Pathisa Nyathi

ON Thursday, Cde Misheck Ntunduzakovelaphi Velaphi Ncube was laid to rest at the National Heroes Acre in Harare following his declaration as a national hero.

Born on 25 July 1937 in Matobo District, Matabeleland South, Cde Velaphi became a distinguished participant in Zimbabwe’s armed liberation struggle.

Initially participating in the first truly national black political movement, he was part of the transition to the less pacific sabotage campaign  which finally transformed itself into a fully-fledged armed liberation struggle.

Velaphi was born to Mfihlo, son of Velaphi whose own father was Phondo or Ngombe in the TjiKalanga language.

His ancestors, of Venda origin, came from South Africa and brought the Mwali Rain Shrine into Zimbabwe.

As a result of their skills in medicine, they, as the Malabas, were incorporated into Ndebele society as reflected in the names of later ancestors.

His mother was Matsheku Nyathi, daughter of Nsewula of the Makhweni section of the Nare/Nyathi people who migrated from South Africa to south-western Zimbabwe in the first quarter of the 19th Century.

Velaphi grew up at Nsewula, the place named after his maternal grandfather and undertook various chores, normally associated with girls, as he did not have sisters.

He used to fetch water, cook and do the dishes.

At the same time, he herded goats and later cattle.

However, the spirit of defiance and opposition to oppression ran in his veins.

At a tender age, he already was standing up against white colonists, in particular the veterinary officers and the infamous native commissioner Noel Robertson, also known as uNkom’iyahlaba.

He grew up at a time when repressive laws and measures were applied on Africans.

Africans, his own parents included, were being evicted from the land near Bulawayo in order to create room for whites returning from World War II.

The Land Apportionment Act of 1930 was being implemented.

The much resented Matobo National Park was being cleared of Africans in favour of game.

In 1951, the Land Husbandry Act was promulgated. lt sought, among other provisions, to cull cattle beyond what colonists considered as the carrying capacity for the limited hectares of land assigned to Africans.

Centralisation was being implemented. African homesteads were being arranged into lines and contour ridges were being constructed in crop fields.

White colonists did not bother to provide education to Africans, both in towns and rural areas.

Consequently, Nsewula, his son-in-law Mfihlo and others, arranged some non-formal education for the young Velaphi and other children, at a time when there was no formal school in their area.

MaMoyo was their teacher.

Later, in 1946, the Salvation Army was approached by local leaders to come and open a primary school.

Indeed, Seula Primary School was opened by Major Kirby who was based at Semokwe, the territorial headquarters.

Velaphi attended Manama, Seula, Zamanyoni and Cyrene primary schools after which, in 1955 and 1956, he went on to do teacher training at the Salvation Army’s Howard Institute in Chiweshe.

As had been the case at Cyrene School, Velaphi was instrumental in the staging of strikes at the educational institutions.

More political influences came to bear on the young, but defiant Velaphi.

At Howard Institute, he came under the influence of the “Howard Trio” of Tendere, Munjaranji and Solomon Mutsvairo.

From the trio, Velaphi secured several political books which he used to read keenly when he went to herd cattle in his rural home. Either he was reading books or hunting game, which at the time was abound in the area.

In 1957, Ghana gained her independence from Britain and that led other African political movements to seek decolonisasion.

At the time in Zimbabwe, there was the African National Congress (ANC), operating in Bulawayo.

In Salisbury (now Harare), there was the City Youth League, led by the likes of James Robert Dambaza Chikerema and George Bodzo Nyandoro.

After initial preparatory meetings in Bulawayo, the two political organizations merged and a new national movement was established on 12 September 1957 at the Mai Musodzi Hall in Harare Township (now Mbare).

Joshua Nkomo became the leader of the movement, the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress (SRANC).

Though trained as a teacher, Velaphi had, while still at Howard, embarked upon a Book Keeping course with Pitman.

As a result, when he graduated, he went into the world of commerce, which was better paying.

That move had the effect of pushing him more and more into the political arena.

One business enterprise he worked for as Book Keeper belonged to Amos Mazibisa, who worked hand in glove with Joshua Nkomo.

The youthful Velaphi used to eavesdrop on conversations between the two.

Velaphi had maintained links with both his rural home and Bulawayo.

He was a member of the Semokwe District of the SRANC, where he held the office of secretary.

The district was politically active during the days of the sabotage campaign in the early 1960s.

Cattle dips were sabotaged. Equally, the road infrastructure was sabotaged.

The likes of Sydney Joseph, son of “Sasi” Yedwa, Peter Njini Sibanda, Tayima Tshelanyemba Ndlovu, Zhindoga Nyathi and Phillip Bhebhe were active participants.

The youth too was active. In addition to Velaphi, there was David Mongwa “Sharpshoot” Moyo and Roger Matshimini Ncube, who were active.

A police camp was opened to deal with the situation.

One of the camps was named after David. The three radical youths in the nationalist movement were recommended for guerrilla raining outside the country.

Indeed, Velaphi left the country in 1962 while Roger Matshimini Ncube went to train in the Soviet Union alongside the likes of Retired Colonel Tshinga Dube in 1964 as the second group after that of Dumiso Dabengwa and Report Phelekezela Mphoko.

On the other hand, David Mongwa Moyo went to train in North Korea alongside Tinaye Chigudu, inter alia.

It was in the guerrilla training and arms smuggling that Velaphi was to score firsts. He was in the first “Group of 12” to undertake guerrilla training in Egypt in 1962.

Facilities had been provided by Egyptian leader Abdul Gamal Nasser. Among the 12 were Bobbylock Manyonga, Mabika, David Mpongo Khumalo, Kennias Mlalazi and Amon Ndukwana Ncube.

Their training started in March and ended in September of the same year.

Upon completion, the group went to Dar-es-Salaam in Tanganyika where ZAPU had opened an office at Mtoni. Benjamin Madlela was the Party Representative.

Though trained militarily, Velaphi and his group did not have weapons with which to wage the armed liberation struggle. At the time, liberation movements such as the ANC/MK. SWAPO, MPLA, PAIGC and FRELIMO lived close to each other at Kongwa on the border between Congo and Tanganyika.

Congo had gained political independence from Belgium with Patrice Lumumba as leader.

In the ensuing political shenanigans informed by the cold war contestations, Lumumba was assassinated.

There was political instability, particularly in the eastern part of the Congo, now the DRC.

Velaphi and his group decided to take advantage of the unstable political and military environment where armed rebels aligned to Gizenge were on the prowl.

Velaphi knew about the qualities of a certain plant called nligazwikono or gundabusi. Amahewu was a common brew in the region. It was then decided to lace the popular brew with nligazwikono.

When the rebels came under the intoxicating influence of the plant, Velaphi and his group shot them and seized the weapons.

These were to be the first ever military hardware to be infiltrated into Zimbabwe in 1962.

The trio of Abraham Dumezweni Nkiwane, Kennias Mlalazi and Velaphi transported the weapons in a Zephyr Zodiac car.

Read full article on www.sundaymail.co.zw

The Thompson sub-machine guns were among the contraband war materials which were driven from Mbeya, through Tunduma , Lusaka, Victoria Falls and finally to Lupanda Native Purchase(NPA) in Lupane.

From there, the weapons were taken to Bulawayo where weapons of war were distributed to the rest of the country.

There was an underground network of ZAPU cadres who received and distributed the weapons. Included in the group were the likes of Dumiso Dabengwa, Abel Siwela, Findo Mpofu, Akim Ndlovu, Ethan Dube and Thomas Ngwenya, inter alia.

However, the actors within the network did not know each other. This was to avoid the network being compromised when one of them got caught.

It was a strategy that was to remain in operation in Bulawayo throughout the liberation struggle.

When Velaphi brought in the next batch of weapons, he was in the company of Amon Ndukwana Ncube.

The CID operatives intercepted them just beyond Hwange en route to Bulawayo. Velaphi was to get his first taste of imprisonment.

Meanwhile, Manyonga was arrested while transporting a consignment of weapons to Salisbury. He spilled the beans under interrogation and torture.

Thomas Ngwenya was arrested and remanded at Grey Street Prison in Bulawayo, where he met Velaphi.

It was then that Velaphi got to know Manyonga had been arrested. “Get out of here!” yelled Velaphi to Ngwenya.

Indeed, a letter was written on toilet paper, taken out by Ngwenya’s girlfriend, one MaNdlovu, during a visit to the prison.

The letter was given to Ethan Dube who passed it on to Leo Baron, ZAPU’s legal advisor and lawyer.

Velaphi served time at Khami Prison where he was kept in solitary confinement.

The security arrangements at the prison were tightened during his tenure.

Several political prisoners, including incumbent President Emmerson Mnangagwa were his fellow prisoners.

Fights were common between the political prisoners and the hard core criminals bent on practicing homosexuality.

At one time the superintendent at Khami Prison shot dead some prisoners.

Khami was soon to become the place of political incarceration as political activists came from various places in Zimbabwe.

In 1968, Velaphi was released following some mix-up in names.

There were two Misheck Ncubes at the time.

The wrong Misheck, actually Velaphi, was released. He was re-arrested and detained at Fife Street Police Station in Bulawayo prior to being sent to Gwelo Prison from where he was released in 1972 at the time of the Pearce Commission.

When the nationalists were released from detention in 1974, Velaphi was tasked to take charge of Nkomo’s close security. At the time, there were a number of guerrillas in operation inside Zimbabwe.

Velaphi withdrew some of them from Lupane, Nkayi and Plumtree to go to Bulawayo where they operated as close security personnel for the released ZAPU leader.

Velaphi spent more time inside the country than outside. He at one time, under cover, got employed within the banking sector.

He knew how to disguise his identity through ways such as inserting round objects in his nostrils.

Politicisation and recruitment remained his major activities alongside distribution of weapons using buses such as Pelandaba Bus Service and Alick Stuart.

Lorries that transported pigs were less suspected and weapons were hidden below swine waste.

Tafi Moyo played the important role of transporting weapons from the Zambezi River area where he collaborated with the likes of Velaphi who always carried a folding butt AK rifle below his suit.

Sometimes, he wore Sting trousers and blue denim jeans.

Velaphi collaborated with the ANC’s MK and knew about the crossing points from Zimbabwe to South Africa.

Some weapons were taken across at Mwenezi where Afrikaner border officials facilitated smuggling of weapons.

Another important crossing point was at the Martin’s Drift (Emtswirini) on the border between Botswana and South Africa. In fact, Velaphi had come to be referred to as uMtswiri.

The other crossing point was in the Lobatsi area, again between South Africa and Botswana.

This last route was used for arms brought along the Kazungula–Kasane-Francistown–Gaborone route where Peter Mackay assisted.

By 1976, Velaphi was operating in South Africa where he was housed in a flat in Johannesburg where white communists collaborated with him.

He worked closely with both ZAPU and the ANC members in South Africa. The 1976 student protests broke out when he was on his way out of South Africa.

He was to get back to South Africa in 1978 in order to recruit the WENELA recruits to join ZPRA.

Indeed, many were recruited following the activities of Velaphi and the radio appeals by Jane Ngwenya from Lusaka.

In 1974, ZPRA opened the Southern Front (SF).

Guerrilla infiltration was then taking place through two fronts, the Northern front (NF) and the SF. Velaphi moved in and out of Botswana to coordinate with party officials in Francistown.

Botswana was heavily infiltrated by Rhodesian security agents.

The Selous Scouts abducted Ethan Dube and took him to Brunapeg. At one time, they captured Mnyamana “Black Swine”, thinking it was Dumiso Dabengwa, the most wanted Black Russian.

Velaphi and his group of guerrillas rushed to Brunapeg Police Station in an effort to rescue him. It was too late and Dube had been whisked away.

When ceasefire was brokered following the 1979 Lancaster House Talks in London, Velaphi was appointed Director of Security within the ZAPU Elections Directorate, headed by Aaron Milner of Zambia.

For Velaphi, the struggle was not over as he was at the forefront in facilitating the caching of arms meant for use by MK who, from the 1960s, had collaborated with ZAPU.

However,the story of his role in the caching of arms is for another day.

May his very dear soul rest in eternal peace. He clearly deserved a place at the revered National Heroes Acre.

ENDS_

We continue chronicling the political life of Cde Fani Chikomba whose liberation war name was Cde Sorry Zivanayi. This week, Cde Sorry tells our Deputy News Editor Levi Mukarati how he left Musana Tribal Trust Lands for Rushinga where he was later selected Platoon Commander and led a battle that razed an enemy camp to the ground.

Q: You got 30 lashes for trying to smoke marijuana. We understand that such physical punishment was common during the war and could leave some comrades badly bruised. But personally, how did you take this kind of punishment?

A: I should mention that disciplinary action, especially physical punishment, was normal during the war.

Yes, it was painful and, at times, you would feel it was not fair.

We were adults and being beaten in front of a crowd is something that one might see as degrading.

But now, I reflect on those moments and laugh them off.

I am sure it is not only me, others who were also in the war just laugh it off.

It was a form of instilling discipline.

Even today, worldwide, trainee soldiers are subjected to such treatment, but it is meant to toughen individuals and mould a certain breed of soldiers.

So, after our 30 lashes, we were then to leave Murewa accompanying the gang that was destined to blow up fuel tanks in Salisbury.

The gang also assisted us in some battles against the Selous Scouts who were terrorising villagers in Musana Tribal Trust Lands.

But since they had another mission ahead, we later handed them over to the comrades in the Chinamhora Detachment.

Q: There are many versions that have come up about these fighters who blew up the fuel tanks in Salisbury. You say you were the ones that assisted them, in part, as they went for their mission, where were they coming from and can you tell us more on their movement, especially the time you were with them?

A: There were eight fighters. They were comrades David Mushangwe aka “Lobo”, from Mabvuku, Damage Bombs, States America Mudzvanyiriri, Take Time, Member, Hwanda, Nhamo and Norest who was aged 17.

They were coming from Mozambique and were on a mission to Salisbury as you rightly said.

