Zvakaipa tozviona kuti ndezvizvi hatichada kuti zvipamhidzwe hatichada zvakare kuti tipe chance kune vatinoona kuti ava vangatisvitse zvakare mun’yan’ya dzakabva idzi dzatiri kubva madziri.

Ndoda kutenda kuma youth edu vaChipanga munditendere zvikuru-kuru. We are proud of you, we are proud of you. Vanamai vanamai hamushaike. We are proud of you. Zvamasungana ndozvatiri kuzoongoororaka paCongress. Ehe tirikuzozviongorora paCongress. Tichabuda kuCongress ikoko. Zvinangwa zvenyu zvose tinenge tazvitsamhira, zvapihwa gwara.

Musafunge kuti hatisi kuzvinzwa. Tazvinzwa. Tinotenda.

Tinotenda zvikuru pamberi nekubatana.

Pamberi negwara.

Pamberi negwara remusangano.

Pamberi neyouth yedu.

Pamberi neWomen’s League nemaWar Veterans, nemaDetainees.

Pamberi nanamai.

Pasi nevasingade kubatana nevamwe, pasi nevasingade kutevera gwara.

Icho, icho, icho. Tatenda.

Parliamentarians have of late turned the august House into a virtual works council, where conditions of service rather than pressing national issues are discussed

Zvamaida Murwira Mr Speaker Sir
For the past two weeks, Members of Parliament have been preoccupied with discussing their conditions of service where in some situations the business of the House has been disrupted. Mr Speaker Sir, the question that needs interrogation is while legislators are entitled to demand what is due to them, is it prudent to make such demands during plenary at the expense of parliamentary business?

At least two crucial sittings meant to deal with pertinent national issues were aborted as legislators haggled over their conditions of service. A workshop called to debate the 2018 National Budget was delayed by about two hours a fortnight ago as legislators demanded to be told when the Executive would pay them their sitting allowances and when the Constituency Development Fund would be disbursed.

It goes without saying, Mr Speaker Sir, that legislators need the CDF to improve their communities, something that would go a long way in enhancing their political profile as the 2018 harmonised elections beckons. During the budget workshop, MPs took advantage of the presence of Finance Minister Dr Ignatius Chombo, who had come to hear their views on the 2018 National Budget to ask him when he would pay them their sitting allowances and fuel coupons.

For the avoidance of doubt, Mr Speaker Sir, there is nothing wrong with legislators demanding what is contractually theirs particularly when it appears to them that the Executive is procrastinating or dragging its feet for whatever reason. It is not the intention of this column, Mr Speaker Sir, to condone the delay in paying allowances to legislators by the Executive given that it is now almost five years, and the term of the current Parliament is now close to its end.

The question, Mr Speaker Sir, that needs to be asked is: Are there no platforms to discuss such issues and not in the Chamber or during a pre-budget seminar as witnessed in the past few weeks? Is it fair for legislators to hijack, for lack of a better word, the business of the House and hold such discussions, deviating from pressing issues at hand.

It is a fact that there are two organs that deal with issues raised by Members of Parliament and is it being suggested that they have failed to deal with them. The first one is that Members of Parliament have their own welfare association made up o legislators from across the political divide while there is also the Standing Rules and Orders Committee which is the decision-making organ of Parliament.

Mr Speaker Sir, the SROC is a powerful decision-making body of where everything relating to the business of te august House, including conditions of service, is discussed. By discussing issues of the welfare of backbenchers in the Chamber or during 2018 National Budget consultations, is it being suggested that the SROC has failed to in its mandate.

Is that not a waste of taxpayers’ money when MPs turn the Chamber into a welfare platform reminiscent to a works council meeting?

Are they not holding the taxpayers and the electorate to ransom by demanding their dues during those platforms?

By discussing issues about their allowances, demanding residential stands, fuel coupons in the public glare are the backbenchers not demeaning themselves as well?

It has to be made clear, Mr Speaker Sir, that the bone of contention here is not that they should not make such demands. It is not in dispute that the issues being raised are legitimate and require immediate attention.

The issue here is that are we sure the platform being used is the correct one?

Are we sure, Mr Speaker Sir, that by spending three hours in the Chamber haggling over conditions of service for legislators, we are not shortchanging taxpayers who are the electorate, who are the ultimate judge of Members of Parliament.

Is it in the interest of the electorate to spend the whole sitting of a given day quarrelling why allowances had been delayed, or why residential stands for legislators have not been made available, among other grievances?

Is it beneficial to the electorate, Mr Speaker Sir, for legislators to spend the whole sitting discussing why Government is taking long to allocate them residential stands?

What was more disturbing, Mr Speaker Sir, was that Wednesday – which is earmarked for Question Time – was turned into platform to discuss backbenchers’ welfare issues. The electorate was expecting that their concerns, as raised through their representatives, would be responded to through the responsible Government minister. Indeed, most members of the Executive, including Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko, were in the Chamber ready to respond to questions.

I am sure, Mr Speaker Sir, that you will agree with me that Parliament has adequate platforms for such issues. The SROC, which you chair, if it does not deal with such issues then one would be tempted to question its relevance. There has not been any suggestion from the discussion that ensued that the SROC had failed to deal with the issues raised by MPs.

During the pre-Budget workshop, MPs took Minister Chombo by surprise when they demanded to have their grievances addressed. The issue ate into the bulk of the time earmarked for deliberation on the 2018 National Budget where Minister Chombo would have wanted to know about their expectations. By deviating from the core national issues in the public glare, Mr Speaker Sir, are legislators not taking the electorate for granted?

It is high time Mr Speaker Sir, that as Head of Parliament, Mr Speaker Sir, you put your foot down and ensure that taxpayers’ money does not go down the drain by allowing backbenchers from deviating from the issues at hand and smuggling in their personal albeit collective grievances. Parliament, Mr Speaker Sir, must put in place enough platforms where welfare issues are discussed to their logical conclusion. If that is not taken heed of, Parliament risks taking the electorate for a ride.

THE rainy season beckons, and once again we feel duty-bound to raise the red flag, true to the dictum a stitch in time saves nine. Wild mushrooms account for a large number of food poisoning fatalities the world over, a development related to the morphology of fungi that makes it almost impossible to distinguish between edible and toxic species.

Over the years, we have carried tragic stories of people who died after eating wild mushrooms. Mothers and fathers, whose only wish will be to feed and sustain their families, end up unwittingly decimating them. In such tragedies, wild species were involved, which is why people are strongly encouraged to desist from picking wild mushrooms, or buying from roadside vendors.

It is always safer to get one’s supply from supermarkets supplied by registered growers, because consumption of wild mushrooms is a serious gamble that even experienced pickers have failed to win on several occasions. If one is really keen on mushrooms, one should at least stick to the variety one knows, but even this has its own dangers as mycologists have found that toxicity varies on a spatial scale.

An edible variety in one setting may be poisonous in another due to ecological peculiarities, a case in point being the presence of Eucalyptus trees that are believed to increase the level of toxins. Industrial pollutants like heavy metals and radiation also concentrate toxins in known edible species. Having said that, we would like to reiterate the advice given by food scientists, namely: Desisting from consumption of suspicious species, having only informed adults gather mushrooms and sticking to varieties one can positively identify in one’s locality.

People are also encouraged to thoroughly cook the mushroom before consumption, and to take only small portions of unknown varieties — not more than half of a mushroom at one sitting. It is, however, important to note that grave symptoms may not appear for days, and are only expressed after vital organs are already damaged.

We thus urge people to seek treatment as soon as they experience any of the following symptoms after taking mushrooms: Lethargy, headache, dizziness, cold sweats, vomiting, acute abdominal pains, jaundice and severe diarrhoea. Year after year, during the rainy season, precious lives have been lost to mushroom poisoning, which is why we urge people to buy from registered growers; or where these cannot be found, to stick only to familiar wild varieties.

In all this, we must always remember that, where mushrooms are concerned, variety is not the spice but the bane of life, and just like with the HIV and Aids pandemic, abstinence is the key unless one sticks to a variety one knows.

Obi Egbuna Jnr
DURING the closing session of the Casablanca Conference that took place on January 7 1961, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, who had made, always leaving Mother Africa’s children with food for thought, one of his main trademarks, the following statement:

“If we do not formulate plans for unity and take active steps to form a political union, we will soon be fighting and warring among ourselves, with imperialists and colonialists standing behind the screen and pulling vicious wires to make us cut each other’s throats for the sake of their diabolical purposes in Africa.”

Because the Osagyefo is arguably our most quoted modern African historical figure, collectively speaking, we too often have displayed a tendency to marvel at his intellectual range and perspicacity, but ignore the core message of his profound analysis of the African revolutionary process past and present. A fundamental prerequisite necessary to digest before understanding the current status of Mother Africa’s eternal propaganda war with our former colonisers and enslavers is the following; having the ability to distinguish between analysis by observation and analysis by participation.

Those among our ranks who fail to answer this call will not only wallow in a pool of confusion, but even worse, spread it like wildfire. If we are not careful and disciplined, some of us will accidentally anoint these village idiots pearls of wisdom and before we know it, US-EU imperialism will give them a book deal, publish their op-eds in in Time, Newsweek, US News and World Report, Foreign Policy or better yet, arrange for them to have their very own platform on television, radio or the Internet.

To say the recent developments in Zimbabwe are not newsworthy would be politically dishonest, however, addressing them without context and perspective at this historical juncture would be criminal. Only those not invested in the constant daily struggle to ensure President Mugabe and zanu-pf prevail in the execution of this phase of the Third Chimurenga are afforded this luxury.

As far as the decision to relieve former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa from his post goes, the perspective is all about the constituency you strategically target, for Africans in the Diaspora, let our rich and illustrious history forever be your guide as opposed to high profile political gossip and nickel and dime hearsay.

