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Women breaking barriers- Meet Anne Nderezina a truck driver

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Women breaking barriers- Meet Anne Nderezina a truck driver

Perpetua Murungweni

A 36 year-old Anne Nderezina is one of the few women who are redefining stereotypical gender roles by becoming a truck driver, a trade that is dominated by men.
Nderezina who works for Logistics for Sub-Sahara, a South Africa based company drives a 30 tonne cross boarder truck from South Africa to a number of that include Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi and Kenya.
She said being a truck driver is a not for the feint hearted and not an easy task for women saying she decided to but she had to take up the challenge because she had to provide for her family.
“Truck driving is not an easy job especially for women, it is a male dominated space but I had to take up the challenge because I have a family to feed. I have to put food on the table work I had been doing wasn’t paying enough for me to provide for the family,” said Nderezina.
Nderezina said she started driving trucks in 2016 having been a hairdresser for some time. She left it and opted to be a truck driver which she said pays more and is now earning a better living than before.
“I joined the industry by choice, I chose a profession that earns more than what I was earning from the hair dressing. I am earning good from this job and I am able to send my two kids to school as well as taking good care of my parents,” said Nderezina.
She however said, though she was earning more from the job, it is associated with a number challenges that mainly emanates from it being male dominated.
“Financially the industry is good, however, it is male dominated and is associated with a number of challenges like sexual harassment and bullying. Most men bully women to get served first when we are in queues at offloading bays. Another challenge is that men try to take advantage of us women, at the offloading bays because in most cases I will be the only women there. Instead of respecting and treating me as a workmate, most men ask for sex instead.
She also said most offloading bays are not user friendly for women since they were designed to suit only men.
“Most of the offloading bays have male facilities and rarely do you find one with female ones. In most cases I find it difficult to bath because the showering rooms are just a one open space making it difficult for me to take mine at the same time with my male counterparts. To bath i have to make sure that there is a no one in the bathroom and take a quick one.
The situation forces me to skip a bath sometimes because the bathrooms maybe occupied for the entire time I will be at a certain place or sometimes I will be forced to fork out money from my pocket to get a shower at a lodge.
She lamented the time she spend on the road, which she said takes away most of her time to fulfil other motherly duties.
We take two weeks to a month on the road and that is not ideal for a married women especially in our patriarchal society. This situation has contributed collapse of my marriage because my husband and my in-laws didn’t understand that the time I spend away from home I will be working.
“At first, even my family where I come from did not support me because they too believed the job was meant for men. However with time my family accepted and are now supporting me all the way through,” said Nderezina.

Mounting Public Debt: Is Zimbabwe in a Fix?

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Mounting Public Debt: Is Zimbabwe in a Fix?

By Zvikomborero Sibanda

Many developing countries experience increased and frequent macroeconomic volatilities due to a plethora of endogenous and exogenous factors inter alia political instability leading to civil wars; populist economic policies; import dependency; vulnerability to natural disasters driven by climatic changes; strong structural rigidities like price distortions, weak institutions, and high corruption; and unsustainable public borrowing. It is the latter that has emerged as one of the biggest challenges that are stifling economic growth in Zimbabwe. Recently, Treasury released public debt statistics and this column analyses the sustainability of reported debt stock.

Zimbabwe Total Debt Profile
The latest 2022 Annual Public Debt Bulletin (APDB) released by the Public Debt Management Office (PDMO) shows that Zimbabwe’s public debt continues to balloon unsustainably. Statistics indicate that total Public and Publicly Guaranteed (PPG) debt surged 2.4% between September 2022 (US$17.6 billion) and December 2022 (US$18.03 billion). In annual terms, it increased by 4.8% from US$17.2 billion reported as of the end of December 2021. Of the 2022 total PPG debt, external debt constitutes 71.2% (US$12.8 billion) while domestic debt constitutes the balance of 28.8% (US$5.2 billion).