Our brief with them was that they had come from Uriri Military Base in Tete Province, Mozambique.

They had been given orders by the late General Solomon “Rex Nhongo” Mujuru, ZANLA Army Commander Josiah Tongogara, Cde Dominic Munyaradzi and current Vice-President of Zimbabwe, Cde Constantino Chiwenga.

Chimwe chinhu ndechekuti mission yacho yaida ‘boys dzetonaz’, dzaiziva Salisbury kuitira kuzokwanisa kutiza. Saka boys idzi were familiar with Salisbury, that is how they were selected.

But for them to navigate their way from the Mozambican border to Salisbury, they had to pass through a number of areas, inside Rhodesia, where we also had freedom fighters operating in.

They were assisted to move from one area to the other by fellow fighters.

As such, when they were about to get to Musana area, where we operated, we were to take them from one end in Murewa and hand them over to the comrades on the other end in Chinamhora.

For us, we only knew of their mission.

But I should note that there were many missions going on at that time, so it was just a matter of assisting each other since we had one common vision.

It is only now that one might want to dig deeper into a certain mission and understand how it was conducted.

I think I now have information on the team that blew up the fuel tanks because one of the fighters, Cde Lobo, now has a farm in Banket and it is near the area I also farm, so we share our war experiences and visit each other regularly.

The other comrades who were in that gang, Damage, Nhamo and States Mudzvanyiriri, are now late.

Q: Going back to your mission in Musana Tribal Trust Lands, did you manage to capture the fighters that had revolted?

A: We managed to capture two of them alive. It was not easy because we actually were involved in gunfire exchanges with them.

For those that we managed to capture, we organised that they be taken to Mozambique.

Others died in Musana after the confrontation. We had completed our mission, but we remained in Musana area waiting for orders from Mozambique on how to proceed.

While we were in Musana, our detachment commander, Tipeiwo Zvichatsva or Nzarambiri, became mentally ill.

I think what contributed to his mental illness was a battle on 17 October 1978 that took place near Damusi Mountain.

That war was intense and it is where Cde Danger Magorira died. About seven other comrades died there. It was a surprise attack.

I remember we had Cde Sabhota Nyamayevhu, he was coloured, he managed to sneak out of the battle into the villages, where he dressed like a woman and strapped a baby on his back before escaping.

Back to Cde Nzarambiri, as l said, I think that battle, especially the deaths, affected him because he would keep referring to them in his incoherent conversations.

When his situation got worse, I was selected with two other comrades to escort him to Mozambique.

But we were to hand him over to fighters who were in the semi liberated zone in Rushinga.

I want to mention that as soon as we left, there was another battle there in Musana, Mabreza area.

Comrades from my section including Shaft, Bernard and others were killed during that battle.

After leaving Musana with Cde Nzarambiri, we went through Shamva, Mazowe, Uzumba, Maramba, Pfungwe and then we crossed Mazowe River downstream to reach Chinobukira area in Rushinga.

There, we met a team of reinforcements that had returned from Ethiopia.

That area was a semi-liberated zone and white soldiers didn’t have access to it.

Most of our female fighters were in that area and they are the ones who would go to Mozambique and bring war materials that would be forwarded to the fighters on the front.

When we got to Rushinga, I was tasked to join the reinforcement from Ethiopia and go to Chesa.

The reinforcement team had fighters like Cde Bonga, Cde Chipo was detachment commander.

There were also comrades such as Mutambanepfuti, George Magreyi, Longchase, Brighton Chirongwe or Chemudondo.

In Chesa, our fighters had been driven out by the Pfumorevanhu soldiers, so we were supposed to move in and reclaim the area.

We were a huge force and I was selected platoon commander with three sections under me.

As I embarked on the mission to Chesa, I was armed with a mortar 90, mortar 92, mortar 60 and a light machine gun.

We were receiving orders from the secretarial commander Cde Gomo, Cde Boniface Hurungudo and provincial political commissar Cde Hardson Kundai.

I was the first platoon commander in Chesa and my platoon political commissar was Cde Communist Kambanje, Gibson Shumba was platoon security, Longchase Chimedzahundi was platoon logistics and he ended up commander of another platoon. He is now late.

When I was in Chesa, takaona kuti tinopedzana isu veganda dema tega nekuti madzakutsaku had received what I can term a rushed training.

Taiuraya madzakutsaku in numbers and we ended up takuti let’s just capture them tovaendesa kuMozambique as prisoners.

Zvairwadza kuuraya mumwe weganda rako. Saka takange toda kuvabata tovaratidza kurasika kwavo. Besides, we wanted to be free and that freedom would also benefit them as black people of this country despite the fact that they had taken the side of our colonisers.

In Chesa, we would get clothing supplies from the likes of James Makamba.

We used to wear jeans and clothes with labels such as Pilot and Superpro. The Makambas had a farm in Chesa.

We operated in areas like Danzva, Matitima, Nyakasikana, Dangaire and Javaira.

Then there was the bogus election in March 1978 for internal settlement.

We were at Mhute farm where we had camped when the white soldiers attacked us. My political commissar, Cde Kambanje, was shot in the back.

We managed to rescue him and went to Mungate where we found a headmaster ainzi Mutengwa aiva ne Peugot 404.

Head ndiye akatakura Communist Kambanje husiku kuenda naye kuNyahuwe, which was a semi-liberated zone.

I only later met Cde Kambanje after independence while working in the Ministry of Local Government.

While in Chesa, my platoon attacked Kangaire Camp and razed it to the ground.

That battle was even published in the war communique of the Zimbabwe News. I led that platoon.

We were to also successfully attack Nyanhoro camp in broad daylight.

It was in Chesa where I became close friends with Cde Hardson Kundai and the now Dr Robson Sadomba.

As we were in Chesa, there was an incident where I think I was unfairly treated by our leaders.

I had been given some clothing supplies and the rule was that these are supposed to be surrendered to the leaders, in this case sectorial political commissar Cde Kundai.

I did not surrender the clothes and distributed them amongst the fighters in my platoon.

For that, I was summoned to appear before our sectorial commander for Chaminuka, Cde Gomo.

Saka zvakanzi what I had done was gross indiscipline nekuti ndaifanira kutanga ndapa mashefu hembe dzacho votora zvavanoda, then give the remainder kuvakomana vaiva mu platoon mangu.

I was summoned to the leaders who were in Nyahuwe kwainzi kumagetsi in Rushinga.

I told them that we were the ones who had written letters to the povo asking for clothes and shoes upon realisation that some of the comrades in my team had torn clothes and worn out shoes.

But my position was brushed aside and I received 30 lashes on my backside.

I should mention that I was not happy and did not even move as I received the lashes.

Because I openly showed my displeasure in the punishment, Cde Gomo ordered I get five more lashes.

There was another platoon commander present, Cde Caution, he also had committed acts of indiscipline; so together with him, we were tasked to lead a group of girls to Ruya to collect war supplies.

But I was not stripped of my position as platoon commander.

I remember that time there was a drought and we survived on baobab fruits.

We went and collected the supplies before returning to Nyahuwe. There, it was decided that I was no longer returning to Chesa.

I was selected to join a mobile unit that was politicising the villagers in Nyahuwe.

*To be continued next week*

Hairdressers of Natpharm head honchos must understandably be worried since they might not be seeing their clients anytime soon, especially after they received quite the “hairdryer treatment” last week from Dr Obadiah Moyo.

This is really a big deal, considering that some of these cosseted executives at our eternally loss-making parastatals have bottomless allowances for their hairdos – in fact, as much as US$60 000 per year.

Bishop Lazi was trying to imagine what really these hairdos entail – brain surgery?

You see, Natpharm managers, who are custodians of the country’s national drug warehouse, stand accused of the diabolic fetish of stocking mountains of life-saving and pain-easing medicines while rural clinics do not have as much as painkillers for desperate patients.

The tongue-tied executives couldn’t explain away this embarrassing anomaly, which safely sits in their Harare warehouse, and Dr Moyo justifiably blew his top.

Argh! But Doc Moyo so ka!

Maybe it is because of those years he spent on the decks as DJ Biscuit.

Bishop Lazarus has never heard such a rabid censure delivered in so genteel and aristocratic a manner that the whole exchange was as esoteric as a British tea party.

“Are you using them yourself, maybe you are taking the medication yourself, maybe you are all sick,” said an irate Moyo at the May 5 meeting.

He was not finished.

“We do not have to come from head office to commandeer you; you are all people who are employed. “You are paid. So work in line with the pay you are receiving. . . If you do not want to work, choose somewhere else. We do not want people who just think of tea.”

But they should be warned: the former DJ might not look or sound menacing like Donald Trump, but he doesn’t hesitate to pull the trigger.

Ask Harare Central Hospital ex-CEO Dr Nyasha Masuka.

After receiving a soft warning in March for being lethargic, he was soon out of a job so fast that his head should still be spinning at this moment.

But this should be the least of our worries.

The Bishop really thinks what is happening at Natpharm is just a macrocosm of a plague that has become pervasive in most corridors in Government.

Slothfulness, laziness, incompetence, nepotism and corruption are the nauseatingly lingering stench of Bob’s fallen administration.

During his last two decades in power, the old man was literally breeding sloths.

Salaried sloths for that matter.

Some of them continue to crawl within the corridors of power to this day.

Not surprisingly, ED recently bumped into some of them before he went for the clean-up programme in Chitungwiza.

They couldn’t be bothered into lifting so much as lift  a finger even though there is a Presidential proclamation reserving the first Friday of every month to make their environs spick and span.

“Vanga vakatogara zvavo kuti tekeshe . . . I foresee myself remaining in Government with those who want a clean environment,” he quipped.

Dear reader, laziness is diabolic.

Proverbs 6:6-11, thus, counsels: “Take a lesson from the ants, you lazy fellow. Learn from their ways and be wise! For though they have no king to make them work, yet they labour hard all summer, gathering food for the winter.

But you – all you do is sleep. When will you wake up? ‘Let me sleep a little longer!’ Sure, just a little more! And as you sleep, poverty creeps upon you like a robber and destroys you; want attacks you in full armour.”

Hallelujah!

And our scientists tell us that we are superior to ants.

They can neither think nor talk, were are told.

But nature continues to remind us of their awesome feat; and in our case, the reminder is right at the heart of our central business district.

Eastgate Centre, which was designed by architect Mick Pearce and Arup engineers, is the ultimate example of biomimicry, which feeds off the sophistication of anthills.

Over the years, Bishop Lazarus has learnt that lazy and incompetent people never run out of excuses.

As they say, poor workmen always blame their tools.

“The machine is broken”, “I can’t find my tools”, “It is too cold to work”, they will always moan.

This is why Proverbs 26:13-16 observes: “The lazy man won’t go out and work. ‘There might be a lion outside!’ he says. He sticks to his bed like a door to its hinges! He is too tired even to lift his food from his dish to his mouth! Yet in his own opinion he is smarter than seven wise men.”

The Bishop thinks that with the new national policy towards cleanliness, we should be seeing a renewed Environmental Management Board (EMA) that is actively driving an anti-litter campaign.

They now only conveniently become visible once every month, only to retreat into their cocoons.

With the new national policy towards innovation, we should be seeing an invigorated technologically adept Harare Polytechnic, not this affront where students endlessly queue to pay their fees. Not in the 21st century!

What witchcraft is that?

Don’t even get me started on Harare City Council.

Suffice to say, there is need for a radical mindset shift where our actions become compatible with our declarations.

It’s quite ironic that while as a developing country we are trying to get rid of sloths, some advanced countries are trying to flash out workaholics.

Recently Japan was pushing for an optimal scheme that allows employees to clock early every Friday.

Some companies have even found an ingenious way of getting rid of these indefatigable pests: turning off lights in the evening so that they leave their workstations.

It is the same in South Korea.

Workaholics, they reckon, disrupt the social ecosystem.

You see, boozers are no longer boozing as much as brewers, while families are no longer manufacturing babies with the regularity that is needed to replace the aging population.

But like Hosiah Chipanga, Bishop Lazi has a plan: Why don’t we swap our sloths for their workaholics.

It might work.

Bishop out!

Writing Back
Ranga Mataire

Speaking on 16 February 2001 on the need for European Unity, then President of the European Commission, Romani Prodi exclusively told Britain’s The Guardian newspaper something that anyone interested in collective survival as a nation, race, continent must take seriously.

Expressing his fear of America’s hegemony brought about by economic globalisation, Prodi said: “The only way to express ourselves in the new world is by being together. I don’t like to be a colony. If we do not get together, we will disappear from world history.”

I was reminded of Prodi’s genuine fear of America’s growing hegemony across the globe and the need for nations to be united after reading recent news of the sacking of UK’s Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson. Among a litany of misdemeanours, Mr Williamson was accused of telling military chiefs of plans to intervene in at least five African states that include Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Kenya and Egypt.

Most international media houses screamed with a very condescending headline; “Sacked UK’s defence chief wanted to invade Africa”. It is very condescending that one would think that this “Africa” is some small country in some far off backwaters of the civilised world. But the media’s patronising framing is just a part of the problem. Let’s focus on Mr Williamson and what his “embarrassing expose” tell us about the mentality of the majority of those of a different colour that inhabit the northern hemisphere. These are some of the people who once enslaved, subjugated and colonised us. We would have been fools to think that the end of decolonisation in Africa meant the automatic unwinding of the inherent racial prejudices of those who once colonised us including their children.

Colonialism and the motivation behind it remain to this day ingrained in most whites. It has just become unfashionable now to publicly express such disobliging or unsavoury remarks in a world that has since given us Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela or Barack Obama – political figures that have become poster-boys in the current global liberal discourse.

It is said that one can gauge the actual thinking or the pulse of a clan, family or a nation by listening attentively to some of its colourless, raucous or underdone characters. It is these characters and their unsophisticated rawness that give us an unedited picture of the things discussed behind the veil of private households. But let’s also not deceive ourselves. Although prone to embarrassing gaffes, Mr Williamson is far from being a wayward buffoon. He actually has an illustrious political career for a person of his age and professional background.