That is to say before recognising that the neo-colonialist stooge Blaise Comporare was hell bent on taking his life, the Pan Africanist revolutionary Comrade Thomas Sankara saw him as his brother and confidant. The revolution in Algeria never recovered from Houari Boumdiene betraying Ahmed Ben Bella, our shining prince Patrice Emory Lumumba considered Mobutu Sese Seko a loyal and dedicated soldier.

During the Central Committee meetings of the Democratic Party of Guinea, we can only wonder and speculate how many times did Ahmed Seku Ture, the Supreme Responsible of the African Revolution stare at Lasana Conte and think to himself, this piece of scum is going to stage a reactionary military coup the moment I am buried six feet under.

To share these sentiments either before or after US-EU Imperialism’s experts decide to weigh in and give the world what they audaciously consider a superior point of view, is a decision based on strategy and tactic for those truly in battle mode as opposed to those weighing, because, to use the words of the millennials, this is trending at the moment.

Let it be stated that a significant portion of Africans at home and abroad, who callously leave the faucet leaking on Facebook,Instagram and other components of social media under the guise of transparency and find themselves explaining nothing yet justifying everything, must be urged to remember something very fundamental, a patriot of President Mugabe’s stature without question deserves the benefit of the doubt. Another example of ignoring the responsibility and weight President Mugabe carries on his shoulders is when the rhetoric gets uttered that US-EU sanctions don’t hurt Zimbabwe’s leadership, but the everyday Zimbabwean, which not only suggests the inherent love for Zimbabwe and Africa that defines President Mugabe’s legacy is no longer part of his political DNA, but US-EU Imperialism’s regime change recipe is exactly what the doctor ordered.

When President Mugabe decided that former vice presidents Emmerson Mnangagwa and Joice Mujuru had to be shown the door, we automatically think of Commandante Fidel Castro’s decision to execute General Armando Ochoa Sanchez five years after he was presented the Hero of the Revolution award, Cuba’s highest military honour. This is a man who trained rebels in the Congo, was a key figure in Cuba’s heroic fight side by side with MPLA in Angola, and was the Commander of the Cuban Expeditionary Forces in Ethiopia. As Kwame Ture always reminded us, in revolution there is no sentimentality whatsoever.

For those out there wondering, President Mugabe and zanu-pf can anticipate the slant of the US-EU Imperialist Propaganda apparatus with their eyes closed. Those who follow the neo-colonialist paradigm, either because of intellectual laziness or a genuine lack of exposure, get prepared to hear that this is yet another illustration that Africans lack the political civilisation and knowhow to let true democracy take its course.

Africa’s bravest fighters, who have been blessed with the gift of a long life like President Mugabe, get to see first hand most hateful enemies reinvent themselves over and over. Throughout the years, President Mugabe has earned the reputation for not only remaining steadfast, but unpredictable, which those who have positioned themselves to be experts on the Zimbabwe question may choose to overlook in their sensationalised and self-serving narratives.

We are talking about an African warrior who chose Chinese weapons and support during the Second Chimurenga, when Marxism Leninism and Soviet Support were politically en-vogue, and withstood attacks from every pseudo-revolutionary impostor in the Diaspora, whose faces were so glued to the Communist Manifesto, they could not greet you in the morning without quoting Marx Lenin or Engels. Today, these misguided missiles are born again Social Democrats, who now attack President Mugabe and zanu-pf espousing the ideals of Alexis DeTocqueville, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, which compels them to say Zimbabweans are craving for western democracy and human rights.

The best way to measure the weight of your enemies’ propaganda is to observe where and when it is regurgitated. When so-called African Americans, with the most elegant Dashikis and stunning dreadlocks view President Mugabe through the lens via courtesy of the US State Department memos and Voice of America broadcasts verbatim, we realise the work never stops. Our so-called African Americans inside US borders must tread very carefully for a multitude of reasons, especially those who are no strangers to President Mugabe and zanu-pf, this includes those who claim to have supported Zimbabwe from the days of the Second Chimurenga.

When Ambassador Andrew Young decides to have a photo-op with the opportunist and religious fraud Pastor Evan Mawarire or only come to Zimbabwe these days when US Imperialism sends him as a special envoy, it must be noted, Reverend Jesse Jackson knew the stakes were high when he met with former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, whose sole purpose was to upstage Zimbabwe’s delegation at the UN General Assembly a few years ago.

Our sisters who refuse to come to Zimbabwe and engage First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe to find out how to bring attention to the impact US-EU sanctions have on Zimbabwean mothers, wives and daughters can flush feminist ideals and values down the toliet, they have polluted the environment long enough.

As the African world celebrates the 30th Anniversary of the Unity Accord between zanu-pf and PF ZAPU and the 25th Anniversary of the passing of one of Mother Africa’s most fearless daughters former Zimbabwean First Lady and National Heroine Amai Sally Mugabe . The opportunists and hypocrites will fall by the wasteside.

• Obi Egbuna Jnr is the US Correspondent to the Herald and External Relations Officer of Zicufa (Zimbabwe Cuba Friendship Association) His email is obiegbuna15@gmail.com

Bill van Auken Correspondent
Sixteen years of war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria have drained $5,6 trillion from the United States economy, according to a new study entitled “Costs of War” released by the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs at Brown University.

This staggering figure, which is more than triple the estimate offered by the Pentagon itself, factors in huge costs that the US military does not include when tallying up the bills for its wars. These include medical expenses for wounded and disabled veterans, war-related spending by the Department of Homeland Security, and the increased cost of borrowing money to pay for military operations.

The “Costs of War” report does not include spending on US military operations elsewhere in the world, including the escalating intervention in Chad, Niger and throughout the African continent, US participation in the genocidal Saudi-led war against Yemen, and special operations interventions on virtually every con- tinent.

The cost of the wars dealt with in the report is over and above the annual Pentagon budget of nearly $700 billion — a level of military spending that outstrips the world’s next 10 largest military powers combined.

The authors of the report readily acknowledge that the eye-popping $5,6 trillion figure does not begin to cover the immense slaughter, destruction and human misery caused by Washington’s wars. They write: “Moreover, a full accounting of any war’s burdens cannot be placed in columns on a ledger. From the civilians harmed and displaced by violence, to the soldiers killed and wounded, to the children who play years later on roads and fields sown with improvised explosive devices and cluster bombs, no set of numbers can convey the human toll of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, or how they have spilled into the neighbouring states of Syria and Pakistan, and come home to the US and its allies in the form of wounded veterans . . .”

These are, of course, ledgers that are not kept and figures that are not entered into any columns by those responsible for these wars. “We don’t do body counts,” was the way the General Tommy Franks, the US commander of the invasions of both Afghanistan and Iraq put it. Credible estimates, however, have put the number lives destroyed by the US war in Iraq alone at over one million, while another 175 000 have reportedly been killed in Afghanistan. Many millions more have been wounded and turned into homeless refugees.

The trillions of dollars’ worth of destruction wrought by US wars that have decimated entire societies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and Yemen are not the subject of the Brown University report. It does, however, provide a sober view of the vast social wealth of the United States itself that has literally gone up in smoke as a result of American militarism—resources that could have been invested in education, health care and raising the living standards of the working class.

Among the steepest long-term costs not included in the Pentagon estimate of war spending are those associated with the damage inflicted on the people sent to fight these wars, who return with physical and mental problems that are woefully underestimated and underserved.

The report cites a Veterans Administration report from May which states that the demand for services from veterans of the US wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan has increased by 215 percent over the past seven years. While officially the number of troops wounded in action in Iraq and Afghanistan totals 52 000—over 1 700 of them suffering limb amputations and 6 500 of them “severe penetrating brain injuries” — this figure vastly underestimates the real toll. More than one million veterans of these wars are receiving disability payments, with roughly 875 000 of them classified as 30 percent or more disabled.

Fully 327 000 of these veterans had been diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury as of August of this year, while roughly one third of those returning from the wars have been diagnosed with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) or other mental health issues. Reflected in these wars, both in the criminality with which they were initiated and fought, and in the way they were funded, are the financial parasitism and socially destructive forms of speculation that pervade the workings of American capitalism.

The $5,6 trillion figure given by the Brown study as the cost of US wars is almost exactly the equivalent of the US national debt in 2001, on the eve Washington’s launching of its “global war on terror”. In the intervening 16 years, that debt has more than quadrupled, attributable in no small part to the ever-growing cascade of military spending.

In an attempt to quell popular opposition to US militarism, successive administrations and Congress have avoided any taxation to pay for the wars, which are fought using “all volunteer” armed forces, consisting in large part of economic conscripts, and with borrowed cash. Instead of including them in the Pentagon’s budget, the wars are classified as Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO), treated as unforeseeable emergencies after more than a decade-and-a-half of continuous combat.

The price of keeping these military operations “off the books” is a steady rise in the US national debt, whose full weight will be imposed on the backs of the working class through a redoubled attack on living standards and social rights. According to the report: “Future interest costs for overseas contingency operations spending alone are projected to add more than $1 trillion to national debt by 2023. By 2056, a conservative estimate is that interest costs will be about $8 trillion.”

The American oligarchy rakes in billions in profits from the business of war. The Brown University report came out at the same time that Donald Trump was in Asia combining war threats against North Korea with the hustling of arms sales in behalf of US military contractors. Among the retinue of more than two dozen corporate heads accompanying the president were the CEOs of such defence industry giants as Boeing and Bell Helicopter, Textron.

The wars have been initiated and continued by Democratic and Republican administrations alike. Both parties in Congress have maintained this method of funding them, while voting in lock-step for whatever gargantuan budget the Pentagon demands.

Meanwhile, there is the continuous refrain that there is no money for health care, public education, infrastructure and Social Security. The victims of so-called natural disasters such as Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria — whose toll in terms of human suffering is the product of pre-existing conditions stemming from spending cuts, neglect of infrastructure and mass poverty — are left to fend for themselves. Nearly 60 percent of Puerto Rico’s 3,5 million people are still without power six weeks after Hurricane Maria struck, and 20 percent lack access to safe running water.

