…as ZIMRA records rise in revenue collection

By Beatific Gumbwanda

Government’s developmental initiatives through partnership with Zimborders at Beitbridge Border Post have increased security measures impeding crime in transit, smuggling of goods and dangerous substances as well as flagging of wanted suspects thereby increasing revenue collection by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA).
Zimborders provides a turnkey solution for the infrastructure as well as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) systems to modernize and upgrade the border posts in Zimbabwe, with Beitbridge being the pioneer while Forbes in Manicaland is expected to surpass it.
Beitbridge Border Post is manned by twenty-six government departments, with ZIMRA dominating with 425 employees working on four shifts.
Speaking during a media tour of the border Post recently, Beitbridge ZIMRA’s Regional Manager, Lonto Ndlovu said the modernization of the port of entry promoted security.
She said they used Closed Circuit Television Network (CCTV) as well as Facial Recognition Software and drones which helps in identifying flagged criminal suspects, smuggling activity around the border and its peripheries as well as avoidance of transit criminal vehicles.
“Drone Surveillance System helps in the border surveillance on smugglers and is bearing results as 4-5 smugglers are being intercepted daily. We have short-range drones with a 10-kilometer radius which we are currently using as well as long-range drones with a 100-kilometer radius.
“We also have the ground reaction teams comprising of ZIMRA officials, the Zimbabwe Republic Police, and Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) personnel who operate on information obtained from drone surveillance,” she added.
Ndlovu said the Facial Recognition System automatically detects flagged criminals once they set foot on the border, alerting the security forces to act promptly.
“The facial recognition system detects flagged criminals from passing through as the alarm system goes on whenever they set foot on the border prompting security forces to react immediately,” she said.
“We also have commercial truck scanners, which scan over 100 trucks per hour, making it easy to check more than 900 trucks on daily basis,” said Ndlovu.
The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority also runs the canine unit at the border post where dogs are used to sniff and detect drugs from all goods that pass through the border.
She went on to say the modernization also resulted in increased revenue collection and reduction in corruption.
“Ever since the modernization of Beitbridge Border post, we are now collecting more revenue and there is now order at the border as we now use the Coordinated Border Management system. Corruption is now kept low.
“During the first year after modernization, we surpassed our collection target by 30 percent and as of last year, we surpassed by 16 percent,” said Ndlovu.

By Decide Nhendo

Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) has said the Zimbabwe Gold currency (ZiG) is impacting operation of telecommunications in Zimbabwe.
In his First Quarter Sector Performance Report, POTRAZ Director General Dr Gift Machengete said the new currency was impacting the performance of the telecommunications sector and said the only way for the tumult to settle was through improved macroeconomic stability.
“The introduction of the ZiG currency in Zimbabwe has implications for the telecommunications sector, impacting transactional processes, pricing strategies and cost structures. Going forward, the turbulence experienced by the sector in the first quarter is expected to subside on account of improved macroeconomic stability,” reads the report.
Machengete revealed that despite the sector being a highly capital-intensive sector with a lot of operating expenses it was lacking foreign currency for development to improve services.
“While the sector is highly capital intensive, it still faces inadequate foreign currency needed to invest in network expansion and upgrades. On the other hand, bandwidth costs, depreciation, administration costs, and staff costs remain key contributors to operating expenses in the sector,” reads part of the report.
The report expressed worry about the devastating El Nino-induced drought citing that it was going to affect the way consumers were going to consume telecommunications services since most of them were going to choose food first over data.
“On the demand side, the sector may suffer the negative spill-over effects of the El Nino induced drought which is likely to reduce aggregate demand. Hence, demand for telecommunications services may contract as consumers prioritize food against data,” reads the statement.
From the report, the first quarter of 2024 saw internet and data usage increase by 24.9 percent to reach 58.44 Petabytes (PB), from 46.79PB recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023. This was attributed to the increased expansion of digital services, remote working, and online learning, growing internet connectivity, and preference for Over-the-top (OTT) media and streaming services among other things.
Mobile voice traffic declined by 1.32 percent to record 3.07 billion minutes, from 3.1 billion minutes recorded in the previous quarter. Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) fixed voice traffic declined by 3.17 percent to record 66.87 million minutes from 69.06 million minutes recorded in the fourth quarter of 2024. The decline in mobile and fixed voice may be attributed to the substitution effect of Over the Top (OTT) communication such as WhatsApp and Facebook.