External PPG Debt
Zimbabwe owes about US$12.8 billion externally. Of this total, 45.9% (US$5.89 billion) is bilateral debt comprising Paris Club debt (US$3.76 billion) & non-Paris Club debt (US$2.13 billion); 33.1% (US$4.24 billion) of external PPG debt is external debt contracted by the RBZ while about 21% (US$2.7 billion) is debt owed to multilateral creditors as follows: World Bank (US$1.55 billion), African Development Bank (US$0.69 billion), European Investment Bank (US$0.4 billion), and Others (US$0.064 billion). A large chunk of external debt is interest arrears (IRA), principal arrears (PRA), and penalties (PEN) as shown in the figure below.
Nature & Scale of External PPG Debt (US$ billions)

For instance, of the combined bilateral and multilateral external PPG debt totaling US$8.59 billion, about 77.6% (US$6.67 billion) are arrears of principal and interest including penalties disaggregated as follows: IRA (24.9%), PRA (42.8%), and penalties (32.3%). In 2022, disbursements received from external loan arrangements amounted to US$194.3 million, up 441.2% from US$35.9 million disbursed in 2021. Also, the nation managed to make only about US$63.97 million toward debt servicing in entire 2022 with 20% of this total being token payments. A token payment is a small payment made to acknowledge a debt or an agreement.

Domestic PPG Debt

Domestically, Zimbabwe owes US$5.2 billion. Of this amount, 67.3% (US$3.5 billion) is unsettled compensation to FFOs as per the 2020 Global Compensation Deed, 28.9% (US$1.5 billion) is blocked funds, 3.6% (US$0.19 billion) is treasury bills & bonds, and 0.2% (US$0.012 billion) are arrears to service providers. The massive increase (44%) in total domestic PPG debt between September 2022 (US$3.6 billion) and December 2022 (US$5.2 billion) is attributable to the reclassification of blocked funds as domestic debt following the assumption of these from the RBZ by the Treasury.
Treasury also concluded a USD-denominated domestic loan with a private company (Platinum Investment Managers (PIM) Nominees) to the tune of US$360.5 million for road construction and rehabilitation. The Treasury issued TBs totaling ZWL83.36 billion for budget financing in 2022 with 55% issued through private placements while 45% were issued through auction system. More so, Treasury managed to pay all maturing TBs & Bonds totaling ZWL36.47 billion comprised of principal (ZWL31.34 billion) and interest (ZWL5.10 billion). However, as of the end of 2022, about ZWL129 billion TBs & Bonds were outstanding, with a total interest bill of ZWL52 billion.

Debt Sustainability

Generally, countries borrow to smoothen their spending paths, that is, raise money to finance economic growth and development. However, nations must maintain sustainable debt levels to avoid jeopardizing the stability of the economy. Public debt is considered to be sustainable if the government can meet all its current and future obligations without exceptional financial assistance or going into default. The debt-carrying capacity depends on various factors including, inter alia, quality of public institutions, debt management capacity & policies, and macroeconomic fundamentals.