The nearly $6 trillion squandered by Washington on its wars of aggression over the past 16 years is also roughly equal to the combined wealth of the world’s billionaires, almost half of which is concentrated within the US.

The threat of Washington’s multiple military interventions coalescing into a nuclear third world war is driven by this immense concentration of wealth in the hands of a parasitic oligarchy, which relies on militarism abroad and increasing repression at home to defend its power and privileges. Only the working class can answer these threats through the mobilisation of its independent strength, independently of the Republicans and the Democrats and in opposition to the capitalist system and its state.

The demand must be raised for the dismantling of the vast US military and intelligence apparatus and the redirection of the trillions wasted on slaughter and destruction to meet the social needs of working people in the US and internationally. This must be coupled with a redistribution of the wealth of the super-rich to solve the pressing problems of housing, education, health care and infrastructure, and the placing of the banks and corporations under public ownership to serve human needs rather than the demand for profit.

Prof Wilson Parawira Correspondent
Today Zimbabwe joins the rest of world in celebrating World Science Day for Peace and Development. The highlights of the day is the significant role of science in society and the need to engage the wider public in debates on emerging scientific issues.

It also underlines the importance and relevance of science in our daily lives.

By linking science more closely with society, World Science Day for Peace and Development aims to ensure that citizens are kept informed of developments in science. It also underscores the role scientists play in broadening our understanding of the remarkable, fragile planet we call home and in making our societies more sustainable.

The objectives of World Science Day for Peace and Development are to:

• Strengthen public awareness on the role of science for peaceful and sustainable societies;
• Promote national and international solidarity for shared science between countries;
• Renew national and international commitment for the use of science for the benefit of societies;
• Draw attention to the challenges faced by science and raising support for the scientific endeavour

The theme for 2017 is “Science for Global Understanding”.

Global understanding is key to peace and sustainable development in that it promotes the commitment of individuals and local communities in sharing knowledge for actions and behavioural change. Science is thus central to global understanding as it not only helps us understand the world and each other, but it also assists in designing, developing and implementing the change we aim for.

“An important contribution that UNESCO and science & technology centres can bring to global understanding is the unique opportunity to combine global sustainability and local action.

The dialogue among science, policy, and everyday lives should be constant and multi-directional. Global sustainability can learn so much from best practices and success stories,” said Flavia Schlegel, UNESCO assistant director-general for natural sciences. Our world faces social, cultural, and economic change, as well as a changing climate. Human actions play a key role in creating such worldwide challenges.

However, human actions also provide solutions. If individuals know what their day-to-day routines mean for the planet, they can take appropriate action. Global understanding helps overcome the knowledge-action gap and supports policy decisions that promote sustainability. This can be achieved through science education.

Everyday life and science belong together. Global understanding is based on joint social and natural science research. Research should address the logic of everyday life. Global understanding calls for the reconciliation of the global and the local, of science and everyday lives. In global understanding, the focus is on essential daily activities such as eating, drinking, housing, working, travelling, and communicating. Why do we make the choices that we do? Which societies – rich and poor – make more globally sustainable choices? Natural and social scientists will jointly provide answers.

Climate change is an example of the links between global and local effects. Global change may be climatic, social, cultural and economic. Societies need global understanding to manage change sustainably. Global sustainability cannot come about without local sustainability. Actions and thoughts that may seem disconnected in space and time are often fundamentally linked. True global understanding empowers people to make such connections. Many people know about the need for sustainability, but few make the corresponding decisions. What then is Science?

Science is both a body of knowledge and a process. Scientists study the physical and natural world through observation and experimentation. Science is a process of discovery and a path to understanding that allows us to link isolated facts into coherent and comprehensive understandings of the natural world. Science is a way of learning about what is in the natural world, how the natural world works, and how the natural world got to be the way it is.

Science is exciting and interesting. Scientists are motivated by the thrill of seeing or figuring out something that no one has before. “Eureka!” or “aha!” moments may not happen frequently, but they are often experiences that drive science and scientists.

Discoveries, new questions, and new ideas are what keep scientists going and awake at night, but they are only one part of the picture; the rest involves a lot of hard work. Science is useful. The knowledge generated by science is powerful and reliable. It can be used to develop new technologies, treat diseases, and deal with many other sorts of problems mankind are facing today and in the future.

Science is ongoing. Science is continually refining and expanding our knowledge of the universe, and as it does, it leads to new questions for future investigation. Science will never be “finished.” Science remains a continuing effort on the part of human beings to discover and increase our knowledge through research and to improve the standard of living of people. A discovery may itself be the result of many years of work on a particular problem. Millions of scientists all over the world are working to solve different parts of the puzzle of how the universe works, peering into its nooks and crannies, deploying their microscopes, telescopes, and other tools to unravel its secrets.

Accepted scientific ideas are reliable because they have been subjected to rigorous testing but as new evidence is acquired and new perspectives emerge these ideas can be revised. Science is a community endeavour relying on a system of checks and balances through peer evaluations, which helps ensure that science moves in the direction of greater accuracy and understanding.

Science develops literacy skills. Language and literacy skills are integral to knowing and doing science. Reading, writing, and speaking are all essential to comprehending and communicating scientific issues and ideas. But literacy in science is more than just reading and writing: understanding the impact of science in our world provides opportunity to debate issues through written, oral, or visual presentations. This gives students opportunities to read, write, defend and communicate their findings in meaningful ways.

Science develops numeracy skills. Numeracy is integral to doing science. Students learn the skills of sorting and classifying, estimating and counting, measuring, graphing, collecting data and analysing are frequently used when doing science.

Science investigations provide rich context and authentic opportunities to learn and use numeracy skills within the context of science. For instance, understanding and predicting how forces act on a structure involves science, mathematics and design technology through data collection, measurement, presentation and interpretation skills.

Science is the study of entire universe from the cellular level to the highest level. The main branches of natural science are biology, chemistry and physics. The distinctions between the natural science disciplines are not always sharp, and they share a number of cross-discipline fields. A particular example of a scientific discipline that draws upon multiple natural science disciplines is Environmental Science.

Science has led us to finding out things that give us what we have today. In fact without science we would not have electricity which would mean no mobiles, internet, Facebook we would not have fridges to keep food fresh, television to entertain or even cars to travel in. A world without science would mean that we would still be living in a very different way to that of what we live today. Today science influences so many different things that trying to list them all would mean this page could go on forever. Almost everything that we see around us is the gift of science and technology. Students are encouraged to take advantage of the many opportunities being offered in the country at all levels to enjoy and benefit the exciting fields of science.

Science is not just about new technology, inventions or new medicines. Science is about a whole lot more than that and to sum it up we believe that science is a way of helping the brain grow in finding new knowledge and helps us defeat our curiosity of how the world develops and works today. Science is important because it has helped form the world that we live in today.

• Prof Wilson Parawira is a Professor of Microbiology and Biotechnology and is the Executive Dean of Faculty of Science at Bindura University of Science Education He can be contacted 0n parawiradr@yahoo.co.uk

The fact that this country has hosted many delegations means that business opportunities abound

Victoria Ruzvidzo In Focus
Zimbabwe has over the past few years hosted trade and investments missions from Europe, Asia and the African region among others, but of concern is the fact that these have not yielded much. Although it is quite understandable that setting up shop is not a one-day event, but a process that takes some time, we still have not seen much being done given the volume of delegations that we have received. The mismatch is too wide, it needs prodding.

While the economy needs to anchor on solid home-grown solutions for sustainable economic growth and development, trade with other countries and foreign direct investment are critical pillars. In a global village that the world has become, economies need foreign investments and the participation of multinationals firms that foster technology and skills transfer.

These induce more efficient ways of doing business and hence increase the competitiveness of countries such as ours, among an array of benefits. Africa has generally not been the best recipient of FDIs, but this should not be an excuse. Zimbabwe has the potential to break ranks and be a pacesetter for the continent. The fact that this country has hosted many delegations means that the opportunities for business are there.

The mining sector, energy, tourism, manufacturing, agriculture and other sectors are replete with opportunities where Zimbabwe needs joint ventures and other forms of partnerships with foreign investors, who normally have the financial muscles and expertise to take projects off the ground. It is in this regard that we are quite concerned at the few results showing from all the delegations that have come from France, Russia, South Korea, China, United Kingdom, Turkey, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Botswana, India, Egypt, Iran and many more.

What we have noticed as the greatest undoing is lack of follow-through. While pomp and ceremony has marked the visits by these investors, somehow it all fizzles out as time progresses. It would be naïve of me to fail to understand that the challenges in the economy do affect progress, but it would also be lame for anyone to think that with more effort and zeal, the environment is the best for some investors, particularly those in for the long haul, to come and set-up shop.

The economy has experienced immense challenges over the past decade or so, but the fact that we have still raised investor interest and lured them here means there is something that this country has. The economy just needs to leverage on this and ensure we attract a fair share of investment.

Recently, we received the good news that, according to the latest World Bank annual ratings, Zimbabwe is now ranked 159 in 2017 from 161 last year. A movement of just two places may not be much to write home about, but it is indicative of efforts being made to improve the business environment. Trading Economics revealed that the Ease of Doing Business in Zimbabwe averaged 162,60 from 2008 until 2017, reaching an all-time high of 171 in 2011 and a record low of 153 in 2014.

With more effort, the 2014 levels can be surpassed soon. We notice that the Office of the President and Cabinet is really at work in terms of ensuring significant improvement in the ease of doing business. We pray that the same energy be directed towards ensuring that any trade deals or potential deals secured during trade and investment missions are followed through and massaged to ensure fruition.

We need to hear more news of companies opening or expanding instead of the usual dose of hose that are they closing and laying off employees. They say when the going gets tough, the tough get going. So we should get going as an economy and foster trade and investment deals that will positively impact the economy.