Born on 25 June 1976, Mr Williamson was at the time of his sacking a British Conservative MP and Secretary of State for Defense from 2017 to 2019 and has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for South Staffordshire since 2010.

His rise to political stardom began when he was appointed private secretary to the Prime Minister and is said to have been fond of attributing to himself Theresa May’s assumption of leadership after having been her chief campaign strategist. His strategic thinking that propelled May to the throne was not without recognition. He became the chief whip and later was rewarded by being appointed Defense Secretary on November 12, 2017. Why is all this history important? It is important because it puts in perspective the fact that we are not dealing with just some street urchin. When he says something we must as a nation or as a continent take it seriously.

After all, this is the man who in 2015 was sworn in as a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom giving him the honorific title of the “The Right Honourable” for life. The following year he was sworn in as Commander of the Order of the British Empire. This, the empire’s medal of honour seems to have had a permanent intoxication in Mr Williamson and without doubt gave him the gusto to tell close colleagues of his plans to invade Africa. Let us be aware that Mr Williamson was not essentially sacked for his statement on Africa but on different allegations, which made it unsustainable for him to remain in the Conservative government. Expressing one’s wish to invade Africa cannot be a punishable offence within the British establishment. In the British corridors of power, the legacy of empire still lingers.

Mr Williamson’s real crime was that he had leaked classified information to a newspaper on the government’s approach to allowing Chinese tech giant Huawei to build part of Britain’s 5G network. That is what irked Madam Theresa May not the “invasion of Africa” thing that lies nestled safely at the subconscious of most inhabitants of the “Empire”.

The apt description of Mr Williamson’s mishaps is probably best captured by China’s Defence Ministry spokesperson. After getting so excited when Britain finally launched its new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, Mr Williamson started threatening countries he didn’t like with ‘lethal force’ and promised to deploy it to the Pacific. China, which ironically is home of the so-called ‘carrier killer’ missiles, was rightly angered and cancelled a planned Brexit trade talks. China’s Defence spokesperson responded by saying: “The remarks just reinforced the deep-rooted ignorance, prejudice and anxiety among some British.”

In a rather revealing way, Mr Williamson is behaving like any ordinary middle-class British who still believes in the nobility of the Empire’s civilisation mission. Earlier quote from Prodi teaches us something critical. Colonialism didn’t end with former colonisers relinquishing political control of the colonies. Africans still need to grapple with long colonialism and former South Africa President Thabo Mbeki is probably the best African who has thus far advanced the idea of African unity beyond ethnicity and colonial borders.

Part of Mbeki’s seminal speech of 1998 titled “The Time has Come” deserves to be reproduced particularly where he says:

“My mind and my knowledge of myself are formed by victories that are the jewels in our African crown, the victories we earned from Isandhlwana to Khartoum, as Ethiopians and as the Ashanti of Ghana, as the Berbers of the Desert. I am the grandchild who lays fresh flowers on the Boer graves at St. Helena and the Bahamas, who sees in the mind’s eye and suffers the suffering of a simple peasant folk: death, concentration camps, destroyed homesteads, and dreams in ruins.

“I am the grandchild of Nongqause….I come of those who were transported from India and China, whose being resided in the fact, solely, that they were able to provide physical labour, who taught me that we could be both be at home and be foreign, who taught me that human existence itself demanded that freedom was a necessary condition for that human existence. Being part of all these people, and in the knowledge that none dare contest that assertion I shall claim that I am an African.”

We need as Africans to develop a shared conception of being an African and only then can we be able to stand as a formidable entity against the psychosis of the likes of Mr Williamson.

In the case of Zimbabwe, many will remember that this is not the first time that a British national has called for the invasion of its former colony. Way back in 2013, former South African president, Thabo Mbeki sensationally claimed that the British had requested his country’s help for a military invasion.

Mbeki noted: “There is a retired chief of the British armed forces and (he) said that he had to withstand pressure from the then prime minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair, who was saying to the chief of the British armed forces, ‘you must work out a military plan.”

Mbeki said this came as no surprise as the same pressure had been exerted on his country to cooperate in a regime change scheme- even to the point of using military force.

Yes, Mr Williamson could qualify to be that Pike character in a classic British Sit-com Dad’s Army who is a gawky and a rather gormless accident prone individual, but his reckless words must be kept in our consciousness. Like what Prodi said, no one wants to be a “colony”.

The rise in kombi fares last week was triggered by a shortage of fuel, although the reaction of drivers, and probably owners, was way over the top and even as fuel started flowing into service stations fares remained around 50 percent more than a week ago despite the drop from mid-week double fares.

Several factors contributed to the fare crisis. First the buses run by Zupco and its franchise holders appeared significantly scarcer. The previous attempts by kombis to raise fares through the roof had been defeated by the arrival of the Zupco service. While the State-owned company could not even begin to cope with demand, enough buses from the vastly diminished Zupco fleet and those companies brought in to supply the basic service were enough to break the kombi cartels and force equivalent fares, or near equivalent fares. When supply rises to meet a fixed demand then the advantage moves to buyers and prices tend to fall.

Fuel shortages at service stations for much of last week, meant many kombi drivers were queuing for  hours to buy a full tank, reducing the number of kombis actually providing services at any one time. The laws of supply and demand now kicked in over the opposite direction. Demand for public transport is pretty constant. A sharp reduction in the number of seats, both in the large buses and kombis, meant that those still providing services could jack up prices.

A curiosity in the business model for kombis increased the pressure to push up fares. Although the authorities talk about kombi operators, as if they are large companies providing transport services, this is not the case. Kombi owners maintain and license the kombis but rent them out by the day to the drivers for a fixed charge. Drivers are responsible for fuel and the daily fee. In effect every single driver is a kombi operator and performs this role as an independent contractor.

To show a profit for a day, a driver has to carry enough passengers to cover his fuel and day-charge, plus the tout charges at formal and informal terminuses, and the sum he has promised his conductor. This explains some of the behaviour that so exasperates other road users: kombis weaving through traffic, jumping lanes without signals, and insisting on queuing at informal terminuses blocking streets.

The same problem also helps explain some of the pressures on drivers to raise fees when they spend hours queuing for fuel. Some claim they are buying black-market fuel, which is probably a lie. But even if they were buying more expensive fuel that still drives up their total daily costs by far less than 50 percent. Fuel is not the largest cost for a kombi driver and even doubling fuel costs will have a far more modest impact on daily costs. An increase in daily rents by kombi owners is far more damaging.

The reduction in buses and kombis on many routes, plus the higher kombi fares, had some exceptionally undesirable safety implications. The shortages meant more people were using pirate taxis, or even cadging lifts from passing motorists wanting to offset their fuel and other bills on their way to work or home. These drivers are neither licensed nor insured for public transport and many lack the skills standard. So what can be done?

First the authorities have to ensure that the bus fleets operated by Zupco and its associates are kept on the road. This might well require special fuelling arrangements. In addition plans to expand the Zupco fleet must be accelerated. A Zupco bus is usually a first choice for passengers; the majority resort to other carriers because there are not enough Zupco buses.

Secondly consideration needs to be given to assigning a priority to refuelling kombis. This could be tricky, since the plan would have to be to provide fuel for kombi operations, not fuel for a black market. But the ingenuity of cheats could be defeated by a number of measures: ration cards that had to be filled and stamped by participating service stations, locked fuel tank covers with keys kept at the service station, measuring devices.

As with increasing the number of Zupco buses, cutting queues for kombis would also ensure that more were on the road at any one time, thus increasing the supply adequately to meet the demand at ordinary fares. Market forces can work in both directions. Whatever solution is adopted, we need a solution that ensures that there are adequate seats on offer to move commuters to and from work and school. Not everyone owns a car, and even if they did we should remember that even a single kombi replaces 15-30 cars on the road, relieving congestion, which admittedly is bad enough.

Kwame Tapiwa Muzawazi

With no rallying point, we are on autopilot to nowhere.

Another May is upon us. And that means another Africa Day.

After observing this occasion for almost 50 years now, it’s time to take stock.

There was a time when the African voice counted for much in global politics.

This is a time when Africa spoke with one voice on the issue of liberating African countries.

The 94 years between 1900 and the 1994 South African transition from apartheid saw congresses, conferences and political actions that catapulted Africa to global political prominence.

Today, Africa is nowhere near that forceful relevance.

One could plausibly argue that this continent of 55 countries and over 1 billion people is at its weakest when it comes to fighting for and defending what’s good for the ordinary African.

What’s next, Africa?

We fought and got the right to run the affairs of our countries, but it’s evident that the fruits of independence are as elusive to grasp in our hands as a slippery fish.

Every generation has a question to answer and actions to take.

What’s the burning question of the day?

Whilst the 20th century was meant to address the issue of Africa freeing herself from the manacles of colonisation, this century has the next calling.

The 21st century must become the epoch of Africans freeing themselves from educational and cultural colonisation — those invisible aspects that are still pervasive. It must be the century of the Second African Revolution.

A century where battles move from the bushes and valleys of guerrilla warfare to the economic and intellectual front.

There is a dozen or so issues that post-colonial Africa needs to confront with decisiveness and determination.

For today, let’s just look at three.

Educational content

Across Africa, most school textbooks have not changed even though the continent claims to be independent.

Resultantly, our teachers are producing nicely colonised graduates who know more the history and geography of Europe than Africa’s.

In English classes, they teach us to say “as white as snow”, yet we don’t live in ice-cold countries — there is milk is Africa.

In Zimbabwe and elsewhere in Africa, the most popular song they sing during playtime in schools is called “Christopher Columbus: The Great Man”.

It praises Columbus for being a path-breaking explorer and navigator.

Yet our kids should be singing about Ibn Battuta, the Moroccan who pioneered global travel and upon whose autobiography — A Gift To Those Who Contemplate the Gift of Cities and the Wonders of Travelling — Columbus himself relied for planning his colonialist navigations.

The fallacy of Western electoral democracy

One of the icons of African independence, Julius Nyerere, famously said “Democracy is not a bottle of Coca-Cola which you can import”.

He was warning against the stampede to embrace the Western notion of “government of the people by the people”, which wave began in the late 1950s and continues today. Africa has never paused a moment to ask what the best political system for Africa is, especially in accordance with our history, culture and peculiar circumstances.

It’s been 60 years of Africa’s experiment with the Western doctrine, and that is long enough to warrant an audit.

Sadly, those 60 years have proved that there is no relationship whatsoever between what the West says democracy is and development.

Elections in Africa are more expensive than elsewhere in the world per capita; they take more people to organise and are a logistical nightmare.

Even more interesting, there are countries such as China, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar whose people have never heard of elections but enjoy the highest quality of life and development.

The cold facts on the ground are so worrying that Africa needs to urgently organise a summit of summits — similar in magnitude to the 1945 Pan-African Congress held in Manchester — to answer a historic question: why is it that the more elections we have organised since 1957, the more we have got poorer as Africa?

The world’s richest country on paper is the Democratic Republic of Congo.

But DRC has failed to realise the promise of its vast and unparalleled wealth on the simple count that it has failed to hold “free and fair elections” since independence from Belgium in 1960.

Then there is poor Zimbabwe, which is the world’s only country that is expected to hold a textbook-perfect election to the extent that whoever leads Zimbabwe is trapped in expectations of heavenly perfectionism.

Hope for the youth

Back home, young Africans prefer to die in the treacherous waters of the Mediterranean Sea crossing over to Europe in search of a better life.

Between 2017 and 2018, the United Nations’ International Organisation for Migration reported that 5000 Africans died whilst trying to emigrate to Europe.

This matter has received endless publicity but neither the African Union nor African governments have said or done anything decisive.

Yet we are forced to remember year-in, year-out and mourn 1 500 white people who died at sea in the Titanic in 1912.

But 5 000 Africans who sank yesterday can be mourned and forgotten by way of solemn tweets!

My 16-year-old niece asked a question which till now I wonder whether I answered correctly: “Uncle, if Europe and America were to station ships on the coasts of Africa and invite the youth of Africa to voluntary slavery in their countries, how many young Africans will not go?”

I just shook my head and told her I will research and come back to her . . .

A new world order

Whether Brexit happens or not, the European Union and Britain itself will not be the same.

Whether Trump wins in 2020 or not, the USA will not be the same.

The electoral victories of white supremacist political parties in the Western world point to the fact that we have reached the end of the post-World War II liberal order and are now in a new era.

Africa must smell the coffee because it’s increasingly becoming fashionable in former liberal Europe and America to run and win elections on an anti-Africans crusade. Now that time and history have had their say, Prophet Samuel Huntington has been proved right: we are now in the era of the “clash of civilisations”.

History, however, has not been kind to Prophet Fukuyama who had the unenlightened audacity to proclaim that the end of the Soviet Union was the “end of history” and beginning of eternal supremacy of Western-style liberal democracy.

If anything, a new era has begun, launched by the collapse of Western democracy institutions and theories.

For the West, things are falling apart — slowly, but fast — and “the centre cannot hold”.

America, which used to lead the Western Orchestra Band, is going solo.

The UK is struggling to disentangle itself from Europe and also go solo.

Russia is ever more resurgent and confident the good old times are back.

And within the next 10 years, we will witness China’s coronation as the most powerful nation on Earth in many respects. Meanwhile, right now the Minister of Finance for Malawi, like the overwhelming majority of his peers across Africa, is preparing the 2020 national budget, of which 90 percent is dependent on Western countries’ benevolence.

Africa, wake up and smell the coffee!

Africa must today find a rallying point upon which to tie the activities of its leaders and societies.

The real enemy for Africa in the 21st century is not colonialism: it is the black man himself; his own passivity; his own sins of omission and lethargic approach to his own affairs.

With no rallying point, we are on autopilot to nowhere.

And that rallying point must address the fundamental, structural issues — it must be revolutionary.

It must be intellectual.

Kwame Tapiwa Muzawazi is a Zimbabwean Pan-Africanist, explorer, publisher and thinker. He has been to 52 African countries on research missions and serves as CEO to the Book of African Records/Institute of African Knowledge.