Zimbabwe PPG Debt Indicators

Zimbabwe’s total PPG debt constitutes about 99.6% of 2022 GDP thereby contravening the provisions of both the Public Debt Management (PDM) Act requiring a debt-to-GDP threshold of 70% and SADC’s macroeconomic convergence target of 60%. This debt-to-GDP threshold also far exceeds the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) target of 61.5%.
A debt-to-GDP ratio shows a country’s capacity to repay its debts. As such, Zimbabwe’s high ratio indicates that public debt is growing faster than national income thus the nation has a very low capacity to meet all of its financial obligations when they fall due.
As such, the country is indeed trapped in debt distress as arrears and penalties continue to mount. Statistics show these constituting about 52.1% of external PPG debt or 78% of combined bilateral and multilateral creditors estimated at US$8.59 billion.
The ballooning debt is a great cause for concern especially under the current context of rising global interest rates as major central banks are engaging in financial tightening to clamp elevated global price inflation. It is worrisome to note that 71.2% of total PPG debt is external debt which is denominated in global hard currencies: US dollar (64%), Euro (22%), Chinese yuan (6%), Japanese yen (4), and British Pound sterling (3%).
With a too-volatile local currency that has lost more than 80% of its value against the USD in the first half of 2023, the external debt profile shows that Zimbabwe is highly susceptible to exchange rate risks, that is, it requires more ZWLs to service external debts. Hence, more resources will have to be provided for in the National Budget, the resources which would otherwise be used to provide crucial public services like education and healthcare as well as rehabilitating crumbling economic & social infrastructure, particularly in rural underserved and marginalized communities.
Also, the maturity profile of outstanding domestic PPG debt is vexatious. The latest statistics show that about 90% of Treasury Bills & Bonds mature in less than two (2) years, indicating that Treasury is facing a high refinancing risk.
Debt refinancing risk refers to the possibility that a borrower will not be able to replace existing debt with new debt at a critical point. Factors that are beyond Treasury’s control such as rising interest rates and a shrinking credit market will likely constrain its ability to refinance maturing TBs.
Furthermore, international reserves as measured by months of import cover are declining, from 2.7 months in 2021 to a paltry 1.1 months in 2022 (see Table above). Import Cover (IC) measures the number of months of imports that can be covered with foreign exchange reserves available with the central bank.
Ideally, an IC of about six (6) to ten (10) months is essential for the stability of a currency. It is an important indicator of a nation’s external trade stability and its ability to meet import obligations. So, Zimbabwe’s low IC illuminates her potential high vulnerability in managing import requirements or external shocks.
The incessant growth of external debt is bothersome as the country has now a low reserves-to-external debt ratio. This ratio shows how many dollars Zimbabwe has in reserves for every dollar of debt owed to external creditors. A huge external debt is problematic because it directly damages capital inflow and often leads to a vicious debt cycle – the cycle of continuous borrowing, accumulating payment burden, and eventual default.
Defaults can cause a borrowing country to lose market access and suffer higher borrowing costs, in addition to harming growth and investment. This is exactly the case faced by Zimbabwe and has raised caution among her prospective lenders like IMF and AfDB who are now unwilling to extend concessionary lines of credit.
Consequently, the nation is now resorting to resource-backed loans (RBLs). These are loans provided to the government where repayment is either made directly in natural resources such as minerals or repayment is guaranteed by a resource-related income stream. For instance, in 2022 Treasury revealed that Zimbabwe borrowed US$200 million from China in 2006 which loan was secured by 26 million ounces of platinum reserves in Selous.
These RBLs are exerting dire developmental impacts as they are fuelling unsustainable resource extraction leading to environmental degradation, air & water pollution, forced displacements, and farmer-miner & human-wildlife conflicts. They are also largely accrued in secrecy thereby sidelining Parliament and increasing the chances of corruption.
The debt cycle is also greatly affecting the government’s flexibility to react to adverse or unforeseen contingencies. This is happening at a time the world is experiencing seismic shifts in climatic conditions as natural disasters like El-Nino-induced droughts, floods, and cyclones are becoming more frequent.
These are having a huge toll on the Global South (developing) countries. As such, the ballooning debt is constraining Zimbabwe’s capability to invest in climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives to cushion vulnerable groups & communities and improve economic resilience.

Zvikomborero Sibanda is an economic analyst and an astute researcher. He writes in his personal capacity. He can be contacted via email:

bravosibanda@gmail.com
Twitter: @bravon96

41 graduate with Carmel Bible Institute Southern Africa

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41 graduate with Carmel Bible Institute Southern Africa

Tinaani Nyabereka

GWERU – At least 41 people graduated from The Carmel Bible Theological Institute at a colorful graduation ceremony which saw graduands shining in various courses with degrees and master’s degrees.
Of the 41, 13 were capped with doctorate degrees while 4 graduated with professorship at a historical ceremony held in Gweru.
Solomon Chimange who is the Director of Carmel Bible Institue Southern Africa (CBISA) who also graduated with distinguished Professorship in Practical Theology called for young people who graduated to look forward building their nation through research and practical implementation of the knowledge they acquire at school.
“Education remains a key priority to this nation, as a recent graduate I want to urge young people not to drift away from the educational pathways because an empowered young man is a wise youth.

“I feel very proud of the achievement, I feel great because I worked hard for this, and it’s not easy to be awarded a Professorship in Theology. So going forward it’s all about providing knowledge which capacitate other learners on theology and bible studies as I strive to groom a moral upright society.” he said.