The emphasis over the past few years has been on value addition, particularly at a time when primary exports are fetching very low prices. In this regard, more investors, both local and foreign, are critical to invest in new plant and machinery to promote value addition. Strong-muscled companies such as Zimplats, Delta, Econet, Seed Co and a few others may not have any difficulty in terms of expansion programmes, but the bulk of local firms are presently hamstrung by challenges and they need foreign capital to increase capacity.

On trade, Zimbabwe has strong ties with most countries on the region, but there is scope in boosting these. Furthermore, such countries as China, India and Iran have said there is immense potential to grow trade with Zimbabwe. We thus need to capitalise on this kind of interest so that we can sell all we can to those countries and earn foreign currency, while also sourcing our needs from those markets.

Trade agreements will make these happen. Moreso, capitalising on the trade and investment missions will secure better and more concrete deals from which the economy will emerge victorious. We should not sleep on the wheel, but ensure we maximise on every opportunity that comes our way. We have no luxury to treat these missions as if we are already sorted as a country. Let’s rise up and make the most of the interest that the world continues to show on us.

Our brand has not been the best performing on the globe by any measure, so if we manage to attract interest regardless of this, we have no reason to be lackadaisical about it. Apathy, half-heartedness or a lasses-faire approach to business is doing more harm than good. These are words that should even appear in our vocabulary.

It is in this regard that I commend Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Mzembi for expressing great desire to re-engage the UK and the United States to strengthen trade and economic ties. Barring politics, Zimbabwe’s economy has a lot to benefit from stronger relations with these two and other players on the globe. Of course there is no harm in reminding them about our sovereignty here and there.

“I shall seek an honest and forthright dialogue with these countries in order to let go of the past and pursue mutually beneficial economic opportunities. The rapprochement we seek shall be anchored in new vibrant trade and economic relations,” said Dr Mzembi yesterday as he addressed diplomatic missions in Harare.

We hope to see more missions over the next few months, but these should not just be futile exercises, but should instead result in more FDI and increased trade. Zimbabwe has a precarious balance of payments position that needs redress while its GDP needs to grow by higher margins to improve the standards of living for its citizenry. The sum total of all efforts will surely result in a better Zimbabwe that should occupy its rightful place in the global village.

In God I trust!

President Mugabe

Dexter Nduna, MP Special Correspondent
A resolute and committed pan-Africanist, a visionary par excellence, an astute and perspicacious leader, His Excellency, the President’s commitment to the cause of the people of Zimbabwe could not have been more evident as in his unwavering struggle for the total economic empowerment of the black majority -a brave and forthright stance that is still to be seen anywhere in the world.

Through him, Zimbabweans have reclaimed their heritage – the land that was expropriated by the colonial regime – and re-established the consanguineous relationship that existed between Zimbabweans and their land, symbolised by the burial of the umbilical cord in the ground upon the birth of a child. Through him, the phrase “Son of the Soil” has regained its spiritual dimension and the success registered by indigenous people in tobacco farming, for instance, where the sector produced over 190 million kg of tobacco in 2015 alone earning the country US$584 million and $400 million in 2016, are there for all to see.

In terms of his commitment to the total economic emancipation of his people, President Mugabe remains a cat among the pigeons – the only leader brave enough and determined enough to stand for the rights of his people – despite unrelenting international pressure and vilification culminating in the imposition of illegal sanctions against the country. Not only has he spearheaded the reclamation of land by the black majority, but he has also commandeered the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act, aimed at ensuring that Zimbabweans benefit in no small measure from their indigenous resources.

Through him, Zimbabweans have claimed a stake in mining, in agriculture and even in telecommunications and have begun to derive value from their resources. As the great civil rights leader Malcolm X rightly observed: “A race of people is like an individual man. Unless it uses its own talents, expresses its own culture and affirms its own selfhood, it can never really fulfil itself.”

President Mugabe has, to all intents and purposes, created a conducive environment for Zimbabweans to fulfil their potential by removing all systemic and institutional barriers in the pursuit of self- actualisation.

His achievements are innumerable and inimitable, chief among them:

Education

• President Mugabe revolutionised the education sector of Zimbabwe.

• Zimbabwe still prides itself on its exceptional literacy, for it shines with the highest literacy rate in Africa.

• Introduced the “Education for All” policy which saw masses receiving education at Government’s expense.

• Also introduced a deliberate skills- based initiative to complement the quantitative changes to education provision. Policies such as the “Education with Production” that came with the introduction of more Vocational Training Colleges increased the country’s skills base. Consequently, Zimbabwe is now not only ranked as the most literate country but has graduates that have acquitted themselves well across the globe.

• Great strides have been made in tertiary education where the number of State universities has increased from one in 1980 to 11 State universities to date.

Health

Under the stewardship of President Mugabe:

• Central hospitals increased from two to six

• District hospitals increased from 10 to 52 to ensure health for all

• Zimbabwe was one of the first developing countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals of treating and preventing new HIV infections and reducing mother to child infections from 22 percent to 18 percent

AU & Sadc Chairperson

• Steered the peaceful resolution of political crises in Mozambique and Lesotho;

• Adroitly handled the resolution of the xenophobic attacks in South Africa which could have resulted in an implosion in the region;

• Was at the forefront of peace and security efforts on the continent after overseeing the signing of the peace agreement between Mali’s government and Tuareg rebels as well as working towards easing tensions in Burkina Faso and the DRC

• Gave renewed impetus to the AU’s Agenda 2063, Africa’s 50-year development blueprint, when he oversaw a summit at which the first 10-year implementation plan was adopted. Agenda 2063 focuses, among other things, on gender equality and the equal participation of women in all socio-political and economic spheres; creating a prosperous Africa, based on inclusive growth and sustainable development; an integrated continent, politically united, based on the ideals of pan-Africanism and the vision of Africa’s Renaissance; an Africa of good governance, democracy, respect for human rights, justice and the rule of law; a peaceful and secure Africa with a strong cultural identity, common heritage, values and ethics; an Africa whose development is people-driven, relying on the potential offered by people, especially its women and youth and caring for children and a strong, united, resilient and influential global player and partner.

• Spearheaded the adoption of the Sadc Industrialisation Strategy on April 29, 2015 which seeks to enhance the continent’s self-sufficiency and economic independence through production and optimisation of the use of Africa’s resources for the benefit of its people.

There is, therefore, sufficient justification in renaming the airport to Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport. The other benchmarks are J.F. Kennedy International Airport in the USA and Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Kenya and the Kamuzu Banda International Airport in Malawi. Ours is befitting and comes at a very opportune time in our country’s history of transport and infrastructure development as enshrined in the Zim-Asset blueprint.

• Hon Dexter Nduna, Chegutu West MP, is chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport and Infrastructure Development.

Mushika-shika pirate taxis are still plying their usual routes

Runyararo Muzavazi Features Reporter
Street vendors across the CBD are still defiant in some pockets of the city despite recent moves by the police to clear from the streets. Even though there has been a significant improvement in decongesting some major streets in the capital, vendors and “mushika-shika” pirate taxis and kombis still fight cat and mouse games.

“Rounding up sellers and telling them to move from the pavement has helped to clear some major roads such as Robert Mugabe Way,” Celine Muvengwa of Highfield. You can walk freely now without the hassle of negotiating around street vendors and the risk of being knocked down by mushika-shika operators. Despite the improvement, there are some who are fiercely resisting being moved from the streets. If nothing is done, very soon, vendors could soon flood the streets again.”

A snap survey by The Herald showed that Kombi drivers are still doing their mushika-shika activities at the corner of RG Mugabe Way and Angwa Street, Leopold Takawira Street, corner Sam Nujoma Way and Herbert Chitepo Street and next to OK supermarket en-route to Mbare. This was coming hardly a month after street vendors were swept off sidewalks and pirate taxis were driven off the Central Business District. It’s merry-go round and the Harare City Council and the police are back where they started.

Mshika-shika pirate taxis are still plying their usual routes whereas vendors have re-appeared on the streets selling different products along pavements and other undesignated areas. On October 10, this year, the police arrested scores of vendors resisting moves by the Government to remove them from the streets. Vendors say selling is their only means of survival.

They say that a total ban and clearance from the streets will destroy the livelihoods of thousands of people who depend vending for survival. Most say they have no choice but to resort to selling their wares due to lack of jobs as a result of the difficult economic circumstances they face. Vendors also say the police should stop the raids and that they also need better treatment as people trying to survive in a “hostile economic” environment.

Vendors are back on the streets by night as they avoid being arrested during daytime by police and council operations.

Many of the vendors have moved from villages and other poor suburbs to the cities, arriving with little education or skills and selling is the only way for them to survive. Fruit and vegetable sellers make up the bigger share of the vendors, but an eclectic mix of items can be bought on the roadsides — from clothes, combs and chairs, to suitcases, snacks, shoes, herbs, pesticides and cosmetics.

“Vending is my life,” says a vendor who declined to be named. “For me to be who I am today, I owe it to vending. I have managed to send my children to school through vending and bought other properties. Therefore I don’t see myself leaving the streets. Hatibve zvekumhanya. I have customers who still need my services.”

Says Agnes Chari: “We never left the streets because we depend on vending to sustain our livelihoods.

“We have no jobs and we just trying to eke a living otherwise we can die from poverty. We have no choice and we have to battle it out on the streets with the police.”

Vendors along Fourth Street

Some economic analysts contend that vendors cannot be wished away. They say they have to be seen as part of the bigger informal sector. They say the council should properly licence vendors and put them in designated points where they can also get business.

“The council should licence them and allocate them proper vending zones where they can also enjoy business,” says a Harare social commentator.

“If this is not done, they will resist all moves to be cleared from the streets.”

Says another: “Vending is their line of livelihood. When it is cut off, then they will have no source of income, Police blitz won’t work and it will be back to square one.”