Vision 2030
Allen Choruma

What has been lacking in Zimbabwe in the past is the political will to effectively fight corruption, observe the rule of law and apply the law without bias, fear or favour.

Parastatals play a pivotal role in the economic development of Zimbabwe.

Key infrastructure and service provision is dominated by parastatals in areas such as health, roads, aviation, rail, water and sanitation, power generation and distribution, revenue collection, tourism, telecommunications, agriculture, education, financial services, and so on.

The term parastatal is used in this article in the broader context to include State-owned enterprises (SOEs) and other public institutions.

The recent wave of corruption scandals, poor performance, abuse of national resources and poor service delivery from most parastatals supports the call for parastatal reform and transformation, as the nation seeks to achieve Vision 2030’s developmental milestones.

In the past, the biggest challenge to parastatal reform has been the slow pace of implementing the reforms.  There has been much talk and less action.

Vision 2030 cannot be achieved unless Government, through the State Enterprises Restructuring Agency (Sera), takes a decisive, aggressive and unwavering position in transforming parastatals and implementing robust turnaround strategies to ensure that they do not continue to make perennial losses and haemorrhage State resources that could ideally be used to support social services and developmental programmes.

The fight against corruption should be the harbinger of parastatal reform and the transformation agenda. Unless we deal with corruption effectively, the parastatal reform and transformation agenda will remain a pie in the sky.

Corruption remains the single biggest threat to reforming these entities.

Corruption

Corruption in most parastatals has reached alarming levels and the media has done a sterling job in exposing it.  The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) has not made much progress in bringing corrupt parastatal executives and management before the courts for prosecution.

Although there has been a lot of talk about corruption, we have not had high-profile corruption cases successfully prosecuted.

In most instances, police investigations have been weak, resulting in criminal cases on abuse of office and corruption being thrown out by the courts due to lack of sufficient evidence for successful prosecution. Police investigations can only be effective if Zacc works closely with the police and other State agencies such as the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), who are constitutionally mandated to fight corruption.

Laws and Institutions

Zimbabwe has sufficient laws and institutions to fight corruption in all sectors — public and private — and within the broader Zimbabwean society.

At institutional level, we have the Judiciary (courts), the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

There is also a Special Anti-Corruption Unit (Sacu) within the Office of President and Cabinet (OPC), which is also designed to deal with corruption. Within the NPA, there is the Asset Forfeiture Unit, which was established in terms of Section 27A of the National Prosecuting Authority Act.

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) was established under the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act (Chapter 9:24) and operates under the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).

The FIU’s responsibility is primarily to scrutinise suspicious financial transactions within banking and financial services with the objective of curbing illicit financial activities and money laundering.

In terms of legal instruments, we have the Prevention of Corruption Act (Chapter 9:16); Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission Act (Chapter 9:22); National Prosecuting Authority Act (Chapter 7:20); Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act (Chapter 9:24); Exchange Control Act (Chapter 22:05); Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) (Amendment of the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act and Exchange Control Act) Regulations, 2018 (SI 246 of 2018); and the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter: 9:23), among others.

SI 246 of 2018 — Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) cited above — empowers Government to seize assets of people who fail to disclose the source of their wealth.  The regulations allow authorities to make an ex-parte application to the High Court for Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO) in respect of any property presumed to be “tainted”.

The High Court may grant the UWO if it is satisfied that the requirements for making the order are fulfilled.

Therefore, Zimbabwe’s failure to make significant progress in fighting corruption is not because of inadequate institutions and laws to fight corruption. These are in place.  Zimbabwe sticks out in Southern Africa as having a robust institutional and legal framework to fight corruption.

What has been lacking in Zimbabwe in the past is the political will to effectively fight corruption, observe the rule of law and apply the law without bias, fear or favour.

Laws to fight corruption have in the past been applied selectively and in a biased manner; thus compromising the effectiveness of existing measures to fight corruption.  What is encouraging is that His Excellency, President Mnangagwa, has set the “right tone from the top” on the need to fight corruption.

The institutions entrusted with the legal authority to expose, investigate and prosecute cases of corruption have the Presidential support to do so and therefore there is no excuse for not using our institutional and legal framework to fight corruption in Zimbabwe.

Government reforms

Transforming and reforming parastatals is broader and extends beyond fighting corruption.

Sera, for example, in October 2017 issued “Turnaround Strategy and Entity Self-Assessment Guidelines for adoption by SOEs and Parastatals”.

These guidelines are meant to improve disclosures and reporting standards in parastatals in areas such as governance, turnaround strategies, financial performance, debt restructuring, revenue enhancement and cost containment, among others.

The following are some of the parastatal reform measures that Government has already announced:

• Governance: enhancing governance through enactment of the Public Entities Corporate Governance Act (Chapter 10:31).
• Director Database: Corporate Governance Unit: Office of President and Cabinet (OPC) is creating a directors’ database (pool) for parastatal board appointments.
• Recapitalisation Programme: (for example, NRZ, Zesa).
• Liquidation: outright liquidation of selected parastatals (for example, National Glass, Kingstons)
• Mergers: (for example, Powertell, Zarnet and Africom), JVs, absorption into ministries: (for example, Ziana).
• Privatisation: (for example, TelOne, NetOne, POSB, IDC, CSC, Zupco, Agribank).
• Oversight: increased oversight over financial performance and service delivery.

Other reforms

In addition to Government-driven parastatal reforms, the reform agenda should be broadened to include the following:

• Publishing annual financial statements in mainstream media and other public platforms.
• Convening Annual General Meetings.
• Public selection of directors of parastatals, through advertisements, co-ordinated by the Corporate Governance Unit in the Office of President and Cabinet (OPC).
• Limit tenure of CEOs of parastatals to ten years (that is a maximum of two five-year tenures).
• Performance-based contracts for CEOs and senior executives and management.

Parastatal boards should be properly constituted as a matter of public policy.

The appointment of directors is an even more rigorous exercise in parastatals because the directors will be called to preside over public assets and resources.  Parastatal directors should be appointed through a formal and transparent process to ensure that such directors have the requisite qualifications, skills, competencies, experience and independence.

Parliament

In the interests of public policy, Parliament, through its Parliamentary portfolio committees, should exercise its oversight role over parastatals more effectively.

Parliament should be more assertive and ensure that parastatals stick to their statutory mandates and that they are governed in line with best practices to safeguard public resources and enhance service delivery and economic development.

Parliament should also ensure that the Auditor-General’s reports are taken seriously and that recommendations are actioned.

In conclusion, parastatal reform and transformation should be accelerated to ensure that these entities serve their statutory objectives of advancing social and economic development goals while at the same time operating viably and efficiently without burdening the fiscus and taxpayers.

Allen Choruma can be contacted on hoziadvisory2018@gmail.com

Samuel Kusangaya

Climate change is now widely regarded as a key global challenge.

Observations from long-term global datasets suggest that natural resources such as land and water are increasingly becoming vulnerable, and climate change is likely to worsen the levels of vulnerability.

This is especially relevant in Southern Africa, where climate change interact with other external factors which, in turn, have serious implications for people, ecosystems, biodiversity and economies.

Climate change affects socio-economic development, with the effects being more enhanced when combined with other key global challenges such as food security and population growth.

Climate change is likely to result in higher sea levels, intense storms and heavy rainfall events, as well as frequent drought occurrences. A number of these climate hazards are already occurring and impacting on human settlements, causing loss of life, social disruption and economic hardships.

Such hardships are heavily felt by the poor, who have limited options for dealing with these climate-induced hazards.

However, uncertainties still remain regarding the rate of climate change and the scale and distribution of the impacts over Southern Africa. Nevertheless, the persistence of the observed changes in climate over the past century like the increase in the occurrence, magnitude and severity of extreme events implies amplified impacts on the very poor in Southern Africa.

Southern Africa is inherently characterised by a highly variable climate both, spatially and temporally.

Climatic regions range from semi-tropical (Angola, Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar), semi-arid (South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana) to arid (Namibia).

Apart from the highly variable climate, reasons for the high vulnerability across the region include the highly agro-based economies (rain fed and irrigated), severe water challenges (quantity, quality and distribution) and high exposure and low adaptive capacity, particularly among rural communities.

Occurrences

Studies from Southern Africa have shown that extreme events (for example droughts and floods) are increasing in frequency and magnitude.

These extreme events are heavily influenced by El Niño-Southern Oscillations, which are becoming more intense as a result of climate change.

For example, in Southern Africa, the frequency of droughts is projected to increase and will most likely increase the frequency of extreme low flows and low storage episodes.

These will inevitably affect aquatic ecosystems, water supply, irrigation, leisure, and hydro power generation.

Studies show that Africa has the second highest number of extreme events after Asia.

A significant number of these — floods and droughts — are occurring in Southern Africa.

For Southern African countries, it can be seen that: (a) the occurrence of natural disasters in the last two decades (1991-2000 and 2001-2010) is by far higher than for the previous decades, with the 2001-2010 decade having the highest occurrences, and (b) the occurrence of these disasters has been increasing at an exponential rate.

The number of natural disasters in the last decade is in most cases equivalent to the total number of disasters in the previous three decades.

It is, therefore, concluded that there is an increasing trend of extreme events in Southern Africa.

Floods, droughts and tropical cyclones

Extreme flooding events have been and continue to be one of the most important natural hazards responsible for deaths and economic losses in Southern Africa.

Experts say extreme floods result in direct destructive effects during the time of the event, and they also may be followed by a related chain of indirect calamities such as famines and disease epidemics that produce additional damages and suffering.

To date, Southern Africa has been characterised by extremely devastating events.

Examples include recurring floods in Mozambique and droughts which have caused food insecurity, increased incidences of cholera and malaria, loss of shelter and loss of life as happened in the 2000 – 2001 Cyclone Eline and 2019 Cyclone Idai-induced floods, which affected Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe.

Additionally, studies have shown that tropical cyclone activity in Southern Africa has increased in frequency and intensity in recent years, causing massive damage and loss of life in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Swaziland, South Africa, Madagascar and Mauritius.

Six warmest years on record for Zimbabwe have occurred since 1987, with corresponding increased frequency of droughts in southern Africa since 1990 (90/91, 91/92, 92/93, 93/94, 94/95, 97/98, 01/02, 02/03, 04/05, 06/07) causing massive drops in crop yields in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia.

These observations ultimately signify a significant shift of climate variables from the recent past. Although the occurrence of droughts and floods has been fluctuating over the past decades, the two natural hazards have been on an increasing trend.

Increasing drought trends are noticeable in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Madagascar, while floods tend to be dominant in Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia.

The increasing cases of recorded epidemics are also closely related to the increasing occurrence of floods due to increased cyclone activity as in the case of Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Malawi.

Recently, Southern Africa has been experiencing heat waves and extensive wildfires, aphenomena that had never been recorded before.

The upsurge in heat waves and wildfires is attributable to increasing temperatures.

Thus, overall, the occurrence of these multiple natural disasters is likely to further constrain the adaptive capacity of the region.

Causes

Several factors operating at different spatial and temporal scales have led to various extreme events in Southern Africa.

Some of these extreme events are attributed to or exacerbated by climate change.

While there is unequivocal evidence that the climate is changing, there are divergent views on the causes and attributed consequences of the obtaining climate change.

For example, whilst some areas are experiencing an increasing number of frequent dry spells, others are experiencing the opposite.

In other words, they are experiencing an increase in consecutive wet spells that span a relatively long period of time.

So far, however, a number of studies from Southern Africa have shown that extreme events are increasing in frequency and magnitude. For example, the El Niño-Southern Oscillation effect has continued to strengthen in recent decades, resulting in more floods and droughts.

Most experts now attribute climate change to the intensification of the El Niño-Southern Oscillations.

On the other hand, the frequency of droughts is projected to increase and will most likely lead to an increase in the frequency of extreme low flows and low storage episodes.

Extreme low flows and low storage episodes inevitably affect aquatic ecosystems, water supply, irrigation, leisure, and hydro power generation.

Knowledge about the characteristics of extreme events is valuable for planning and designing infrastructure.

Both urban and rural areas contain many types of hydraulic engineering structures such as dams, water distribution networks, water collection networks, sewage collection networks and storm water management, which need to be designed to accommodate peak flows of a certain magnitude in order to function safely at a given level of risk.

Should the structures fail, especially where human settlement is dense, there are potential societal, economic and environmental consequences.

However, for Southern Africa, knowledge about magnitudes and recurrence intervals of extreme events is still hampered by lack of long-term datasets.

Consequently, this limits the ability to adequately evaluate potential magnitudes and recurrence frequencies of extreme events.

Vulnerability

Southern Africa is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change as a result of increased exposure to climate extremes and limited adaptation capacity.

The lack of long-term weather data is one of the major constraints in assessing risk from climate change.

Most parts of the Southern Africa region are not adequately covered by networks of hydro-meteorological stations and data collected is not readily accessible to users.

Thus, the combination of inadequate understanding of atmospheric and biospheric processes and lack of hydro-meteorological data explain the limited knowledge about climate variability and climate change and the potential impacts thereof in the region, resulting in ineffective responses, especially at a local scale.

Consequently, this results in Southern Africa being more vulnerable and ill-equipped to cope with the effects of climate change. Climate change is expected to worsen the current stress on natural resources resulting from population growth, economic factors and land-use changes.

The Southern African region is regarded as one of the most vulnerable regions due to lack of financial, institutional and technological capacity, low adaptive capacity, endemic poverty, low technology uptake and heavy dependence on rain-fed agriculture.

Moreover, the climate of Southern Africa, which is predominantly arid to semi-arid, further increases the exposure of the region to climate change extremes.

Thus, knowledge of impacts of climate change and extreme events is critical for the development of adaptive strategies for the region. For Southern Africa, universities and research centres should therefore increase their focus on improving the scientific capacity, research financing, research infrastructure, technological use and information dissemination.

Mr Samuel Kusangaya is a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing expert with interest in geo-information science applications in climate change modelling, vegetation monitoring, hydrology and water resources management and database management.