“If you can’t go wrong, know that you can purse your dream. The world is fast changing and it’s on by the book that people are adopting to the newly advancing technological systems. So my opinion is that, education remains an imperative element as it helps the society to shun illicit ways of life,”
“Drugs have killed our tomorrow’s leaders. Its good that we instill the culture of morality and uprightness in the young people by teaching and capacitating them on dangers of taking drugs.” he said.
On programs offered at Carmel, Chimange however said, the institution was bridging the gaps in pastoral work.
“I can safely say more than 70% of the pastors are not that much learned for the Ministry, most have trained in diplomas and some were affiliated to institutions which were not accredited,”
“This is where Carmel is coming in, our courses are currently being offered for free, what is only required is a small admission fee. Then once one is admitted he or she can start her courses.
“So our courses are offered both on distance learning and on campus, we say pastors must be equipped, the community must be equipped,” he said
Institution of higher learning was offering a wide range of courses including, Mission and Evangelism courses, Systematic / Applied theology, Divinity, Christian leadership and Administration
The institute’s Principal, Dr Lovemore Musiiwa and Vice Principal, Dr Apostle Penias Kariteni also graduated on the same occasion with distinguished Professorship.

Conflict prevention and coups in Africa

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Conflict prevention and coups in Africa

By Cyprian Muchemwa / Nicholas Aribino (Writing in our individual
capacities)

The African Union (AU) on its Agenda 2063 had as one of its aspirations, an intention to silence guns by 2023, however, it shifted this promise to 2030. Sadly, guns are still blazing in some parts of Africa (South Sudan, Sudan, Mali, Somalia, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, DRC). If the reality on the ground is anything to go by, silencing the guns by 2030 or even by 2063 seems to be a pie in the sky and just a mere aspiration for the AU. This is because of coups and other forms overt and indirect violence which are actually intensifying especially in the Western region of Africa. The Western region of Africa comprises the following countries; Guinea-Bissau, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Nigeria, Guinea, Benin, Burkina Faso, Togo, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana, Cabo Verde and Cameroon. It is the intent of this opinion piece to interrogate conflict prevention and coups in Africa, given that a coup has just happened in Niger.
In the wake of the coup in Niger the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) has given the military coup leaders a week to give back power to the captured president of Niger or face a possible military intervention from ECOWAS. To that effect, Mali and Guinea Bissau have openly intimated that an attack on Niger will be an attack on them. Mali and Burkina Faso are standing with the military coup leaders in Niger like white on rice. The military coup leaders seem to have a critical mass of the population of Niger siding with them. One wonders if ECOWAS is coming as an outsider without a message, the citizens of Niger have their lived struggles to share and these lived experiences border on corruption, mineral leakages, foreign interference, misgovernance, illicit commerce and human rights violations. To that effect, the citizens of Niger have stepped up to the plate by demonstrating in support of the coup in the capital Niamey. The Citizens of Niger regard ECOWAS as an outsider without a message, they are the only ones who feel what they feel because of the misgovernance they have been experiencing at the hands of the deposed leadership. To the people of Niger, ECOWAS represents status-quo-ers, a system that identifies with the status quo and the state without necessarily identifying with a critical mass of a people whose dreams and aspirations have been quashed by those who have had the power and arrogance of incumbency.
The writers of this opinion piece would want to submit that the African continental and sub-continental blocs are poor at conflict prevention and somehow good at conflict management. Despite the AU having the African Peace Security Architecture (APSA) anchored on the following pillars, the Panel of the Wise (PoW), Continental Early Warning System (CEWS), African Standby Force (ASF) and the Peace Fund (PF). The APSA pillars are by and large meant to prevent conflict in Africa but the whole infrastructure comes without any meaningful budgets to operationalise peacebuilding and peacemaking. The AU has been described by some scholars as being made up of resolutionaries and not revolutionaries because of its tendency of making a gamut of resolutions that do not even see the light of the day, the agenda 2063 could be another one. Good plans need a budget, a budget is a management tool. To that effect, the AU, together with its subcontinental blocs have become poor at conflict prevention. Conflict prevention by definition implies preserving and protecting human lives, it is about human security and anticipatory thinking. Arguably, African leaders through AU and its constituent parts (regional and subregional blocs) should invest heavily in early warning signs and early response mechanisms in order to nip potential conflicts (coups, civil wars) in the bud. What ECOWAS is doing now in Niger is not conflict prevention but conflict management. Conflict management is trying to de-escalate a conflictual situation and it usually leads to negative peace, in other words it is reactionary as compared to being proactive. Prevention is four times better that rehabilitation. It is always advisable to spend in order to save.
Coups, civil wars and armed conflicts can be prevented if African leaders respond timeously to early warning signs regarding matters affecting human security like illicit financial flows (illicit commerce), disarticulated economy, poverty, unemployment, inequalities, corruption, human rights violations, discrimination, hate speech, pernicious polarisation, politics of patronage, extractive economies, ungoverned spaces, skewed distribution of resources and political violence. Nothing happens without having sent out signals to the world, what has happened in Niger cannot be defined in terms of an event but in terms of a process. As this process was panning out, one may need to ask where UN, AU and ECOWAS have been? There were signs already in Niger of people who were not happy about the insecurity and stagnation of the economy, the heavy presence of foreign military troops and bases and the interference of France in Niger in a bid to protect its investments in the mining sector, the legitimacy and ethnicity of the deposed leader. The above context and dynamics have been there for UN, AU and ECOWAS to try to resolve in good time.
Coups will remain a permanent feature in Africa even beyond 2023 unless their underlying root causes or structural causes and drivers like poverty, inequalities, unemployment, corruption, culture of violence, political economy, ethnic, religion and region-based politics and neocolonialism are addressed through conflict prevention efforts. The arbitrary borders of Africa have also been a great cause for concern and have created fertile grounds for civil wars and armed conflicts. What Niger is experiencing can be experienced by any other country in Africa because the context and dynamics that breed and feed into coups obtain in many African countries. Most African countries have negative peace, which is the mere absence of war and other forms of overt violence. African countries must strive for positive peace, which seeks to eliminate the underlying structural causes of conflict due to different forms of injustices, social neglect and human insecurity. The danger of negative peace is that it is peace just waiting for triggers to ignite into war and other forms like overt violence that include coups. Aiming towards merely silencing guns is aspiring for negative peace which is not even good enough. Thus, if Africa is serious about silencing guns by 2030 or beyond, it must be more proactive in its approach and should start by dealing with negative peace which is mostly associated with insensitivity to human security and other challenges associated with it.