In a commentary, The Herald notes: “The challenge with the city and the police is that they treat every problem as a nail which needs a hammer. This is an archaic method of public administration which is probably more relevant in the ancient city of Athens than it is in metropolitan Harare.”

Analysts suggest that the city, the police, the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration, Vehicle Inspection Department and Central Vehicle Registry and the central registry must develop an integrated system as a long-term solution to the pirate taxi as well as the menace of registered public transport operators who use illegal pick-up points. Under this system, the analysts, say the police need to take the number plate of the offenders’ vehicles. When they attempt to licence their vehicles or at roadblocks, the offenders can then be arrested instead of using spikes.

“The logic is that all vehicles on the country’s roads are registered. They can engage in illegal activities but they are registered, and renew this registration quarterly. That is the starting point,” says a Herald analyst.

“Once registration is cancelled or denied, a vehicle can no longer move on the country’s roads. So instead of using road spikes, the police only need pen and paper to take note of registration plates.”

Improving vendor’s shelters and designated zones could be an answer to the frequent police — vendor clashes. In the long run, the council should invest more into making the designated vending zones attractive. Vendors are adamant as they vow never to vacate the streets no matter how the police clamp down on them. A sustainable solution needs to be found. One that will strike a balance between the needs of vendors, pirate taxi operators and local authorities who want to bring sanity to the city. All stakeholders need to come together and find a lasting solution that will harness the experience of other countries.

Without a sustainable solution the menace of vendors and mushika-shika pirates will continue to haunt Harare with people losing lives and livelihoods. Force works to some extent but finding an amicable solution to the vending and mushika-shika crisis is the way to go. According to 2012 UN estimates, there are more than 1, 8 billion people in the global informal economy, and together, they make up a $10 trillion industry. However, some analysts even argue that the figures could be more.

“The challenge of quantifying the actors involved and the revenue generated in the informal sector is that it is terribly difficult to get a clear count on street vendors around the globe,” says one analyst in a 2012 report titled: “The power of the informal economy.”

“Many countries do not even keep records of street vendor activity, and in those that do, street vendors are likely under-reported. In many instances, even tenured academics and analysts underestimate the economic prowess of developing countries.”

Thousands of youths have been turning up for the Presidential Youth Interface Rallies as Zimbabwe gears for the 2018 elections. But getting involved is not just about turning up on election day and casting a ballot. It starts with registering to vote – a process which is ongoing right now and which everyone should embrace

Christopher Farai Charamba Features Writer
IF Nathaniel Manheru were still among us, writing that is, his weekend instalment from “The Other Side” might have begun with a quote from the Spanish-born 20th century philosopher and writer George Santayana, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. It is taken from “The Life of Reason: Vol 1 – Reason in Common Sense” and has been re-uttered in various ways, an apt one applied to recent political events might be, “those who fail to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors are destined to repeat them”.

So warned was the now former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa in what was Manheru’s column one Saturday in December 2014 after ED – the moniker by which he is commonly known – had been elevated to the post he so recently lost alongside Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko. In an instalment titled “ED, Mphoko: Two men who need to be homeless”, Manheru wrote: “Like (King) Lear, they must learn to scoff at flattery, or its opposite equivalent, false excoriation, to embrace a larger world they are now being called upon to serve . . .

“Most of all, they must know what their predecessors were guilty of, and the list is very simple. Serving imperialism, disloyalty, divisive factional narrowness, tribalism and corruption.”

In the statement read by Information Minister SK Moyo alerting the nation to former VP Mnangagwa’s dismissal it stated that he had been discharged for exhibiting traits of “disloyalty, disrespect, deceitfulness and unreliability”. Much of the same that Manheru had warned against. Manheru would add in his message to the two VPs: “It cannot be about factions. It cannot be about white interests, about Americans or British. It has to be about three cardinal things: Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe.

“That big, impregnable cosmos, far bigger than home, than that little cottage. ED, Mphoko, the time has come to be homeless. Please don’t go home, go for big beauty, for big grandeur. Go to Zimbabwe.”

It is certainly the opinion of his former principal that ED did not “go for big beauty” and subsequently the pleasure of the President at which he served was no longer extended to him.

Many have offered opinion and commentary on the turn of events and one is certain that there shall be more think pieces, speculation and wild rumour to come in the following weeks particularly around who will replace ED and what direction Zanu-PF will take going forward. While all this is important, certainly to some more than others, one thing that should be on the mind of all is the last piece of advice that Manheru gave to the VPs, that whatever happens next has to be about Zimbabwe.

As the 2018 harmonised elections approach this is the perfect opportunity for Zimbabweans to consider what it means to put the country first and what sort of country they wish to reside in. Elections are the one time every five years that all adult Zimbabweans have a chance to make a political decision. That decision will determine the direction that the country will take for the next five years.

The ideal scenario is for people to make informed decisions, interrogate the capacity of the candidates, weigh the options against each other and then come down to settle on one. But we do not reside in Utopia and the ideal is not often the reality. Voters are more inclined to respond along party lines than consider the merit that each candidate brings to the table.

But there is an opportunity for Zimbabweans to do best for Zimbabwe. Before the country heads to the national polls parties will have to choose, at primary elections, the candidates who will represent them at each ward and constituency level. By nominating to positions, within their respective parties, the best candidate for the job this immediately raises the calibre of potential national representatives in the various halls of Government.

What should drive people’s decision in selecting candidates is the vision and the capacity of the individual to execute the grand idea of a Zimbabwe that they wish to see. This period between now and the primary elections and ultimately the national elections should be one in which the people are voicing their opinions, debating their ideas on what sort of Zimbabwe they wish to leave in looks like and who are the people who can get them there.

This is also an opportunity for young people to join the political fray by building up their networks and supporting candidates from among themselves to contest for office. They certainly have the numbers to be involved and are more likely to have the zeal to see through a vision that they helped craft. Within Zanu-PF for example, Youth League Secretary Cde Kudzi Chipanga has made it abundantly clear on many occasions that all seats, save the Presidency, are up for contestation within the party and this is an opportunity which the young must take advantage of.

It should always be remembered though that those elected into political office are representatives of the people. Their mandate is to those that have chosen them to those positions and to the State of Zimbabwe at large. Finding candidates who recognise this and are committed to the people should thus be made a priority. Zimbabweans, particularly the youth, cannot afford passivity. They cannot afford to be apathetic. Everyone needs to be fully involved in the political process because these are the ones that have a bearing on how one shall live for the next five years.

Getting involved is not just about turning up on election day and casting a ballot. It starts with registering to vote – a process which is ongoing right now and which everyone should do – but it means scrutinising the candidates within one’s party and holding them to account should they be elected into office. In another December 2014 article Manheru wrote, “history is made and moved not by supermen, but by ordinary men and women, only seized with superhuman determination”.

The question that the men and women of Zimbabwe should ask themselves is: Are they determined to make history or shall they be condemned to repeat it?

Reports indicate that the country’s exports have shot up to $4 billion as at September 29, 2017, with the mining sector outshining other sectors of the economy, raking in a staggering $1,718 billion that represents 68 percent of total earnings. The most intriguing factor is that gold that earned the country $683 million, leads the mining sector. However, the tobacco sector at close to $1 billion, is way above the yellow metal in export receipts, calling for the need to launch some investigations why is it so in spite of millions of dollars the central bank pumps in to support the sector.

The country, therefore, needs to know who is waylaying the money before it reaches out to the artisanal miners, the intended beneficiaries of the money. If it’s bigwigs in Government, who are depriving the small scale miners of the money – let’s name and shame them — the country needs upright leaders. Statistics from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) show that of the export earnings realised up to September 29, gold raked in $683 million — representing 38 percent contributions to overall exports.

Gold is the second largest export earner contributing 17 percent after tobacco at 21 percent in export receipts. Gold miners, mainly the artisanal miners’ contribution has been on the increase, resulting in Government coming up with incentives such as the $20 million gold facility, which was later increased to $40 million. Indications are that the central bank may further add another $30 million to the facility as it moves towards boosting the country’s total gold production and attracting producers to sell their gold at Fidelity Printers and Refiners.

But some artisanal miners claim that only a few are benefiting from the said facilities. They allege the $30 million was disbursed to only 179 miners. From thousands of miners, who deliver to Fidelity, only a minute percentage got assistance. The fact that the artisanal miners claim are not receiving the money, raises questions on who is getting the money on behalf of the miners. The central bank should, therefore, put in place watertight mechanisms to ensure the intended beneficiaries receive the money so that authorities can put the miners’ under scrutiny if they do not deliver.

This will also help plug loopholes in the gold sector where an estimated 1 000kg of the precious metal is being smuggled out of Zimbabwe, robbing the country of export revenue. In fact, the 1 000kg are just estimates, the country might be losing more through smuggling of the mineral to other countries.

The decision by Fidelity Printers and Refiners recently to reduce cash payouts to small-scale gold miners by 40 percent, and the rest deposited in their bank accounts, we believe is not meant to hurt the industry. However, some of these extraordinary measures should be taken after a careful consideration because at times they have boomerang effects that will see more gold being exported illegally.

Fears by some players already alleging the move will hurt production and give rise to smuggling of the precious mineral out of the country should not be condemned. Of course, it hurts because before the new arrangement, small-scale miners used to receive 100 percent cash (US dollars) on delivery of the metal to the gold buying firm.

What the cash ended up being used for is debatable. However, under the new payment system as we reported in this paper recently, miners are now getting 60 percent of their earnings in US dollars, while the remaining 40 percent is deposited in bank accounts, we quoted the Zimbabwe Miners’ Federation spokesperson Dosman Mangisi, as saying.

Inasmuch as the gold miners should be incentivised by receiving 100 percent of their money from Fidelity Printers in cash, they should behave responsibly by not flooding the money on the illegal market. Otherwise the whole system becomes counterproductive as the money will be used to push the price of US dollars up on the black market, a scenario that triggers the hike of prices of consumer goods produced by some firms that fail to get foreign currency from the RBZ.