By Precila Takabvirakare

Gutu Rural District Council (RDC) has commissioned its Roof Town vegetable market, a grader, tipper truck, back hoe loader and six service vehicles, a development which the local authority says will promote service delivery.
The vehicles and market were officially commissioned by Masvingo Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Ezra Chadzamira on June 21.
The vehicles and construction of the market was done using devolution funds which Minister Chadzamira said was testimony that Gutu RDC was putting government funds into good use.
“We are very happy because of what Gutu RDC has done, it is one of the districts in Masvingo province that is walking the talk and delivering results as expected by government.
“These vehicles will help in service delivery and the market will enable vegetable sellers to sell their goods on a clean environment,” said Chadzamira.
He also said the development showed that various stakeholders in Gutu were united and complimenting each other’s efforts.
“This council achievement shows that stakeholders in Gutu are united. They plan developmental programmes for community development together and that is what we want. Let’s remember the Shona saying ‘rume rimwe harikombi churu’,” he said
Chadzamira also urged Gutu RDC to have a master plan and to finish old projects before starting new ones saying Mupandawana growth point was supposed to grow like Masvingo town.
“I also urge you to have a master plan because it will help you to know what you want to do in all sectors of the economy. I encourage you to finish all projects before starting new ones and I am looking forward to see Gutu growing like Masvingo town in the near future,” said Chadzamira
Gutu Central Member of Parliament Winston Chitando appreciated the work by Gutu RDC to improve its service delivery saying the development seemed small but it was very important.
“I would like to appreciate the great work that Gutu RDC is doing, it seems very small but it is very important because it is in line with the President’s Vision 2030 of becoming an upper middle income economy.
“This cannot be achieved overnight rather it is done step by step, brick by brick so let us trust the process and keep on working towards attaining that,” said Chitando
The council purchased the vehicles and constructed the market using devolution funds with US$35 000 having been used for the Roof Town Market.
US$130 000 was used to purchase a grader and a fleet of six vehicle cars while US$70 000 was used to purchase tipper truck and a back hoe loader.

…Everything in a sorry state

…Mortuary, laundry machines down

By Cephas Shava

Mwenezi – The only referral hospital for one of the remotest districts in the country, Neshuro District Hospital in Mwenezi is in such a sorry state that it has become more of a death trap for patients who have no option but to seek health services there, with all the major facilities required for a health centre its size not working.
Sources within the institution said the hospital has a defunct mortuary section which was shut down several months ago and the situation has forced authorities to resort to temporarily keep dead bodies in side wards (hospital rooms previously reserved for staff patients) before relatives of the dead are expeditiously advised to collect them.
Mwenezi District Medical Officer (DMO) Dr Itai Matibiri could neither confirm nor deny as he referred all questions to the Provincial Medical Director (PMD) Dr Amadeus Shamhu.
“I am not allowed to comment on the issues you are asking but you can contact Dr Shamhu, I think he can furnish you with the correct information,” said Dr Matibiri.
Efforts to get a comment from Dr Shamhu failed to yield results as he promised to look into the matter and come back to the reporter but failed to do so. Repeated efforts to get his comment were futile as he was not picking up his cell.
“Let me find out from the people on the ground and I will get back to you after an hour or so,” said Shamhu.
However, ward 1 councillor Mavengano Chauke whose ward covers the Neshuro area where the hospital is located, confirmed the facility’s predicament saying it had inconvenienced locals.
“It is true that the hospital’s mortuary has not been working for many months now. This situation has haunted locals and is forcing many to engage in speedy burials which are not as per the bereaved families’ plans since they will be forced to expeditiously clear their dead relatives’ bodies from the hospital. There is need to come up with a sustainable solution over this predicament,” said Chauke.
A source concurred with Chauke saying they were forced to bury their relative a day after his death even before the whole family had gathered as planned because they had nowhere to keep the body since they could not afford the services of a funeral parlor.
“We wanted to wait for our deceased relative’s sons who were in South Africa to attend the burial but the situation forced us to bury him before their arrival because we had nowhere to keep the body since the Neshuro Mortuary is not working. We appeal to authorities to intervene and save the situation because people here rely on services from the hospital. The situation could be worse for us this year because of drought and most of us cannot afford private hospitals where better services are offered,” said the source.
The situation is said to be worse in the kitchen where hospital stoves went down long back, cooking is being done using firewood with sugar beans being the only relish for patients.
One Larcadia Shoko who hails from Mwenezi West’s Ward 10 whose Uncle, Tamuka Shoko passed away while admitted at Neshuro Hospital in March this year described her experience at the medical facility as the worst.
She said they were asked to buy almost all the medication prescribed to them, which defied the logic of one being admitted in a hospital.
“We came face-to-face with the worst and pathetic situation during my uncle’s hospitalization. He had continuous chest pains but what worried us most at first is that, of all his prescribed medication we got nothing at the hospital’s pharmacy and we had to buy from a local private surgery,” said Shoko.
Shoko further described the hospital as a deathtrap on its own, owing to the substandard food served at the hospital, saying the food was far from improving the conditions of patients.
“During my uncle’s admission, we had to fork out extra money to get food for him as they were only served sadza and beans throughout his admission.
“Sugar beans was the only relish that was offered daily for the four weeks our uncle spent at the institution. There is no way you can expect a patient’s health to improve when he or she is being fed the same type of relish every day. I really felt pity for those patients who could not afford to buy supplementary food and relied on hospital food,” she said.
Reliable sources at the hospital confirmed the dire situation at the health facility saying owing to the longevity of the plights in the mortuary, laundry and kitchen section of the hospital, health staff at the institution were now accustomed to normalizing the abnormalities.
“The kitchen is using fire to cook patients’ food and we do laundry manually; handling dirty linen from patients is another terrible situation one has to endure. Even when one is wearing gloves, you cannot avoid contact with the dirty water whilst hand washing,” said the source.
Sources further said the Nyaradzo Life Assurance Company once tabled modalities on working towards restoring the hospital mortuary’s operations but the deal went down over unclear circumstances.
Neshuro District Hospital is the only government-owned hospital that service three constituencies, namely Mwenezi East, Mwenezi West and Mwenezi North. However, owing to substandard services and lack of critical medication at the facility most people are turning to private doctors for health services.