 

Dr Cyprian Muchemwa

 

Dr. Cyprian Muchemwa- Lecturer : Department of peace and governance at the Bindura University of
Science Education.
Contact : +263 773429935

Dr. Nicholas Aribino : ZIMCARE Trust Country
Director.
Contact : +263715617095

Grudge leaves Lower Gweru man nursing axe wounds

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Grudge leaves Lower Gweru man nursing axe wounds

Tinaani Nyabereka

Gweru- Police in the Midlands have launched a manhunt for a suspect who axed his colleague over and left him nursing wounds in Lower Gweru.
Midlands Provincial Police spokesperson Emmanuel Mahoko confirmed the incident where Last Moyo (20) was axed by his colleague Gugu Nyoni in a scuffle and appealed to members of the public with information that may aid in apprehending the suspect to come forward.
“Nyoni is still at large and we are appealing to members of the public who might have information leading to his arrest to approach their nearest police station “Said Mahoko.
Sources allege that on 30 July 2023 around 0030 hours, the complainant Moyo of Nkani Village under chief Bunina in Lower Gweru and the suspect whose age is yet to be established were at Makepesi business Centre when a misunderstanding ensued over a grudge they already had.
Nyoni then struck Moyo once on the head and once on both legs, using an axe, resulting in Moyo sustaining serious injuries.
The suspect fled the scene and the complainant was taken and was admitted at Gweru Hospital where he was said to be in a serious condition.

Chiredzi women decry lack of information from aspiring candidates

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Chiredzi women decry lack of information from aspiring candidates