Given that gold is a finite resource, it is critical that the country should keep an inquisitive eye on whatever happens to ensure maximum benefits are realised.

Bishop B. Manjoro Dunamis
A success secret I have treasured and kept over the years; is never to talk quitting or negative. No! I fight. You could have failed your O-Levels or other key exams you sat for; you may have been kicked from your job; you may have had your company or business broke and shut down; you may have had a rough year relationships and marriage-wise; you may have suffered from a terrible accident or disease. I have a word for you don’t give up. 2017 is not yet over! O hallelujah!

“And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? Bless me even so, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept. And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; And by thy sword shall thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have dominion, that thou shalt break from off thy neck,” Genesis 27:38-40.

The story begins on Chapter 25 of the Book of Genesis in the Bible. Rebekah was pregnant and had twins in her womb, Esau and Jacob of whom God said to her “two nations are in thy womb.” Interestingly when delivery time came there was a challenge amongst the boys.

“Whoever would come out first; would be endowed with the blessing of the first born. They fought their way out.”

Listen to me friend, life was never meant to be on a silver platter for you. If you think that things just have to happen and just work out for you without effort you are making a mistake. You will live in misery and pain much of your days on earth. Your marriage, finances, health, spiritual life, family do not just move or work out on their own. No.

It’s a fight.

Pressures will come but you will have to fight the good fight of faith and stand on the Word of God. If you just sit, relax and watch, you will lose your joy, success and what rightfully belongs to you. You must fight; learn to fight through God’s Word and promises.

So the boys fought and Esau won, Jacob seemingly lost but never let go.

He came out holding the heel of Esau the first born.

For a moment it seemed Jacob had lost it all.

Later on we see Esau crying for the blessing of the first born which he lost to Jacob who had been tipped by their mother and got the blessing. Esau was distraught. The blessing was gone. He had nothing. Friend, have you lost something in your life which meant so much to you and had the devil laughs at you day and night calling you a failure and a loser?

Hold on. O hallelujah, your story is about to change! Lift up your faith, shake yourself and say to yourself it’s not over until it’s over!

What am I saying to you today? I am saying have you lost something and are about to despair?

Lost your business or job? Lost money in an idea that flopped and its haunting you? Have had several miscarriages and its crushing your heart and hope of ever holding a baby in your hands? Failed a very important exam and came out with terrible results? Got demoted, or deported and lost a life-time opportunity? Lost in a match or competition? Friend God gave me a word for you, don’t give up, don’t despair, it’s not over until it’s over. Laugh your way into your breakthrough.

Worry or stress will do you no good. It will not change anything. If you stand on God’s Word there is light at the end of the tunnel and it’s not over until it’s over.

Like Esau, yes, you lost it, but it’s not the end of the story. It’s what you do next after a set down that determines your destiny. Don’t give up. What did Esau do?

Esau grew restless. He did not get comfortable with his situation and loss. No. he fought. Yes he was crying and weeping over his loss but he kept persuading and holding on to his father for at least something to change his situation and life.

Finally there was hope and a gleam of light. Esau got a key to reverse his misfortune into a blessing, his loss into gain, his mourning into rejoicing! What is that key? O glory, hallelujah! The failure could be reversed. Isaac told him that it would come to pass when Esau grew “restless” or ‘emotional’ that he would then break the yoke of Jacob the one who took the blessing, from off his neck.

Yes he had missed it, he had failed, he had been defeated, BUT he could do something about it. It’s what you do after a loss, or set back that determines your tomorrow. If you get comfortable, feel pity about yourself and see yourself as a failure; a nobody and useless, it would be end of the story. That is the problem that has held many.

Friend if like Esau you grow, restless and emotional you will be able to reverse your situation and break the yoke of failure hanging over your life. The yoke can be broken. The failure can be reversed. It can, it can, O yes it can. Accept the Word of God and FIGHT! Your story is not over; No. It can’t end with and in failure, No, No, No.

“Better is the end of a matter than the beginning thereof . . .” Ecclesiastes 7:8. Grow restless and fight your way out of debt; out of joblessness, out of that disease, out of the misery in your home — fight out of it. For we later see Esau breaking from the yoke of failure and becoming a powerful and wealthy man himself Genesis 33:9. It’s possible, it can be done.

I speak God’s blessing on your life and family in Jesus name. Mark 10:27, “for with God all things are possible!”

Dr Mzembi

Stephen Mpofu Correspondent
The West, in particular Britain and the United States, should climb down from their perch on the fence and take Zimbabwe’s outstretched arms in a warm embrace to thaw relations that have remained decidedly icy for years following this country’s agrarian revolution in 2001, which saw land occupied by white settler farmers being repossessed by the Government and redistributed to blacks who needed that asset the most.

To protest the land reform programme, Britain, this country’s former colonial power, and the USA imposed financial and economic sanctions in a bid to effect regime change and reverse the land reallocation scheme, with those two countries’ allies in continental Europe echoing the punitive embargo to try to isolate this country for the kill, which, however, kept receding like a mirage to this day in spite of impassioned pleas by some international progressive forces for the West to bury the hatchet.

This week the Zimbabwean Government, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, again expressed this country’s fervent desire for an “ikhota eyikhotayo” or “inonanzwa inoinanzwawo” trade and economic re-engagement that should see Zimbabwe and the countries in point licking one another in an economic diplomacy that enhances rapprochement as a unifying force in the interdependence of global states.

Former British prime minister Tony Blair

In an address to heads of diplomatic missions in Harare three days ago, Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Walter Mzembi said economic diplomacy shall ride on an enabling legislation and other legal instruments, like the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act as well as President Mugabe’s 10-Point Plan.

He said “l shall seek an honest and forthright dialogue with these countries (the US and Britain) in order to let go of the past and explore and pursue mutually beneficial economic opportunities.”

It goes without saying that the West stands to reap handsome dividends from Zimbabwe’s rich natural resources through enhanced bilateral relations in the same way as financial and economic assistance will be a phillip in our country’s social and economic revival, there giving Zimbabwe a brave new future. For example, any financial aid given not only to strengthens diplomatic ties, but directed along with technical assistance to economic development will catalyse Zimbabwe’s economic and social growth by leaps and bounds.

Take, for instance, land which is God’s huge endowment for Zimbabwe and for Africa as a whole. The exploitation or development of land should go beyond merely strengthening diplomatic ties to ending hunger and poverty in rural areas by creating wealth for the masses through investment in such areas as agriculture, mining, tourism et cetera.

Former US president George W. Bush

In the specific case of Zimbabwe, the political decantation, so to speak, taking place right now should not deter potential investors bringing in their hard-earned cash to do business here under the belief that there is turmoil in the country. What is taking place in the ruling zanu-pf is, in fact, a house cleaning process, which is not likely to continue ad in- finitum. On the other hand, the move is a passing phase that should not be allowed to cause a long-term political disequilibrium seriously damaging the international image of the country with perpetrators deserving their just desserts.

Ideally, citizens of the global village in post-modernity should be seen making strenuous efforts in licking one another, like cows in a pen to demonstration the importance of amity.

Youth are characterised as vibrant, go-getters and enthusiastic, and such energy if well applied, will lead into the success of small capital businesses that are becoming the mainstay of youth involvement in the country’s economic space

Leroy Dzenga Correspondent
There have been continued calls from across the board for youths to be enterprising and not sit on their laurels waiting for jobs which may not be forthcoming. Many are of the opinion that young people should be championing the creation of their own jobs and opportunities. Considered to be the creative pulse of society, the youth are also the biggest demographic in the country, according to the last census.

Which explains why there is an increasing interest in how they play their part in the country’s developmental trajectory. True to assumption, there is a decent number of brilliant ideas within the Zimbabwean youth population as has been shown by start-ups that have emerged in recent times.

Small capital businesses are becoming the mainstay of youth involvement in the country’s economic space. Drawn by their ease to establish and maintain, young people have been doing fairly well in that department. What is lacking at the moment is the growth aspect, some start-ups are nearing a decade and they have not moved an inch in terms of progress.

A quick survey of youth retail hubs like Zimpost Mall, Kwame Mall and Glen View 8 home industry shows a promising model of a targeted market specific retail trading. However, some of the businesses there have not upgraded their operations since their inception. The asset base and scope that some enterprises had in 2010 is still the same, posing serious questions on the quality of business ideas among the youths.

There is now need for a centralised incubating system that guides emerging youth-owned businesses imparting information and skills necessary for expansion. Few years back, the Ministry of Youth and Economic Empowerment, through the Youth Fund, tried to empower the youth, but their undoing was giving resources that was not galvanised by sufficient guidance on making the best out of the investment.

Earlier this year, media reports suggested that close to $40 million was unpaid in loans conferred to the youths since the inception of the now suspended financing window. This shows the tragedy of giving funding to paper-based businesses, the more useful model would be financing ideas already in motion judging from their practical potential and performance.

Before it becomes podium rhetoric that young people should be inventive in their quest to generate their own forms of employment, there should be a signal of intent from Government and business on working with youth-owned businesses. Some youths proponents have suggested that in the national procurement system, a small percentage of tenders awarded be preserved for such businesses so as to stimulate earned capital as opposed to handouts.

Handouts and loans have a problem that some people who may have access to the funding may have porous business ideas which usually result in losses as well as defaulted repayments. Done in moderation the strategic procurement quota may see other small companies breaking the tax bracket into bigger entities opening opportunities for employment and economic expansion.

A company’s growth also means their demand for operational services increases, creating tributary businesses. Research and idea development should not be neglected when pursuing active youth involvement in business as small to medium scale proprietors. New knowledge is needed probing the reasons why the initial phase of the Youth Fund and other progressive efforts have not yet yielded any fruit worth praising.