Garikai Mazara

Each province has to stand by its resources — and rightfully benefit from the same.

To those who might have forgotten their geography onions, the Great Dyke literally divides the country into two: rivers on the western side of the geomorphological feature flowing towards the Zambezi River and those on the eastern side, flowing towards the Indian Ocean.

But that is not only about the other characteristic of the Great Dyke — it is home to a score-and-half of the country’s minerals, ranging from chrome, platinum, iron, limestone to gold.

Therefore the discussion around devolution, the buzzword in Zimbabwe’s politics at the moment, cannot be done without mentioning the generous hand of nature, which made sure half of the country has some share of the Great Dyke.

Starting in the north, from just outside Mvurwi in Mashonaland Central, the Great Dyke cuts across the length and breadth of Zimbabwe, running up to Zvishavane, in the south.

And in its path lies varying deposits of minerals, from the chrome mines of Impinge and Mutorashanga, the platinum deposits in Ngezi/Mhondoro, the goldfields of the Midlands to the chrome fields again in Shurugwi and the platinum again in Zvishavane.

Add to the mix limestone and iron deposits, and you have one rich belt of minerals the world over.

Stretching from Mashonaland Central, passing through Mashonaland West and winding off in the Midlands, one might be tempted to conclude that these three are the richest provinces in the country.

That is until you throw into the mix the province of Manicaland, which in the past decade has seen an unrivalled diamond rush. Or Matabeleland South with its River Ranch diamond fields.

When you move further north, Matabeleland North will equally boast of its rich deposits of coal and natural gas (which has remained untapped up to now), and you get an appreciation of why the discussion around devolution is rightfully gathering momentum in the country.

Each province has to stand by its resources — and rightfully benefit from the same.

Here is a breakdown of province-by-province natural endowments:

Mashonaland Central

As the year was drawing to a close last year, there was an early Christmas present, with the announcement that oil and natural gas has been discovered in Muzarabani.

Whilst exploration work is ongoing, indications are that the resources are in such abundance to warrant exploitation, which will see the province with a spring in its current step in the coming years. And the huge financial repercussions for the province will have an effect, undoubtedly, on the national purse as well.

The discovery of oil and gas in the province should not dwarf the rich mineral deposits that have been ever-present in Mashonaland Central. It is well known for its chrome deposits, with the mouth-end of the Great Dyke, in and around Impinge, famous for chrome mines.

Equally, gold is another naturally occurring mineral, with Mazowe and Shamva gold mines, though facing difficult times at the moment, being the flagship gold mines in the province. Small-scale gold miners litter the province and contribute immensely to the gross earnings of the province.

For years, Zimbabwe has been a breadbasket of the sub-region, partly thanks to the farming exploits of Mashonaland Central. From the world-famous Mazowe Citrus Estates, farming has always been an anchor in the financial freedom of the province.

The Zambezi River, which runs from Victoria Falls, cascading down towards the Indian Ocean, providing a plethora of tourism opportunities along its course, does so with an abundance of largesse in Mashonaland Central, with wildlife roaming freely.

Mashonaland West

Sharing a border with Mashonaland Central, the two provinces have many similarities – tourism opportunities, farming exploits and almost the same mineral deposits, derived from the shared Great Dyke.

Of particular interest is the Karo Resources platinum project that was granted a special permit and whose benefits will be fully appreciated when it becomes fully functional.

Already, the communities of Mhondoro and Ngezi are benefiting from the platinum extraction that is being undertaken in their backyard.

Further afield, on and along the mighty Zambezi River, Mashonaland West, gleefully referred to as Mashonaland Best by its residents, has a plethora of tourism opportunities to draw financial benefits from. It should be worth noting that it is along the stretch of Mashonaland West, and on the Zambezi River, that Kariba Dam, the world’s largest man-made lake, lies.

The tourism derivatives from Kariba Dam are too numerous to mention, save to say that annually it holds the Kariba Invitational Tiger Fishing Tournament, which has been running for over 50 years and draws attention and interest from anglers across the world.

And there is so much to write about the iconic Chinhoyi Caves, whose influence and catchment spreads across the whole world.

Mashonaland East

On paper, Mashonaland East looks like the least endowed province in terms of natural wealth but reality on the ground proves otherwise. For instance, gold is abundant in the province, with the Acturus Gold Mine being the most famous gold-extracting concern.

Black granite, whose exploitation and extraction has been a cause of concern for locals, as not much benefits derive towards communities, has found itself in homes, hotels and offices across the globe. The thrust, as devolution takes shape and root, is to have communities from which the precious stone is extracted, derive financial benefit from its exploitation.

Along the other two Mashonaland provinces, farming is also a cornerstone of the province with the rich soils adding so much value to the province’s coffers. Recently, there was a furore around the sanctity around the Domboshawa Hills, which houses a number of age-old rock paintings, whose existence were set to be disturbed with some mining operations. Tellingly, the province has not done much to market the hills, whose drawing power could be as much as the aforementioned caves in Chinhoyi.

Manicaland

Before the diamond rush of a decade ago, Manicaland has always held its own through farming coffee, tea, macadamia, bananas, apples and pineapples.

Then the diamond rush happened. There have been varying arguments as to how the Chiadzwa diamonds could have been handled, with some arguing that comparing Kimberley – the diamond centre of South Africa – with Chiadzwa, leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

But there is renewed hope that the consolidation of mining companies operating in the area into one could have far-reaching effects, chief among them being the accrual of benefits to the local communities, where devolution kicks in.

Tourism is equally rich in the province, with the Eastern Highlands as a whole being a destination not to miss on a visit to the country. Even domestic tourists consider the province a must-visit at any time of the year.

Masvingo

The recent commissioning of the Tugwi-Mukosi Dam, the largest inland lake in the country, has largely changed the fortunes of Masvingo, the province which carries the country’s oldest city of the same name.

For instance, where tourists used to troop to Kariba for fishing and boating, the lake offers a new and dynamic alternative tourism destination, with the added advantaged of cooler temperatures.

The nearby Great Zimbabwe, an iconic feature of the country’s tourist destinations, lies within a spitting distance of either Tugwi-Mukosi or Lake Mutirikwi, affording the tourist a world of tourism options to choose from.

Irrigation farming, especially sugar cane, will be boosted with the addition of citrus, thereby changing the financial fortunes of Masvingo.

Midlands

The debate has been raging for some time now — whether to resuscitate the Zisco steelworks or abandon the project completely and move over to Mvuma to open a new steel centre. Whichever side of the coin wins, Midlands will still be the ultimate winner, with the province retaining its status as the steel centre of the country.

Whilst the province awaits the sorting out of the steel debate, it continues to rake in millions from its gold, chrome and platinum reserves, staking its claim to be, probably, the richest province in the country.

Only on Thursday, President Mnangagwa officially commissioned the country’s sole platinum smelter at Anglo American’s Unki Mine. Mimosa Platinum mines lies nearby, so does the asbestos mining concerns, which are undergoing recapitalisation.

Matabeleland South

Just like Mashonaland East, Mat South looks like the poor, neglected child yearning for attention. That is until you hear that the province has the country’s best sunshine hours, giving it the potency to host the best solar farms in the country.

And if you add to the matrix the busiest border in the sub-region, Beitbridge, which handles an average of 15 000 travellers every day, then you get a sense of the turnover that Matabeleland South handles.

This is before you add cattle ranching, one of the cornerstones of the province’s income regimes.

Matabeleland North

The temptation, when the province is mentioned, is to think of Victoria Falls and Hwange, probably the most famous tourism destinations the province and the country is renowned for, the world over.

Very little regard is given to the economic prowess of Hwange, the coalfields, which have been sustaining electric power in the country for over a century now. Or the untapped natural gas occurring in Lupane and environs.

Potentially, the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project has the capacity to turn the Region IV and V province into an oasis. The Batoka hydro power project, under commission, also has the potential to change the fortunes of not only the province, but also the country.

Harare

The financial benefits accruing to Harare, without doubt, derive from it holding fort in central governance. Whilst the commissioning of the Victoria Falls International Airport has allowed some flights to land directly in the resort town, Harare still remains the capital and offers that centrality and connectivity to the world — it is a central hub.

Besides being at the heart of the nerve centre, Harare has its fair share of history, has its iconic place in the history of Zimbabwe that very fewer tourists would want to visit the country without taking in the world-renowned Sunshine City status of Harare.

Bulawayo

Roughly 30km outside Bulawayo lies the Matopos Hills, a granite outcrop that so enchanted Cecil John Rhodes when he made first sight that he vowed he should be buried there.

And so rich in history that a visit to Bulawayo should not be complete without taking in the city’s, and the country’s history as displayed in the museum in the centre of the city.

But if there is to be any sense of pride within the city, it has to be in it being the womb that carries the nerve-centre of the National Railways of the country. With the recapitalisation of the transport utility high on the agenda, its revival will see a renewed financial return on the province’s gross earnings.

Province-by-province, this offers a glimpse of what benefits will accrue to the earnings of each province if resources are made to benefit locals.

We publish the final part of the political narrative of Cde Fani Chikomba, whose liberation war name was Cde Sorry Zivanayi. This week, Cde Zivanayi continues to tell our Deputy News Editor, Levi Mukarati, of the transition from ceasefire to elections in 1980 and his life after independence.

*****

Q: Can you tell us more on the events that were to unfold from the time the ceasefire was announced?

A: Many comrades were reluctant to accept that the war had indeed ended.

The radio message by Cde Mugabe, to an extent, managed to convince some of the fighters that the war was over.

But people should understand that the war had been fought for many years and it was unbelievable kungonzi kandai zvombo pasi, hondo yapera.

Hongu taida kuti hondo ipere, muvengi abvume kuti tizvitonge, but we were fighting without a clue on when that would happen.

So, the announcement of a ceasefire was met with different reactions from us and even the white soldiers.

I was still in Nyahuwe and I am one of those fighters who could not believe or trust the announcements that the war had ended.

At that time, I decided I was not going to surrender my gun until I got a convincing assurance that we were safe and should stop fighting.

Panguva iyoyo, mahelicopters eRhodesian Forces akatanga kuuya, in the areas we were operating, painted with a white cross; as a sign of peace, I think.

The ceasefire had been signed on December 21, 1979 and within three days we received orders from our leaders to move into assembly points.

We were not 100 percent sure of what was happening.

As the fighters in Nyahuwe, we moved to the nearest assembly point, Charlie.

In one week, that was from December 28 to January 4 1980, we all moved to the nearest assembly point.

About 16 assembly points had been created and they were manned by the Commonwealth Monitoring Forces.

At the assembly point, we registered our names and weapon serial numbers.

There were daily head counts of the comrades, but it was difficult for the monitoring forces to control our movement, especially at night.

Some fighters would sneak out to nearby villages to get alcohol and entertainment, before returning at dawn.

I remember takapiwa zvima trousers and shirts zvichena. Tayizviti zvima Lord Soames, named after the governor of Rhodesia at that time.

But the white authorities were surprised because the comrades managed to use some natural dyes to camouflage the clothes.

We were of the idea that they were giving us white clothes so that if they want to attack us, we will be easy targets.

At the assembly points, we were addressed by the members of the ceasefire committee, which was made up of the leadership in Zanla, Zipra and Rhodesian Forces.

They told us the country was preparing for elections.

After that, we were taken by a bus, Matambanadzo, to a farm in Acturus, Goromonzi near Harare.

That was after being ordered to surrender the guns, ammunition and any explosives at the assembly point.

It was a sudden change in life.

Imagine, having spent years clutching your gun and then one morning you are ordered to let go of it.

This was the weapon that had seen me through various battles.

I, like other fighters, had become attached to the weapons and it was difficult to let go.

But painful as it was, we had to follow orders.

However, a number of comrades hid some grenades in their bags because they could not understand what they were walking into.

Q: What went on at the farm?

A: At the farm, there was farm one and farm two, we were waiting to be given assignments, either by Zanu PF or the Government.

Ikoko kufarm ndakasangana ne boys dzaibva kuEast Africa. Tayivati boys dzegwaridhe.

I remember there was Cdes Ali, Hitler Muparadzi, Dereck Bvunzawabaya or Solo, Tapiwa and Tiger.

That was also the first time we communicated with our relatives or families.

The first person I communicated with was my father in the rural areas in Honde Valley.

He then came to see me.

While there, I reunited with Cde Communist Kambanje.

I want to mention him because of his sad story.

We were not allowed to leave the farm without clearance.

So, Communist Kambanje had two grenades and managed to sneak out for a beer drink in Mabvuku.

After the drinks, he hired a taxi to take him to the highway so that he finds transport back to the farm.

There was a misunderstanding between Kambanje, who was drunk, and the taxi driver.

The driver stopped the car and the two disembarked before a scuffle ensued.

Kambanje then removed the pin from one of the grenades and threw it into the car, blowing it in the process.

Since they were still in the residential area, people had been awakened by the two in the scuffle.

Kambanje tried to run away but was caught, arrested, charged with attempted murder and sentenced to seven years in jail.

Just imagine, from war and then being thrown in prison. It touched me because the war had bonded us.

So, after my father came, I was to go home and in February we voted with Zanu PF emerging victorious.

Those celebrations are well documented and I can’t get into their details save to say, we were happy with the result.

It was jubilation countrywide as we prepared for the formal takeover of Government on April 18, 1980.

Q: What then became of you just after independence, what were you doing?

A: I was to return to the farm just after independence, because people were being taken from such points for integration into the army or Government while others went to do party activities.

From the farm, I was taken to Marlborough where Cde Mayor Urimbo lived.

There, I met Cde Herbert Matanga and Pascal Ndarega, he is now called Changunda, they were in the Zanu-PF commissariat.

I was assigned to the Zanu-PF offices at 88 Manica road in Harare to do commissariat work.

There, I joined some guys who included Anthony Muchaparara, who is now late, Francis Nhema, who was a student at the University of Zimbabwe and secretary of the students union; Reuben Marumahoko, who was political commissar Zanu-PF Harare Central District, Charles Utete and Cde Lovegidi.