Perpetua Murungweni

Chiredzi women complained over lack of information on electoral processes that help them to make informed decisions and choices on who to vote for saying candidates across the political divide are reluctant to go public with their manifestos.
This came out at a dialogue meeting organized by Zimbabwe Centre for Communication Research and Public Opinion Survey Trust in a bid to address lack of access to credible information and reliable sources of information by women, youth and people with disabilities in Chiredzi.
United Chiredzi Residency and Ratepayers Association (UCHIRA) Constance Chikumbo said residents were getting insufficient information from candidates contesting for this year’s election.
“As a youth, as a woman and a resident representative, I say we are no satisfied with the information that is being availed to us by the candidates who are contesting for parliament and local authority seats,”
“The information is not sufficient and is not going to be enough for us to hold them to account when they are voted in. We want something to use as a note board, and maybe as a reference point for what they are going to do once they are in office.
“Of all Chiredzi candidates only two presented their manifestos to the public and we appreciate it because some of the issues affecting residents were presented. One of them is Mr Makumire who availed his manifesto and we are happy that in his policy making job he promised he is going to solve one or two,”
However, we are yet to get other candidates’ before we go for polls,” said Chikumbo.
Tapiwa Shumba of Youth Perspective said the youth needed adequate information so that they can relate the information to what they want as a society.
“The information that we are getting from the contesting candidates is inadequate and as a youth I think there is need for them to give us full information. As far as I am concerned all political parties who haven’t showed us their manifestos that shows that they want to empower youth or that enhances the problems faced by youth. I don’t think they are the rightful candidates we want because they do not share the same vision that we have as youth.
“We need that information so that we can relate to what we want as a society and politicians are very ignorant of the issues that concerns us as youth,” said Shumba
Bernadette Chipembere of Women and Girls Matters said there is need for candidates to give out sufficient information so that women will make right decisions and choices.
“We are not getting enough information, we don’t even know what they are going to do for us if voted in. We have tried reaching out to them but they are silent, fliers are all over but they lack information that satisfies us. As women we need more information so that we make the right decisions and right choices,” Said Chipembere.

Mandishona appointed substantive Director of Housing

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Mandishona appointed substantive Director of Housing

Perpetua Murungweni

Masvingo City Council has appointed Simbarashe Mandishona as substantive Director of Housing and Social Services effective 01 August 2023, having occupied the same post on acting capacity.
Mandishona Joined Masvingo City Council as Deputy Director of Housing and Social Services in April 2011 up until May 2022. He was then appointed acting Director from June 2022 to July 2023 after the then director Livison Nzvura retired.
Having worked in various local authorities spearheading development, Mandishona said he has vast experience in town planning, housing and estate management and during his time as the Deputy Director of Housing and Social Services he took a leading role in a number of projects.
“I took a leading role in the formulation of polices at Masvingo City Council such as the education policy of the council and a number of councils have been coming for leaning purposes from us,”.
“I also took a leading role in the re-greening to beautify the city by planting of trees, lawns and flowers in parks like Kernen Park and a number of housing projects including the construction of Rujeko Secondary School,”
“I brought sanity to public entities where there were challenges like at Alpha Cottages Children’s Home, there were challenges of governance. I managed to appoint a new committee. I did the same at Charles Austin Theatre where I brought in a new committee and things are beginning to take shape now,” said Mandishona.
Mandishona holds Bachelor of Science Honors degree in Rural and Urban Planning with University of Zimbabwe, Master of Science Degree in Strategic Management with Chinhoyi University of Technology and a certificate in Personnel Training and Labour and another certificate in Labour Relations.
He says he has 28 years working experience in the housing services department which he acquired from a number of organizations having started as a Planning Officer for DDF which is now the Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (RIDA) a department of rural development in Gweru Midlands Province from July 1995 to June 1998.
He later joined Runde Rural District Council as Projects and Planning Officer from July 1998 upto December 2000 when he became the acting Chief Executive Officer for the same local authority, a position he held from January 2001 to December 2003.
In 2004 then joined Marondera Municipality where he served as the Deputy Director of Housing and Community Services between January 2004 and March 2011.
Mandishona said currently he is working on engaging private entities so that the housing projects will be completed.
“In terms of housing projects we are currently spearheading the engagement of National Building Society (NDS) in servicing Rujeko D, and also the engagement of Infrastructure Banking of Zimbabwe (IBZ) to service Morning side medium density suburb and Mangwandi surbub (Rhodene extension),” said Mandishona.
Mandishona said as the new Housing Director, his vision was in line with vision 2030 National Development Strategy 1 (NDS) on housing delivery.
“My vision as the new Housing Director is that the projects that I am going to work on contribute to NDS1. I am working towards improving social services by establishing more schools. The are no adequate schools especially in Rujeko and the ones available are over whelmed. This also applies in Runyararo Area where Francis Aphiri is overwhelmed and the area needs an additional secondary school.
In terms of social housing he said he will spearhead the disposal of houses so that the vulnerable and disadvantaged people have access to housing services.
“The only way to empower people who live in council houses or hostels is to sell these houses to them because most of them have been staying in the houses for over 20 to 30 years. Government policy allows that if people stay in house for long the council can dispose the houses to them,”
“So I am going to make sure that these houses are disposed to the sitting tenants and give them section titles so that they will be able to upgrade their hostels.
“I also intend to focus on upgrading Mucheke Stadium, because with the current state of Mucheke stadium Masvingo will not be able to host premier league soccer games. As council we are going to partner private companies to make it a reality,” Mandishona said.