Universities and research institutions should be commissioned to find out the impediments in the current economic setup slowing down the growth of youth championed ideas in Zimbabwe. There seems to be a stagnant formula prevailing among youths in business, where the approaches employed were successful in opening up entities, but lacks energy to propel them to greater heights.

Opening up spaces for the youth to excel may limit brain drain which has seen some brilliant young Zimbabweans move to other countries with ideas originally meant to blossom at home. Authorities should regularly reach out to the likely sources of innovation to find out what new thoughts are being harboured by those who may not have access to platforms of funding.

Some business gems with brilliant ideas are hidden in a shared office in the heart of dilapidated downtown buildings, limiting their scope to conventional methods because of the need to survive. Disruptive innovators and thinkers are settling for office jobs just to put food on the table because the systems meant to help their ideas blossom are not very visible in the country.

The Ministry of Youth, through the Zimbabwe Youth Council, may need to take a leaf from the private sector and think of how they can structure the emerging business hub concept to suit public service. Right now it seems their existence may be hard to justify to a budding entrepreneur in Bikita, Mberengwa or anywhere in the country.

This may be a result of the central idea that people who need their intervention should approach them, when in actual sense principle calls for the opposite. Maybe an inter-ministerial approach may be the best remedy where the Ministry of Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment join forces with the Ministry of Small to Medium Enterprises with sights to finding long-term solutions to the small growth in youth businesses.

The much touted youth dividend is not growing into anything meaningful for the greater Zimbabwean populace because access to astute business guidance is still a challenge among most youth-led projects, adding to already existing obstacles like limited funding.

• Feedback: dzengavisuals@gmail.com

Ambassador Cho . . . “l believe these cultural events have made a significant contribution to increasing the mutual understanding between our two peoples.”

THE INTERVIEW: Tendai Manzvanzvike
South Korea’s ninth Ambassador to Zimbabwe, His Excellency Mr Cho Jaichel was among five envoys who presented their credentials to President Mugabe on October 25, 2017. Herald Foreign Editor Tendai Manzvanzvike (TM) caught up with Ambassador Cho to find out more about Zimbabwe-Korea relations, and what they hold for the future, in terms of trade relations especially. In the interview, Ambassador Cho speaks on a wide range of issues, including his passion for Zimbabwean music, sculpture and sport.

TM: Your Excellency, you presented your credentials to President Mugabe on October 25. How long have you been in Zimbabwe, and what do you think about the country and its people? Have you managed to travel around the country, including visiting our tourist resorts?

Ambassador Cho: I was greatly privileged and honoured to have presented my credentials to the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, HE Robert Gabriel Mugabe. I arrived in Harare in late April this year.

However, during the past six months, I have visited many beautiful places in this country and got to know more about the country.

I have already met many Zimbabwean friends, including singer Alick Macheso, Olympic gold medallist Kirsty Coventry and Shona stone sculptor Dominic Benhura. I look forward to building friendship with more Zimbabwean people.

When I went to Great Zimbabwe, I realised that the Zimbabwean people have a very long history and a flourishing civilisation.

In front of the magnificence of the Victoria Falls, I comprehended that the Zimbabwean people know the greatness of nature and how to live in harmony with it. From the always smiling faces of the Zimbabwean people I meet on the street, I was able to find the warm hearts and peace-loving tradition of the Zimbabwean people.

TM: When did diplomatic ties between Zimbabwe and South Korea start, and from the time the bilateral relations started, how do you think the relations have fared? Maybe you can also highlight some of the major economic, political, social or cultural activities between the two countries and how beneficial they have been to both countries.

Ambassador Cho: Diplomatic relations between the Republic of Korea and the Republic of Zimbabwe began on November 18 1994, and this year marks the 23rd anniversary of our diplomatic ties.

I think Korea and Zimbabwe have been maintaining cordial relations in various areas, including political, economic, cultural and people-to-people exchanges. I also think that our cooperation in the area of agriculture has shown very remarkable developments.

The Korean government established KOPIA (Korea Programme on International Agriculture) Centre within the Scientific and Industrial Research and Development Centre (SIRDC) campus in Harare last year, in an effort to strengthen the agricultural co-operation in a more systematic way.

The KOPIA Centre is now carrying out various projects such as production of disease-free potato seed, promotion of free-range roadrunners and much more. I believe these projects will create a strong momentum for Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector in increasing production and value-creation.

Last year, my embassy also donated US$100 000 worth of research equipment and farming materials to SIRDC to support the agricultural cooperation between our two countries. With our bilateral relations entering adulthood, I believe we can further develop our relations.

As the ninth Korean Ambassador to Zimbabwe, I personally feel a great responsibility in taking a step forward in our bilateral relations. In this sense, my embassy organised a “Korea Festival”, a serious cultural event that was held from September 25 to October 3 this year.

The festival included the Korean traditional musical and dance performances by Dasrum Ensemble and Artfield, Korean movie night.

I believe these cultural events have made a significant contribution to increasing the mutual understanding between our two peoples.

Turning to the economic sector, my embassy organised the “Korea-Zimbabwe Energy Investment Seminar”, to provide opportunity for companies from our two countries to meet each other, build up network and trust and discuss about cooperation in a mutually beneficial manner.

TM: The Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), in conjunction with the Zimbabwe Investment Authority (ZIA), facilitated recently, a visit by a 10-member Korean business delegation to Zimbabwe, who are seeking investment opportunities. What is the possible interest of companies that came to scout for investing in Zimbabwe?

Ambassador Cho: The Korea-Zimbabwe Investment Seminar held on November 3 in Harare focused on mining, electricity and energy infrastructure sectors. These areas are where the Korean companies were interested in. The sectors are also inter-linked and serve as the backbone of any economy.

TM: Out of the seven companies, which ones have expressed definite interest to set up shop in Zimbabwe, not just supplying goods and services?

Ambassador Cho: This seminar was not intended for signing business contracts, but for creating network opportunities and platforms for advanced business discussions in the future.

I believe the seminar achieved its intended goal. The Korean companies came and saw the potential of the Zimbabwean economy. I think they will study more and consider from a business perspective.

TM: We also understand that trade has been declining between the two countries. What do you think are the reasons, and what should be done to boost trade between Zimbabwe and South Korea?

Ambassador Cho: Sadly, it is true that trade volumes between Korea and Zimbabwe have been on a down-ward path.

There may be lots of reasons, including the long distance between Korea and Zimbabwe, which result in high transportation costs.

In order to boost trade between our two countries, we need to find areas where the two countries can supplement each other’s economies.

I think that Korea’s high technology and Zimbabwe’s abundant natural resources can be a good example. At the same time, what is quintessential is that Zimbabwe improves its business environment by clearing institutional obstacles and socio-economic uncertainties.

According to the World Bank’s 2017 Ease of Doing Business survey, Korea ranked fourth among 190 countries while Zimbabwe ranked 159th. This means that Korean companies are used to very business-friendly environments, and there are many other alternative countries with better business environments than Zimbabwe.

I know that the Zimbabwean Government is making a lot of efforts to improve its business environment. I think this is the right direction.

TM: And, what has been the size of grant support from South Korea to Zimbabwe?

Ambassador Cho: The Republic of Korea has been providing a significant amount of assistance to Zimbabwe and my embassy is trying to do more for the Zimbabwean people.

After my arrival, my government donated $100 000 of humanitarian assistance through UNICEF for the Zimbabwean people affected by floods. I would also like to tell you about the stories of the Korean people helping Zimbabwean people.

Many Korean non-governmental organisation workers and missionaries are helping the Zimbabwean people. Some are teaching Zimbabwean children from poor families at the POSCO Development Centre, which was established with a donation of US$100 000 from a Korean charity organisation, Community Chest of Korea and operation with the funding from POSCO, Korea’s No. 1 steel company.

Others are drilling boreholes for marginalised and poor communities. One of the most memorable sites I have visited since my arrival is the village where one Korean NGO donated a borehole.

There was a panel (signage) saying “Water of Life.” I heard from the NGO worker that some Korean people are sending money to them for these borehole projects.

Some of them are sending the money that they have saved for their 60th birthday parties, while others are doing so at the price of their long-waited family travel. There are more untold stories of such gestures of assistance.

As you might know, Korea was poorer than Zimbabwe in the past. In 1960, Korea’s GDP per capita was a mere US$155, while Zimbabwe’s GDP per capita stood at US$280. So, Korean people know well about the daily hardships of poor people and have warm hearts to help them.

As Korean Ambassador, I am very proud of these Korean people and believe their warm hearts can be felt by the Zimbabwean people.

Even though the voluntary assistance by the Korean people is not included in the Official Development Assistance statistics, I believe their noble gestures are really valuable and laying a solid ground for stronger relations between our two countries.

TM: Your Excellency, let’s now turn to issues in your region. The Korean Peninsula continues to be in the news because of your northern neighbour North Korea and its nuclear missile tests. Do you think that the two Koreas will ever achieve unity, and live peacefully? And, how has this affected the region?

Ambassador Cho: I believe the two Koreas will be reunited in a peaceful manner. It is just a matter of time and there is no other option.

My President Moon Jae-in has clearly declared that the government of the Republic of Korea will neither pursue unification by absorbing the North nor seek artificial unification and that unification needs to be carried out in a peaceful and democratic manner.

President Moon also clarified that his government does not want North Korea to collapse. At the same time, he put forward a new roadmap for economic co-operation between the two Koreas and other neighbouring countries in the North East Asian region through which North Korea will naturally be able to realise that its peace can be guaranteed without a nuclear weapon.

The denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula is the essential prerequisite for peace and security of the peninsula and beyond. And the best way to achieve that denuclearisation is through dialogue.

However, while North Korea continues to conduct military provocations like nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches, we cannot expect meaningful dialogue. North Korea must stop military provocations and must come back to the negotiating table with a genuine intention of denuclearisation.