We were tasked to do fundraising for Zanu PF women’s choir and worked with Kasongo Band on that project.

Our office was next to that of Cde Sally Mugabe, late wife of former president Cde Robert Mugabe.

We were then allocated a house in Mabelreign along 84th avenue, it was number 1.

It was myself, Anthony, Lovegidi and Marumahoko staying at that house.

While there, we received members of African National Congress. They were Geraldine Fraser, who was to later become a minister in South Africa. She had come into exile in Zimbabwe.

There was also another lady, Gloria, and a male, Patrick who had come with Geraldine.

They were doing ANC activities in Zimbabwe and were working closely with Joe Gqabi who lived nearby in Ashdown Park.

Gqabi was a member of the ANC national executive committee.

He was very powerful and tipped to be Oliver Tambo’s successor.

So we used to go and see him.

While we were staying with these ANC comrades, I remember discussing with my colleagues that the security at Gqabi’s house was not water tight.

A few days after that, Gqabi was assassinated by the apartheid hit squad at that house. It was now July 1981.

A few months after the assassination, some white police officers – two males and two females – came to our house.

They inquired if our house was being sold.

We told them the house was not for sale, but what we didn’t know was that it was a reconnaissance mission on the South Africans we were living with.

Within a week, we were at home when Marumahoko decided to go to Feathers Hotel, in the same neighbourhood, to buy some drinks. It was already dark.

Geraldine and another lady who had joined us, Evelyn Gotora, said they would accompany Marumahoko in the Peugeot 404 we were using.

As they got to Feathers Hotel and parked the vehicle, they were suddenly fired at while still in the car and Evelyn was shot on the shoulder.

During that incident, two other people were killed by stray bullets.

Geraldine then managed to take Evelyn to Parirenyatwa Hospital. Marumahoko had crawled his way out of danger and when he got home, his trousers were torn.

During that time, we lived with our AK 47s, so we took them and went outside and gave each other positions anticipating a night raid.

Then Geraldine returned around 2am and told us Evelyn was in a stable condition.

We later discovered that some white police officers were working with the apartheid regime in South Africa and wanted to eliminate Geraldine Fraser.

That same year, I was called for a training programme in Domboshawa. We were being trained as local government promotion officers.

The Minister of Local Government and Housing then was Cde Edson Zvobgo.

The programme was meant to diffuse the powers of the white district commissioners who were seen as the commissars of the Rhodesia party.

The commissioners dealt direct with the masses in the provision or services, so we wanted to cut that link.

But the problem was that at the Lancaster House Conference, it had been agreed that no one would be taken out of employment after independence.

However, with 55 white district commissioners, we needed a strategy to push them out in a smart way.

Our orders were to frustrate them into leaving office.

After the training, I was deployed here in Chinhoyi.

Initially, there was tension with the mostly white employees at the district commissioner’s office because I was above the level of a cadet.

This meant I was to get an office, accommodation and a vehicle.

But I should say I managed to fulfil my mission and the white district commissioner resigned after about eight months in 1982.

In 1991, I moved from the Ministry of Local Government and Housing after our department was disbanded.

I was then appointed Mashonaland West provincial youth officer in the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture.

Then during the adoption of the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme, we were again left jobless in the mid-1990s as Government tried to reduce expenditure.

I then went to Harare, secured a loan and started to run Rose and Crown bar in Hatfield.

After that, I ventured into farming, which is what I am currently doing.

Dr Engelbert Rugeje

A high-powered Zanu-PF delegation, led by chairperson Cde Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, last week returned home from China after a 10-day exchange visit with the Communist Party of China (CPC). Our Chief Reporter Kuda Bwititi, who travelled with the delegation, spoke to Zanu-PF national commissar Dr Engelbert Rugeje and he unpacked the visit. Below are excerpts of Dr Rugeje’s account.

*****

The trip to China was long overdue. It was agreed to at the highest level when His Excellency, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, and his counterpart President Xi Jinping made an arrangement that our parties – Zanu-PF and the Communist Party of China (CPC) – should meet to exchange notes.

It goes without saying that the CPC has been Zanu-PF’s friend from the days of the liberation struggle. The CPC supported us in several ways, including providing ammunition, logistical support, ideological support and various other forms of assistance.

In addition, China has also been very supportive of our Government from 1980 to date and has also been a pillar in bankrolling several projects that are crucial to our economy.

For this particular trip, we were quite impressed as the commissariat. The trip was an eye-opener, we learnt a lot and feel motivated to drive our party forward with renewed vigour. The CPC is one of the oldest liberation movements in the world. They have traversed a much longer journey than us, but what is interesting is that they have modernised as a party.

They have introduced a number of concepts to strengthen their party, an example being the eight points of regulation introduced by their general secretary, President Xi. These regulations are aimed at installing discipline and instructing the code of conduct of all party cadres.

We believe that as Zanu-PF, if we emulate this kind of approach, we will see a much stronger party. The CPC have a very solid foundation, particularly when it comes to recruitment. They do not just recruit for the sake of recruiting. What we learnt is that for one to become a member of the CPC, he or she has to undergo a rigorous process that lasts a year.

If you indicate that you want to be part of the CPC, you are put under probation for a year. If you succeed, you are admitted, but if not, you are relegated to be an activist.

You are also put under some form of surveillance to see if you have improved enough to join the structures.

They also have a very watertight system in terms of discipline through their Discipline Inspection Unit.

If any member misbehaves, they are brought to trial by a committee. Those committees are found at various levels of their structures, starting from the branch, the counties, municipalities and provinces up to the central committee. They also have a process through which one has to go in order to rise to the next level.

There are stages which one has to go through. The minimum period before a cadre is elevated to another level is five years.

Party supremacy over Government

Another lesson that marvelled us is the concept of the supremacy of the party. There is integration in the running of the country by the party and Government, with the party playing a superior role.

For example, Shandong province is led by the chairman of the standing committee of the CPC.

The deputy secretary of the standing committee of the province is automatically the Governor, or what we call Ministers of State back home. Other portfolios are shared between the party and Government.

For example, the deputy director-general for public security holds two portfolios in the party and Government. This integration between party and Government ensures that there is cohesion and there are no squabbles between party and Government as the leadership is streamlined.

The other strength of CPC is ideology.

They are thoroughly schooled. The party’s ideological schools are found at national level right down to the village. They run frequent programmes for various levels of authority.

You don’t rise to a rank without undertaking a course that conforms to that rank.

Party schools also cater for the various wings and affiliates of the party such as youth programmes, women’s programmes and programmes for the vanguard, which is made up of young cadres under 18, who do not qualify to be full-time party members.

Membership of CPC starts at the age of 18, but the vanguard can start participating in party programmes at 14. So people get regimented from a youthful age, rising up to the highest level.

They have a very clear system of electing their leadership. All those who aspire must fulfill a set criteria. The assessment for one to get to a position of authority is performed by the next level.

For example, if you want to get into the branch, it is the country that superintends over the process.

We found that system to be quintessential, prudent, democratic and fair in that you just don’t rise to take up a position when you don’t deserve it. Another thing that impressed us was the introduction of community projects to keep people occupied.

There are various programmes engaged by the community, including education, agriculture, ICT-based innovations and entertainment, among others. People always engage in those activities as communities.

We were shown community halls, entertainment areas, community schools and other projects.

This means that people always live in harmony because they are kept together by activities through these social clubs.

Activities differ from community to community, according to various traditions.

Special treatment for war veterans

We also found that they involve quite a number of war veterans in their party structures and also in Government. War veterans are given utmost respect.

If one is retired in the military, they are resettled in the party and given priority in terms of assuming top positions.

Retired civil servants are also easily assimilated into party structures. We found this to be a factor that strengthens the CPC.

It gives respect to people who are experienced and this goes a long way in strengthening the party. Going forward, we will continue engaging with the CPC.

They have agreed to assist us in many areas, particularly in the commissariat.

We are looking forward to more interaction with them. We will continue to meet on a regular basis to exchange notes.

We are really comfortable in replicating a lot of things from CPC.

Socialism with Chinese characteristics

One important theme that stood out during the visit was the issue of socialism with Chinese characteristics. This is something that we also learnt from, notwithstanding the fact that an ideology is not something to imitate completely.

It is something that can always be improved upon. We intend to blend our ideology with what we are going to import from China. We are not going to copy, lock, stock and barrel, we are going to see what applies to our situation and to our party and then we will import that.

We will study their ideology further and see how we can adopt where necessary.

We also want to have our own scientific socialism with Zimbabwean characteristics. We are also going to make recommendations when we go back home to the Presidium.

Party restructuring

In order to implement some of the lessons learnt from China, we need to restructure first.

We need to attend to the current system where we have some deficiencies in the party. Once we attend to the restructuring exercise and have new structures, we will then start the conversation or processes of how we can use the same structures to achieve party goals such as mobilisation.

We are almost complete with the restructuring of Harare and Bulawayo and after that, we are going to spread to other provinces.

Once the restructuring is complete, we will talk about mobilisation strategies.

Chitepo School of Ideology

One of the main purposes of this trip was to give a shot in the arm to the Chitepo Ideological School by taking lessons from the CPC and I can say it was a success in that regard.

We have also made contact with the party schools in China to send some of our senior party officials to receive some training there.

We have agreed on exchange programmes with them, particularly for delegates to go to China.

This is going to be an ongoing exercise. It’s now incumbent upon us to identify the particular areas where we need assistance.

CPC has also promised to assist us in establishing the Chitepo Ideological School.

We have been asked to link with the Chinese Embassy in Harare.

There is a lot of enthusiasm now.

Some of the delegates had not been exposed to this kind of visit in the past. What I have read from the visit is that everyone is raring to go.

The visit has really given us a huge challenge and we are raring to go and sell this idea to our colleagues in the party.

Kuda Bwititi recently in China

China has scope to consume more agricultural produce from Zimbabwe and provide a lucrative market for one of the country’s key economic sectors.

The world’s most populous nation presently has a responsibility to feed more than 1,4 billion people.

China, which already imports the bulk of the country’s tobacco, is particularly interested in increasing cotton imports from Zimbabwe, as well as horticultural products such as citrus fruits, tomatoes and avocadoes, among other commodities.

Discussions are presently underway to make Beijing the prime market for Zimbabwe’s citrus products.

In a speech made in China, Zanu-PF chairperson Cde Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri – who led a 13-member delegation of senior party officials on an exchange visit with the Communist Party of China (CPC) – said the world’s second-largest economy is keen on more goods from Zimbabwe.

“One of the most important outcomes of the visit was that we learnt of the many business opportunities that are available between the two countries.

“China said it is very impressed with tomatoes that are produced in Zimbabwe. They are eager to import our tomatoes, and what is good about the Chinese is that they have a huge market.

“We are happy that our cotton is finding its way into China.

“We want China’s companies to invest in the textile industry so that there can be value addition and beneficiation of the raw cotton that you are already importing,” she said.

Other potential areas of cooperation, she added, include exports of beef, citrus, avocado, as well as minerals.

During the Zanu-PF delegation’s visit to Qingdao, the city’s authorities said they are eager to boost trade with Zimbabwe in line with the Asian giant’s signature foreign economic policy programme, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Qingdao is one of China’s richest cities and its strategic coastal location makes it a hub of maritime trading with the rest of the world.

China has identified Zimbabwe as one of its partners under BRI, raising prospects for lucrative trade relations.

Qingdao CPC municipal committee deputy secretary Mr Niu Junxian told Zanu-PF delegates that the province has one of the largest trade volumes in the world, which Zimbabwe could benefit from.

“This visit by the national chair (Cde Muchinguri-Kashiri) will push forward our friendship to new heights. It will also push further our people-to-people relations. We will capitalise on this opportunity to expand the existing cooperation.

“We want to see more enterprises investing in Zimbabwe, particularly in agriculture and manufacturing, so that new heights can be scaled.

“There is great scope for cooperation between Zimbabwe and Qingdao.

“Qingdao was part of the old maritime Silk Road and it is one of the most prosperous cities in the maritime sector the world over. It is connected with China’s major industries such as manufacturing, electronic, mechanical and laboratories.”

Mr Niu said in the first quarter of 2019, trade between Qingdao and Zimbabwe had grown by 164 percent.

“Last year, exports from Zimbabwe to Qingdao were $4, 7 million. But for the first quarter of this year’s trade, it is over $3 million. There is a growth of 164 percent, which shows a healthy momentum.”

Zanu-PF’s delegation comprised of national political commissar Dr Engelbert Rugeje and Cdes Simbarashe Mumbengegwi (Secretary for External Affairs), Mable Chinomona (Secretary for Women’s League), Paul Mangwana (Secretary for Legal Affairs), Lovemore Matuke (Secretary for Security), Pupurai Togarepi (Secretary for Youth Affairs), Munyaradzi Machacha (Principal of the Chitepo Ideological College), Apolonia Munzverengwi (Minister of State for Mashonaland East), Douglas Mahiya (Deputy Secretary for War Veterans), Tsitsi Gezi (Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly),Tsitsi Muzenda (Politburo member) and Resten Magumise (director at Chitepo Ideological College).

Cynics often say politics is like a sewage as it allows stinking and filthy scum to rise to the top.

In a twisted way, it’s pretty much like milk, which, as it matures, allows cream to rise.

Well, how else can one describe our current breed of Members of Parliament (MPs)?But in this part of the Savanna, it seems that we invariably have more scum than we have milk.

At the beginning of this month, MPs in the House of Commons in the UK — more than 12 000 kilometres from Harare — unanimously endorsed a motion by the opposition Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, to declare a formal climate and environment emergency.

You see, our cousins in the cold isles of “Harare North” believe that rising incidences of weather-related calamities call for urgent measures to cut back on harmful emissions that climatologists blame for freak weather patterns.

But forget the UK, nowhere are the grievous and painful effects of climate change felt more keenly than in Zimbabwe; most particularly, in Manicaland, where the monstrous Cyclone Idai recently killed more than 300 people and wrecked over 200 000 lives.