GZU gears up rural industrialisation

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GZU gears up rural industrialisation

Andrew Zhou

Masvingo – The Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) through its Gary Magadzire School of Agriculture & Engineering Department under the Innovation Centre of Excellency in Dry Land Agriculture has geared up its rural industrialisation niche after launching the traditional grains contract farming programme in Chibgwedziva, Chiredzi Rural District ward 8 on August 3 2023.
The programme will benefit villagers in Chiredzi, Gutu and Mwenezi Districts as well as Masvingo province at large. Under the programme, farmers will receive traditional small grain inputs and will have access to markets after harvesting their crops.
Officially speaking during the launch of the programme, the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science, Innovation and Technology Development Professor Amon Murwira said GZU’s initiative will improve livelihoods of rural communities by bringing markets at small grain farmers’ door steps.
“This initiative will promote rural industrialisation where the fore runners of the programme that is GZU will bring you free farming inputs as well as markets for your produce” said Professor Murwira.
He commended the GZU for implementing education 5.0 by coming up with such a developmental programme and thanked Chibgwedziva community for accepting productivity programme without hesitation.
Speaking at the same event the GZU Vice Chancellor Professor Rungano Jonas Zvobgo said the programme will ensure food security as it focuses on traditional small grains which produce high yield in the Lowveld especially Chiredzi South.
“The traditional grains contract farming programme will bring economic development in rural areas through farming and will ensure food security which contribute to the attained of vision 2030,” said Professor Zvogbo said.
He went on to say the programme will also provide rural farmers with chicks for poultry production which they will sell to GZU.
“We are going to give you chicks also for poultry production and we will buy and slaughter them in our abattoir”
Speaking on behalf of the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries Water and Rural Development Dr John Bhasera, AGRITEX Deputy Director responsible for crops in the ministry Kundai Makuku said the ministry had already done the summer plan for the 2023/2024 planting season with a target of 350 000 metric tonnes for sorghum and 200 000 for pale millet across the country.
“We have already done our summer planting plan which was approved by the government and we target high production of 350 000 metric tonnes for sorghum and 200 000 for pale millet across the country,” Makuku said.
She encouraged farmers in Masvingo province to embrace the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme as it enabled them to produce high yields in the coming farming season.
Villagers who has already benefited from the recently launched the traditional grains contract farming programme applauded the Great Zimbabwe university for coming up with such a great productivity programme in their community.
“I want to thank GZU and Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education for coming up with the programme here in our community, we have already sold our recently harvested crops to GZU,” said a villager only identified as Kanganisai.

Meet your candidate: Mwenezi North Zanu PF’s Master Makope

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Meet your candidate: Mwenezi North Zanu PF’s Master Makope