As the United Nations Security Council and the international community are increasing efforts to achieve denuclearisation on the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner, I hope that North Korea gives up its dangerous nuclear ambition and returns to the path for peace.

TM: Your Excellency, we also understand that you are a soccer fan. Do you like Zimbabwean soccer and how does it compare with Korean soccer?

Ambassador Cho: I am an enthusiastic soccer fan. And, there are no national boundaries for soccer fans. I have already visited the Zimbabwe National Soccer Stadium to watch the A-match soccer games between Zimbabwe and other countries.

I still remember the fanatical atmosphere that filled the entire stadium when the Warriors Captain (Knowledge) Musona scored three goals against Liberia in the 2019 African Cup of Nations qualifiers match.

I also know that Zimbabwe won the 2017 COSAFA Castle Cup, becoming the only country which lifted the champion trophy five times, while South Africa and Zambia lifted it four times each.

One of my dreams is to watch an A-match soccer game between Korea and Zimbabwe during my term as the Korean ambassador. For this, I am promoting the Zimbabwean national soccer team as the most powerful team in the Southern African region. I hope this dream comes true.

I think the Korean team will beat the Zimbabwean team with a 5-4 score line. I am sorry to my Zimbabwean friends, but I do not want the Korean team to lose against the Zimbabwean team.

TM: Your parting words to the people of Zimbabwe and Korea regarding our diplomatic relations and the future?

Ambassador Cho: As I mentioned earlier, there are many commonalities between Korea and Zimbabwe in terms of history, culture and people’s minds and hearts. I think these commonalities are very important assets in developing our bilateral relations.

I hope to see more and more cooperation and exchanges between our two countries. Active people-to-people exchanges are the most powerful driving forces in developing our bilateral relations.

Last year alone, more than 15 000 Koreans visited Zimbabwe. I think more than 20 000 Koreans are expected to visit Zimbabwe this year and the number would continue to grow in the future, and this should not be limited to high-level government delegations, but also students, scholars, civil society, businessmen, artists and tourists. I believe that this will be highly instrumental in further strengthening the Korea-Zimbabwe relations.

And, next year from February 2 to 25, Korea is hosting the 2018 Pyeong Chang Winter Olympic Games. I think this is a very good opportunity for Zimbabwean people to visit Korea.

I hope many Zimbabwean people can visit Korea during the Olympic season and experience the winter sports as well as very dynamic culture and highly advanced economy of Korea. Thank you very much.

TM: The pleasure is mine, Your Excellency.

AMAZING . . . He is the head of the house and provider for his granny and uncle

Freedom  Mupanedemo Features Writer
IT is said nature would have them children before they are men (Jean Jacques Rousseau), not so for the appropriately named Amazing Phiri!

At the tender age of 12, he has already become a man in his household.

Picture this: On a wintry Tuesday morning, the 12-year-old boy from Vandirai village, in Mberengwa under Chief Chingoma, tries hard to shake off the lethargy of sleep to face yet another hectic day, starting a fire, preparing food for his granny and uncle before dashing off to school.

When death robbed him of both his parents some few years back, and with no other relative to turn to, Amazing was left with the unthinkable task of looking after his 77-year-old blind granny, Gogo Delpher Phiri, and his 56-year-old mentally challenged uncle, Lucah Phiri. He does not have to pretend to play father when playing house because circumstances have made him that already.

He is the head of the house and provider for his granny and uncle. Being a child is a luxury for him. Amazing has to take charge of the household, in terms of decision-making and responsibility for the family. This is no mean feat for a 12-year-old. He has to go to school, too. Everyday, the boy makes sure he wakes up well in time to do household chores. He prepares the fire and at least has to find something to cook for his granny and uncle – who both look up to him.

Food is hard to come by though. But the politics of the belly forces Gogo Phiri and Lucah Phiri to wait for their 12-year-old caregiver to put something on the table. At that age, Amazing should scavenge and make sure that the two are fed.

He is the head of the family. The bread- winner!

And he knows it!

Gogo Delpher Phiri . . . “I am now blind and for me to eat or bath, I depend on Amazing.”

“There is nothing I can do. I have to make sure that they are fed. Everyone who comes to see me here either with some food portions or any form of help tells me to be strong,” says Amazing, who spoke with some kind of confidence that would elude many a teenager. My mother, who was the breadwinner, died some two years ago and I was left to cater for granny and Uncle Lucah. My mother was the first born to granny and her second and last born is Uncle Lucah, who is mentally challenged.”

The 12-year-old orphan says he depends on handouts from neighbours who, from time to time, visit him to see how he is coping with the situation. But at times handouts run dry but life has to go on. He must make sure that he and his two dependants don’t starve.

“I sometimes go out to the village with a begging bowl. Many in the surrounding area know my predicament. When they see me visiting their homesteads with a begging bowl, they know something is amiss and they quickly assist,” he says. Most of them are supportive and sometimes I just come home and find mealie-meal, sugar or salt left by well-wishers while I am away.”

Inspite of his demanding circumstances, Amazing has not given up on school, but the future is bleak. Every morning he wakes up early, makes a fire and prepares food for his two dependants before he grabs his bag and dashes to school. But his debt at his school, Gwayi Primary, continues to accumulate as he has not been paying fees for some time.

”I haven’t paid school fees for the last two years but am just going. At times we are turned away but I am still attending school,” he says.

The mentally retarded uncle, Lucah Phiri

Gogo Phiri says her life now depends on her grandchild ever since she went blind. She says she cannot do anything and always looks up to Amazing for everything.

“I am now blind and for me to eat or bath, I depend on Amazing. His mother, who was my first born, used to do everything for us, but she is now late. We have been depending on this boy since the death of his mother,” she says. “My other child is mentally challenged and Amazing also makes sure that he feeds and bathes him.”

Gogo Phiri says life has not been rosy for her and her 12-year-old grandson since she lost her sight. She says they were now depending on well-wishers and the boy was being overwhelmed by the task of heading a family at his age.

“He is so young but he found himself heading a family. He fetches water, firewood and prepares food for us. It’s a tough task for someone of his age but he has no choice,” she says.

Mr Pardon Ndlovu, a village head, says the situation was bad for the boy. He says most people in the village knew about the challenges faced by the boy and were doing everything within their means to try and help him out in terms of food.

“We are just poor villagers and we usually give the boy some support. His situation is bad but he is a hero,” he says. “He is somehow managing.”

If anything, Amazing, is an extremely courageous young person who stands out as a symbol of love, hope and kindness, in a world in which these values are increasingly becoming rare.

THE Sports Commission deserves a lot of praise for the way they have been working around the clock to ensure that the rot in domestic rugby is cleared and they need the support of the parent Ministry of Sport, Recreation and Culture to ensure that they fix this important sporting discipline. For years now, we have watched our rugby, which used to be one of the strongest sporting disciplines in the country, lose its way and we have seen our national team, which used to be one of the strongest on the continent, become a bunch of whipping boys.

We have always been wondering why things have become so bad with this sporting discipline with the senior national team, the Sables, which used to dazzle the globe at the World Cup, now always failing to make it to the grand stage. Despite having a very strong base, with the game very competitive at school level, we have not seen that translate into a very vibrant and strong national team and teams that we used to beat, by record scores, have not only caught up with us, but are now hammering us with ease.

Some have said we are paying the price for losing a number of our best young players to other countries and those we see as promising players, during their school days, disappear from the radar and are not seen graduating into the Sables ranks to make the national team a very powerful unit. There is a bit of truth in that because the likes of David Pocock, who has transformed himself into a big star in Australia, and Tendai “Beast’’ Mtawarira, who has broken all sorts of records in the colours of the Springboks of South Africa, immediately come up as big examples.

But, hidden away from us all this time has been the apparent rot that has been destroying the soul of this game with those who are tasked with administering the sport feasting on the funds in the game rather than using them to develop the sport. What this has meant is that our rugby has not provided the conducive environment needed to lure some of our best players to remain home and make a living playing the game in the country and for their country.

The investigations launched by the Sports Commission into the way those who had been tasked with administering the game, instead, turned themselves into a bunch of individuals who were milking the sport, makes very sad reading, indeed. And, what we are being told is that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Such is the mess in the sport that the Sports Commission have even recommended five-year bans for suspended executives and want an audit carried out on the association amid the serious allegations of financial impropriety that was the order of the day during the old leadership.

This is contained in a 24-page report, compiled by the Sports Commission after investigating the problems that had pegged back the ZRU and led to the suspension of the leadership of Nyararai Sibanda, Noddy Kanyangarara and Joseph Kanyete. A three-member committee comprising Clement Mukwasi (chairperson) and members Titus Zvomuya and John Falkenberg came up with the report which also recommended that an audit be carried on the ZRU amid allegations of misappropriation of funds by the executive committee.

How can they surely explain, as responsible leaders, a situation where from the £90 000 which the Zimbabwe Rugby Union receives as annual international grant from the International Rugby Board, £77 5000 is used for administration, including salaries?

And only £7 000 s was being set aside for domestic competitions and as little as £1 000 set aside for training. They noted that the money from sponsorship could have been abused because of the various different accounts that the ZRU leadership were using with a number of local banks.

“No financial systems were being observed. There is no finance committee in place, no internal audit system in place, no purchasing and supply procedures in place, so separation of roles between those who receive money, those who bank it, those who pay for supplies and those who receive the supplies,’’ the report says.

“Sponsors’ money not used transparently as a result there was disunity within ZRU as some members wanted to avoid financial scrutiny.’’

Sadly, according to the committee, even the ZRU audited report for last year had some key missing information as if to dupe those who read the report that things were normal. We cannot allow such corruption in our sport and it’s good that the Sports Commission are moving mountains to ensure that they get to the bottom of what was happening because the public really needs to know.

We need to get our rugby back on track because there is no question that we have the players who can represent this country well and make all of us smile again. Already, our cricket has shown that it’s possible to have national teams that can compete on the big stage and that is where we want our rugby to go back to.