Dreadlocked clown

Naturally, one would expect a kinsmen from the scarred backyard of Manicaland to have been so moved by the recent tragedy that he would have wanted to push a motion or two for legislative changes to either prevent such a catastrophe from happening, or, when it happens, to minimise the loss of life.

Bishop Lazi would imagine that there is urgent need to delimit areas fit for human settlements, including enactment and or enforcement of building standards compatible with beastly storms attendant to cyclones and storms, which are common in that part of our teapot-shaped republic.

But not for Mutasa Central MP Trevor Saruwaka.

The dude is caught up in a different world of his own.

On Wednesday last week, the dreadlocked MDC-Alliance legislator could not resist the temptation to milk the limelight for an opportunity to pointlessly gloat about the recent by-election held in his constituency.

Just when his peers had barely warmed their seats, the 44-year-old jester had one burning question.

“I rise on a point of privilege to say you might have been aware that on Saturday 11th May 2019, there was a by-election in Mutasa Central, Ward 10. Preceding that by-election, there was a lot of coverage on ZBC-TV, but on Sunday, up to today, I have been trying to look in the public media, the results have not been publicised,” he queried?

Imajeni, a grown-ass man being seen off to work by his loving family just to ask that silly question.

Nonsense!

But this prompted the Bishop to do some digging. Indeed the Bible often gives us some handy clues.

James 3:11-12 fittingly questions: “Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.”

I guess, accordingly, one cannot expect to get wisdom from a junkie.

You see, dear reader, before Saruwaka bought his meal ticket through becoming an MP, he used to be a forester.

Yes, someone who wanders around forests and ensures that everything therein is in perfect order.

Bishop Lazi wonders what it is that he could have come across in those forests — home to many herbs — that made him “irie”.

But what is certain is that whatever he saw, smocked or experienced in those forests changed his life.

He now almost always sports some dreadlocks and professes to be a Rastafarian.

Curiously, he still claims that one of his major hobbies include “managing forests”.

One hopes that by “managing forests” the honourable comrade doesn’t mean growing anything illegal or smocking hallucinogens.

Hallucinogens are deemed illegal because they perilously and fatally melt fantasy into reality, often with catastrophic consequences.

One fine afternoon on October 26 2016, a blissful Saruwaka waltzed into the august House in a multi-coloured jacket that prompted the ire of Parliament’s fashion police.

Although the legislator might have thought that he looked dapper, he definitely looked more like a chandelier in that outlandishly dazzling outfit.

Our fine law enforcement agents had to be called in to remove the eyesore.

Saruwaka, through his lawyers, later claimed that there was nothing untoward about his jacket as it was fashioned out of the national flag.

In a letter dated November 1 2016, Kadzere, Hungwe and Mandevere Legal Practitioners — his lawyers — wrote to Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda pleading their client’s case.

“It is needless to say that our client sports a dreadlock hairstyle and he is of the Rastafarian religion.

The jacket allegedly bearing the national flag colours is also synonymous with the Rastafarian religion and beliefs,” read the letter.

But two days later, this did not stop Adv Mudenda from giving the intransigent legislator the boot after he turned up with his abominable suit, again, at Parliament’s pre-Budget seminar in Bulawayo.

The Saruwaka’s who populate our Parliament today — for they are many — are the painful warts of this incomprehensive imported creature we call democracy.

It is, like I said before, a sewage which ensures that it is only the scummiest of the scum that remains buoyant.

Surely, is this the best comrade that the people of Mutare Central and the MDC-Alliance can bring forward to debate the onerous questions of the day, especially when so much work has to be done to extricate our kinsman from the curse of grinding poverty.

As a responsible man of the cloth, Bishop Lazi can only caution: with Parliament being a theatre for such monkey business that we have been seeing lately, it might clearly take a while for the country to get its gorilla-sized monkey off its back.

Honourable Saruwaka should know that the people of Zimbabwe deserve better.

The Bishop will also advise the legislator to read Proverbs 13:20: “Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.”

Bishop out!

Writing Back
Ranga Mataire

There is a familiar but very illuminating quote in Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” which says, “When we gather together in the moonlit village ground, it is not because of the moon. Every man can see it in his own compound.”

Achebe further makes the point that kinsmen gather because it is good to do so.  He expresses his reservations on young people who seem not to understand and value the strong bonds of kinship.

As if in reference to modern day Zimbabwe, Achebe continues: “You do not know what it is to speak with one voice. And what is the result? An abominable religion has settled among you. A man can now leave his father and his brothers. He can curse the gods of his fathers and his ancestors, like a hunter’s dog that suddenly goes mad and turns on his master. I fear for you; I fear for the clan.”

I was reminded of Achebe’s timeless prophetic voice when President Mnangagwa launched the historic Political Actors Dialogue (Polad) last Friday in Harare where several political players emphasised the need for constant dialogue. Notable absentee was the leader of the MDC-Alliance Mr Nelson Chamisa who even before the official launch of the dialogue, the opposition leader had already snubbed any initiative for a national conversation demanding a one-on-one talk with the Head of State and Government and Defence Forces Commander President Mnangagwa.

While it is Mr Chamisa’s democratic right to abstain from any gathering he deems unhelpful, we wish he had taken time to listen to Achebe so as to appreciate the invaluable contribution of kinsmen meeting to deliberate on issues affecting their domain

President Mnangagwa could not have put it any better when he told representatives of 17 political parties attending the dialogue that; “This platform is designed to be a vibrant forum through which we proffer solutions to the challenges that confront us as a nation — through peaceful, open and transparent discourse.”

The ultimate goal as enunciated by President Mnangagwa, is for the dialogue to ultimately lead towards improving the country’s democratic practices and culture.

In fact, the launch of the dialogue was a culmination of President Mnangagwa’s consistent message of openness, freedom, servant leadership and transparency that he articulated at his inauguration as he ushered in the Second Republic.

In fact, President Mnangagwa is not inventing the wheel. As a leader keen on creating a new trajectory of a modern unitary state, President Mnangagwa is appropriating frameworks that have scored successes in other countries.

In the modern era, national dialogues are increasingly becoming popular tools for conflict resolution and political transformation. Beyond the official state apparatus and platforms of engagement, political players have realised the importance of including other active players who might have ideas on how to make the country prosper and resolve contentious issues.

This is also the thinking behind the President’s engagement with various interest groups like the Bulawayo Collective, the youth, women and the setting up of the Presidential Advisory Council.

So in essence, national dialogues are essential in that they broaden the debate about a country’s trajectory beyond the usual group of elite decision makers and offer potential for meaningful conversation about underlying drivers of conflict and ways of holistically addressing pertinent issues.

What is unique about Polad is that its wholly home-grown and takes on board all 2018 presidential contenders who are leaders of their own political parties. Given the enthusiasm exhibited by political players so far, it is not too early for one to be optimistic. There is a higher likelihood of success given the transparency, openness of the platform which goes beyond issues of elections.

What might need to be inputted are clear rules of procedure and an implementation plan. It is hoped that after the launch on Friday, some of the nitty-gritties will be ironed out by the participants to the dialogue.

Historically, Zimbabweans have always resorted to engaging with each other as a way of dealing with contentious issues. The 1987 Unity Accord between Zanu and Zapu is a case in point and an important reference point for home-grown solutions in dealing with domestic issues.

It is for this reason that many question the rationale by Mr Chamisa in abstaining from a critical platform for kinsmen to exchange ideas, highlight problems and proffer solutions. Who are Mr Chamisa’s advisers and do they really have the interest of Zimbabwe at heart?

We, however, note with interest that the same demands Mr Chamisa is making are almost the same as those being raised by some strangers in far-off countries. Again Achebe offers a warning when he says, “The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.”

Was Achebe aware that in years to come, Zimbabwe will have a similar problem of a presidential contender who fashions himself as a pastor or Man of God who must never be defeated in an election? Was Achebe aware that in years to come Zimbabwe would have a young impressionable leader who seems to listen more to the advice of strangers and discard all “the things that held us (successive generations) together.”

Since I began by quoting Achebe, I think it is also appropriate that we end by quoting the Nigerian author again. In a paper titled, “The Novelist as Teacher”, Achebe recounts a story relayed to him by his wife, which exemplifies that as Africans we are yet to fully recover from the traumatic effects of our first confrontation with Europe.

Achebe talks of his wife asking a pupil at a boys’ school why he had written about winter when he meant harmattan — a season between the end of November and the middle of March characterised by dry and dusty north-easterly trade wind, of the name, which blows from the Sahara Desert over West Africa into the Gulf of Guinea.

The boy responded by saying that he was afraid that his fellow classmates would call him a bushman.

Achebe then asks: “Now you wouldn’t have thought, would you, that there was something shameful in your weather. But apparently we do. How can this great blasphemy be purged? I think it is part of my business as a writer to teach that boy that there is nothing disgraceful about the African weather, that the palm tree is a fit subject for poetry. Here then is an adequate revolution for me to espouse- to help my society regain belief in itself and put away complexes of the years of denigration and self-abasement.”

Someone must tell someone that there is nothing wrong in kinsmen talking to each other.

There is nothing sacred in inviting strangers to our compounds and to open our armpits for their amusement. Achebe is a prophet. I rest my case.

For feedback contact ranga.mataire@gmail.com or lovemore.mataire@zimpapers.co.zw

When commissioning the long-desired platinum smelting plant at Unki Mines near Shurugwi last week, President Emmerson Mnangagwa took the opportunity to encourage and reassure investors and potential investors that Zimbabwe understood their needs and welcomed their partnership.

The smelter itself was a good example of desirable investment, as the President made clear when he thanked Anglo American for going ahead with the $62 million project. Zimbabwe wants more and more of its primary exports to be processed inside the country before being shipped and for most metals this means being exported as ingots rather than as ores or concentrates. After all global trade in these metals is in ingots and this preliminary processing is simply putting the export into the form that the end buyer wants and expects.

We already do this with gold and the other member of the big three, tobacco, undergoes quite a lot of processing by Zimbabwean companies before the cleaned, deribbed and carefully graded leaf is shipped to cigarette makers around the world.

By doing processing within Zimbabwe the country benefits from job-creation and from the higher value of a processed product, so enhancing export earnings. So this needs to be encouraged.

The Government still needs to be sensitive when pushing for more internal processing, but generally speaking by ensuring that it is cheaper to process within Zimbabwe than outside plus incentives for required capital investment will do the trick, producing a result that benefits the country as well as the investor. When everyone wins there is usually little trouble in extending the investment to processing.

The other area where the President felt reassurance to investors was required was with the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act, which he acknowledged had scared away investment and whose effects have already been sharply modified by administrative interpretation and amendment. He spoke of further amendments that would remove any remaining significant discouragement of investment, coupled with other legal changes to encourage and stimulate investment.

The Act was introduced to overcome what was seen then a significant problem. Demographic changes, time, a whole lot of development and needless losses of investment have reduced that. The President basically promised to bring into the law all the changes already made and remove impediments such as shareholding restrictions that add little value but have imposed a large cost.

It is still desirable to increase Zimbabwean investment in production and to have good relations between investors and their local communities, but that can be addressed in other ways, and can be addressed using incentives rather than bans. Carrots usually work far better than sticks. Once again we are looking for win-win, not a winner and a loser.

In any case, when we take Unki Mines, the investor might well be Anglo American but the staff from top management down are Zimbabweans and the nation not only benefits from the wide range of jobs and economic activity, which for a mine includes housing, education and health services, but also from tax revenues and export earnings.

The pluses are so many that making it easier for Unki to expand and others to climb in makes excellent sense.

Much of what remains in the Indigenisation Act after the next raft of amendments, which we stress are only converting present practice into law, is what most countries include in their immigration law. Basically the Act reserves a range of smaller businesses for Zimbabwean citizens, with a grandfather clause exempting existing business owners. The Government might well consider following the practice in many other jurisdictions and move the parts of the Act it wishes to keep into more appropriate sections of the law.

No country allows foreigners landing at their airports with a hairdryer residence permits as a hairdresser and Zimbabwe does not need to have special Acts to do the same; an upgraded Immigration Act would achieve the same end without scaring real investors.

At the same time the need to help Zimbabwean citizens become more economically active and investing more themselves can be addressed through new legislation focusing on this issue and building a package of incentives and other aid that provides serious help.

One major effect of the present Government’s determination to make Zimbabwe more business friendly and to make opening businesses far easier is that most beneficiaries will in fact be Zimbabweans. By looking at it in this light it is easy to see where special extra work is needed to allow our own people easy entry into the business world. All businesses start small and do not need to spend thousands of dollars to open.

The pressure on making it easy to do business needs to extend right down the line, from the big investor to the school-leaver setting out.

Trade Focus
Allan Majuru

Economic growth and development lie not only in enhanced local production, but in international trade, and more specifically, export development and growth.

Improved international trade shares a positive correlation with better living standards, increased employment and provides consumer choice.

Exports of goods and services have become increasingly important with the advent of globalisation and promulgation of free trade.

According to World Bank statistics, global exports as a percentage of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) have been continuously increasing from 12 percent in 1960 to 29 percent in 2017.

It is imperative for Zimbabwe to actively catch on with the global trend and pursue a massive export development for the exports of value-added products, which attract more revenue and grow the country’s export figures.

Zimbabwe export growth has been gradual over the recent years with some sectors growing more significantly.

Globally, in 2018, Zimbabwe exported goods worth US$4,1 billion (excluding export of services), which was an increase from 2017 export figure of US$3,5 billion.

Comparing Zimbabwe’s exports to those of other African countries, we were ranked 21 in 2018.

South Africa was the largest exporter in Africa having exported just over US$94 billion. Other neighboring countries like Zambia, Mozambique and Botswana were ranked 13, 16 and 19 respectively.

Within SADC, Zimbabwe is at number eight out of all countries within the regional economic bloc.

During the same period, 51 percent of Zimbabwe’s exports went to South Africa, followed by the United Arab Emirates and Mozambique taking up 17 percent and 8 percent respectively. This shows lack of diversity.