Cephas Shava

Mwenezi – With barely a few days before the watershed 23 August harmonised elections, Zanu PF candidate for the newly gazetted Mwenezi North, Master Makope whose short stint as Mwenezi East legislator has seen some hands-on developmental projects around the constituency says given a full fresh term he had a distinct roadmap for the people of Mwenezi North.
Born at Neshuro District Hospital in 1976 Makope attended primary school at Zvirikure and Pambe before proceeding to Rufaro Secondary School where he did his ‘O’ level and went on to Foundation High School in Bulawayo where he completed his ‘A’ level in 1998 .A holder of a post graduate diploma in education, Makope also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Zimbabwe (UZ).
A longtime Mwenezi Government High School teacher who occupies several superior designated roles at one of the prestigious High School, Makope was elected ward 5 Cllr in 2013. In addition of being a Mwenezi Development Training Centre (MDTC) board member Makope went on to be elected Mwenezi Rural District Council vice Chairperson.
As ward 5 councilor, Makope made a name for himself by spearheading several developmental projects in his ward which include among several others, rehabilitating boreholes as well as resuscitating dams.
In 2020 Makope became Avhunga Secondary School head and following the death of Joosbi Omar Makope contested for Mwenezi East legislator post which he went on to win on Zanu PF ticket.
Makope whom many have described as hands-on when it comes to driving development had some tangible developmental initiatives which are credited to his names in the constituency. He told TellZim News that using devolution and constituency development funds (CDF) he and other concerned stakeholders managed to spearhead some developmental projects in Mwenezi East.
“Before assuming office my major target was to give priority to the electrification of schools in my constituency and so far I managed to ensure the electrification of Primary Schools like Mawarire, Makawire Chikadzi, Zvirikure then Rufaro and Guiding Star Secondary Schools. A solar-powered system was also recently installed at Mabhare Primary and Batanai Secondary Schools where a total of 17 houses were electrified.
Using devolution funds and CDF some classroom blocks were constructed at Schools like Negari, Rufaro, Chimbi, Zvirikure, Alpha Joy, Masaswe and Mavambo. During my short stint as Mwenezi East legislator I managed to facilitate rehabilitation of about 73 boreholes and sinking of five new ones,” Said Makope.
Going forward, Makope who vowed to give priority to youth empowerment around the constituency said he had bigger plans to validate Information Communication Technology (ICT) learning in the constituency such that he envisioned that by year 2028 all rural schools in Mwenezi North would have been electrified and will have state-of-the-art laboratories and decent accommodation for teachers.
“Our roads, clinics needs attention and more boreholes need to be drilled. We also need to resuscitate our Irrigations and make sure that new Irrigations like Pikinini-Jawanda are operationalized to the extent of feeding not only locals,”
“We have got minerals in the constituency and we want to make sure that our locals especially youths tap into these minerals. I have a vision of empowering locals so that they can be able to embark on self-sustaining projects like fish farming,” Said Makope.
Makope will square off with Citizen Coalition for Change (CCC)’s Patrick Mapfumo who is also a prominent Neshuro based Businessman.

Big boost for FC Wangu Mazodze

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Big boost for FC Wangu Mazodze

Decide Nhendo

Football Club (FC) Wangu Mazodze which is basking on top of the Zifa Eastern Region Division 1 football league has beefed up its squad with nine new signings picked from different teams and leagues in the country.
In a press released by the team’s Vice president Getrude Mazodze announced that the club has successfully signed nine new players to strengthen its squad and to maintain the same vision to continue building the team’s future.
“On behalf of the Club, FC Wangu Mazodze I am pleased to announce the successful signing of nine new players to beef up the Kingdom Boys squad. The new signings have the same vision to continue building the future of FC Wangu Mazodze,” she said.
Mazodze, on behalf of the Zhalala Zhululu family, gave the new players a warm welcome and wished them all the best.
“On behalf of the Zhalala Zhululu family we want to offer you our warmest welcome and wish you the best in becoming part of the brand, 2023 season is an exciting season, mabhora kuvanhu. Zhalala Zhululu is delivering the best in the Eastern Region and we are the log leaders with 36 points having played 15 games, with 11 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss the future of football is very big and bright,” said Mazodze
She said Zhalala Zhululu was delivering the best in the Eastern Region and are the log leaders with 36 points having played 15 games, with 11 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss, so the future of football in Zimbabwe is very big and bright.
The new players are Whisky Chikanya from Chiredzi Stars who is a Goalkeeper, Charles Rukwani Mushohwani FC who plays Centre Back, Taurai Solomon Mhoyo from JM BUSHA 54 FC who plays defensive midfield.
Four players were signed from Harare City namely Bright Tinotenda Majamanda who is an attacking midfielder, winger/striker. Timothy January a left/right winger, Central striker Tendai Ibah Mukono, and striker Ashwin Tafadzwa Chihowa.
From Mutare City Zhalala Zhululu signed Kudakwashe Shelton Guruve who is a central striker and another central striker Washington Ncube from Masvingo United.
The log leaders had an all nil draw with log carriers last weekend in Mucheke stadium whilst testing some of the new players and they will have another chance to prove themselves against Bikita Minerals on August 5 at Mucheke stadium again.

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