Back in 1992, Zimbabwe’s exports were more diversified; South Africa taking 26 percent, followed by UK with 12 percent, USA taking 10 percent, Argentina (9 percent), Germany (7 percent), Japan (6 percent).

The 1992 position shows that a total 70 percent of Zimbabwe’s exports were shared between six countries unlike last year where 76 percent of Zimbabwe’s exports went to only three countries.

Zimbabwe’s overall export performance is largely driven by growth in raw commodities, that is, minerals and tobacco.

Mineral exports and unmanufactured tobacco constituted 75 percent of the country’s total exports during 2018, while manufactured exports contributed about 7 percent to total exports.

Additionally, exports of raw crocodile hides and skins increased by 70 percent from US$20 million in 2017 to US$33,9 million in 2018.

According to ZimStat and Ministry of Finance and Economic Development figures, during the first quarter of 2019, Zimbabwe’s exports stood at US$1,02 billion.

This was a 15 percentage increase from 2018 first quarter figures of US$886.1million. Exports during this period were mainly dominated by minerals, with gold, nickel mattes, ores and concentrates contributing 51 percent as well as tobacco which contributed 23 percent.

The processed food and beverages sector have been showing signs of great improvement and potential on the export market.

The sector reported a positive performance contributing 5 percent to total exports in February 2019 compared to a contribution of 1 percent in the same month of 2018.

In value terms the sector also realized an increase, having exported US$16,1million, compared to US$3,8 million in the same month in 2018.

The increase was mainly a result of growth in exports of cane sugar in solid form, confectionery sugar, milk, cream and juices from fruits and vegetables.

The Zimbabwe horticulture sector has been on an upward trend since 2012.

Horticulture recorded an increase in value of exports from US$51,9 million in 2017 to US$112,2 million in 2018, according to ZimStat.

This was mainly attributed to export of new products such as blueberries and raspberries.

There is also increased hectarage under citrus, macadamia and avocados.

Some of the plantations are also beginning to mature, therefore adding to our export volumes.

The sector is, however, not without its challenges and addressing these will ensure horticulture easily surpasses historical performances and becomes a multi-billion money spinner.

ZimTrade, the national trade development and promotion body, is mandated to energise Zimbabwe’s export growth, and as such, the organisation engages in programmes, which support local players in the production of the various products and services.

Specific to horticulture, ZimTrade has lined up various projects to grow the sector and has actively participated in export promotion activities to market these products across the world.

Under the long-standing memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a Netherlands based senior expert consultancy organisation, PUM, ZimTrade continuously conducts expert missions to assist horticultural farmers in various aspects.

This partnership has facilitated knowledge and skills transfer for the horticultural sector.

ZimTrade also put together a Horticulture Capacity Development project which is targeted at smallholder farmers in irrigation schemes producing niche products for export.

The project is covering seven value chains which include macadamia, pineapple, avocado, sweet potatoes, paprika, chillies, flowers and bananas.

ZimTrade also assists in facilitating exports of goods and services through provision of market intelligence and trade information engaging in programmes for development in an effort to bring products to export readiness, as well as addressing issues which affect the ease of doing export business.

For Zimbabwe to export sustainably, we need to be competitive.

Price competitiveness, through improved efficiency, is the best way to go.

Inefficient processes can lead to increased costs of doing business, which result in high product prices making them less competitive compared to other similar products from competing countries.

The introduction of the RTGS dollar also enhanced export competitiveness as it is a softer currency than the US dollar.

However, access to foreign currency is still required to facilitate the importation of raw materials, among others.

Zimbabwe is a signatory to various trade agreements, which some companies are not taking advantage of.

We need to inculcate an export culture in business and leverage on existing and upcoming trade agreements.

Often, discussions and policies on exports focus on goods and leave out services.

Services constitute the fastest growing exports globally and more companies are finding profit in export of services.

With one of the highest literacy rates in Africa, Zimbabwe has a pool of highly educated and trained professionals in various fields, such as engineering medical and commercial services, among others.

This presents a massive untapped potential which, with deliberate policies and an enabling environment, has the potential to become one of Zimbabwe’s largest export.

Allan Majuru is ZimTrade chief executive officer

Vision 2030
Allen Choruma

“If I had not grown up in Nigeria, and if all I knew about Africa were popular images, I too would think that Africa was a place of beautiful landscapes, beautiful animals, and incomprehensible people, fighting senseless wars, dying of poverty and AIDS, unable to speak for themselves and waiting to be saved by a kind, white foreigner.” These words were said by Nigerian contemporary writer Chimamanda Adichie.

The so called “single African story” largely projected in Western media views Africa as one dimensional.

It stereotypes Africa and narrows it to one narrative creating the impression that Africa is one big country and forgetting that there is no single Africa.

Although some of the vestiges of the “single African story” are still with us, this narrative implies that there is only one, and the only story of Africa.

Africa is a diverse and complex continent of 55 countries, about 1,3 billion people and it is filled with the same plethora of stories as found everywhere in the world.

This single African narrative has not been written by Africans, it has been written by others.

It has been written and projected by people who enslaved Africans, colonised Africa, looted African resources and contributed immensely to the impoverishment of African people.

The challenge for Africans as we celebrate Africa Day on the 25 May each year is to regain lost ground and reclaim the space that others have used, for self-interest, to stereotype Africa as a spectacle of laughter in western comic books, films and literature.

Kwame Muzawazi, a Zimbabwean writer, in his article: “Who is telling Africa’s story?” asks a pertinent question; “How can we tell the African story, as told by Africans, if most of the media telling these stories is controlled by foreigners?”

Kwame goes on to say that there is global war on information for the African voice from the mainstream international media who have created special programs on Africa.

BBC calls theirs — “Focus on Africa”, CGTN — “Africa Live”, CNN — “Inside Africa/African Voices”.

But Kwame, we cannot keep on pointing fingers at others. Africans, at home and in the Diaspora, should invest their own resources in creating platforms and space to tell African stories in our own words.

Black Panther

Mainstream western films have generally not portrayed Africans positively.  Black Panther, from the US Marvel Studios, opened up fierce debates in 2018 on the “single African story”.

Some hailed Black Panther as having broken “perception barriers” which have lingered on Africans and Africa for centuries.

I agree to an extent, but other writers like Baffour Ankomah, in his article: “Black Panther, I beg to differ”, out-rightly begged to differ and for good reason. Onyekachi Wambu, in his article: “A Wakanda rooted in reality”, at the height of debate on Black Panther, asked why Africans were excited about fiction and fantasy when the reality on Africa is more exciting?

“The film Black Panther presents an enticing fantasy of a utopian kingdom based on African values; but why are we neglecting the reality of the most incredible heritage in the world that Africa possesses?” wrote Onyekachi in his article.

The answer to Onyekachi would be that the most incredible heritage that Africa possesses — its great civilisation and its great cultural heritage — is all hidden treasure buried deep down in the belly of mother Africa. Africa’s incredible heritage was also eroded through colonialism and needs reclamation. The erosion of African civilisation, to me marked the naissance of the “single African story”.

Youths

Many youths in Africa do not see the most incredible heritage in the world that Africa possesses that Onyekachi talks about.

To many youths, the vestiges of the “single African story” are real as opportunities at home are limited and prospects of securing jobs to support a decent living are becoming slimmer and dimmer.

Some youths in other parts of Africa have experienced the brunt of war, terrorism and banditry.

To them, talking of “incredible African heritage” is far-fetched. Kalundi Sarumaga, in his article; “Is Africa’s education system fit for purpose?”, stated thus: “The large number of Africans — particularly younger ones — trying to leave the continent is evidence of a space that has not managed to make its citizens feel wanted and able to be productive.”

The large number of African youths leaving for Europe on balloon boats risking their lives crossing the Mediterranean galvanises those that project the single African narrative in the mainstream media.

Transformation

As we celebrate Africa Day, the challenge for us Africans is in taking the lead in changing the “single African Story.”  Africans need to regain lost ground and reclaim the space that others have used, for self-interest, to stereotype Africa through a single narrative.

But this cannot be done by words and voices only. We need to create conditions, in Africa, to enable our communities and nations to grow and thrive. We need creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship to grow our economies and create opportunities for the youth to thrive at home.

We need less reliance on aid and donor funding. Instead, we need to leverage on our abundant natural resources and use them to build industries at home and create millions of jobs to end poverty.

We need to change Africa’s education system and make it fit for our purpose.  We need good governance, fight corruption and create inclusive economies that benefit all. These are the things that we need to do, apart from voices, to change the “single African story”.

Resources

African Union (AU) statistics show that Africa has abundant natural resources — about 12 percent of the world’s oil reserves, 42 percent of its gold, 80 to 90 percent of chromium and platinum group of metals and 60 percent of arable land, in addition to other resources.

But the paradox is that these abundant natural resources are not working for Africa’s development in a manner that is inclusive and benefits all people leading to coining of the “resource curse” narrative on Africa. African resources can spur Africa’s development if we move away from reliance on exporting low value primary products prone to bouts of price volatility on global markets.

AU commodities strategy: “Value Addition for Global Competitiveness” seeks to propel a commodity led economic diversification program through creation of manufacturing industries, producing high value finished products for domestic consumption and export.

The AU commodity strategy, if implemented, could be a game changer in Africa’s resource utilisation as industries will be set up in Africa, creating millions of jobs.

SAATM

Winnie Odinga, in her article: “African? Welcome, but not really”, laments that; “While the rest of the world has opened its skies, built railways and expressways and seen the value of affordable transportation, African governments have closed their skies, imposed heavy taxes over use of their airspace and set up a raft of regulations that have made air transport within Africa not only extremely cumbersome, but, also perhaps, the most expensive in the world”.

The Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) signed in 2018, if implemented, seeks to open African skies, improve connectivity, reduce flying time and costs. SAATM seeks to facilitate increased movement of people, goods and services across Africa.

CFTA

African Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA), launched last year sets to break trade barriers inhibiting African trade development.

According to Afreximbank, intra African trade is a paltry 15 percent of total continental trade, or US $170 billion, compared to European intra trade at 70 percent or US $6 trillion.  CFTA is set to become the world’s biggest economic trading bloc integrating 55 countries with 1,3 billion people and a combined GDP of US $3 trillion.

Africa has great potential if it unites, integrates, removes political boarders (a product of 1884-1885 Berlin Conference) and allow free movement of people, goods, services, labour and capital.

If AU initiatives like AU Commodity Strategy, SAATM and CFTA are aggressively implemented, Africa has the potential to be a global superpower, just like the mythical Wakanda Kingdom in Black Panther.

AU Agenda 2063

The AU Agenda 2063 themed “The Africa We Want” is anchored on seven aspirations: a prosperous Africa based on inclusive growth and sustainable development; an integrated continent based on ideals of Pan Africanism and African Renaissance; an Africa of good governance, democracy and respect for human rights and rule of law, a peaceful and secure Africa; an Africa with strong cultural identity and common heritage and values; an Africa whose development is inclusive and people driven and unleashing potential of its women and youths and lastly an Africa as a strong, united, resilient and influential global player and partner.

As we celebrate Africa Day, let this be a day we celebrate our African heritage, diversity, solidarity and unity and remind ourselves to work tirelessly to build “The Africa We Want” leveraging on our abundant natural resources and human capabilities for the benefit of current and future generations. Unless we do this, we will continue in the same mould of a single African story for generations to come.

Allen Choruma can be contacted on hoziadvisory2018@gmail.com

Ambassador Dewa Juniarta Sastrawan

Despite the cordial relations existing between Zimbabwe and Indonesia, economic cooperation between the two countries has remained stunted.

Trade statistics paint a not so rosy image of Indonesia not anywhere near the top 20 of Zimbabwe’s trade partners.

 Our Reporter, Sharon Munjenjema, last week spoke to the new Indonesia ambassador Dewa Juniarta Sastrawan on his intentions to strengthen economic ties between his country and Zimbabwe. We publish responses of Ambassador Sastrawan in a conversation with The Sunday Mail.

My priority is definitely on how to increase the economic co-operation between Indonesia and Zimbabwe.

That is what I was tasked to do here, as new ambassador, and it is also Indonesia’s priority, in general, to all African countries.

I see that the commitment to restore the economy by the Zimbabwean Government is very strong and together with our mission here we can bring positive results.

In Indonesia, we experienced political unrest in 1998 and our economy plunged.

We relate to Zimbabwe’s situation because we know the difficulties of rebuilding an economy.

Of course, there are grand differences between our countries in population size. But the essence of how to restore an economy is the same everywhere.

We also had economic and political reforms after 1998 and from what I am seeing here, I can say Zimbabwe is doing great so far in terms of political and economic reforms.

 Economic synergies

Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) were a key factor in the revitalisation of our economy, in Indonesia, and I see the SME sector here has great potential too.

Zimbabwe now also has a growing Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector.

There is need for synergies between the growing ICT sector and SME’s to develop larger industries.

In Indonesia, we have been in the same situation you are now; where SME’s were the strength of the informal sector.

Our people were producing basic goods in their backyards. This is something that can happen here too.

So, we would like to strengthen our capacity building and see what we can learn from each other in that sector.

 Trade

I observed that the trade between our two countries has been low for many years.

But I also realised that it is because of the geographical differences between the two countries. Zimbabwe is landlocked while Indonesia has many islands.

So, trade among our two countries has been indirect or through other countries.

Indonesian products are in Zimbabwe but they come through other countries like South Africa and Singapore that have access to the sea.

Our intention, going forward, is to increase direct trade between Indonesia and Zimbabwe as well as increase the value and volume of trade.

The two months that I have been here, I have met people who are doing business exchanges with Indonesia.

But they are not dealing with Indonesia direct and are using a third country.

As such, I have been informing the local businesses that we can work on a framework for direct trade.

I have requested to meet ZimTrade officials and I am yet to get a response so that we can discuss more on this.

On top of that, we have an Africa Indonesia forum.

The second edition will be held this August and we have extended an invitation to the Zimbabwean Government to send a delegation to attend this forum.

It is basically a continuation of the forum we launched last year in April to provide an investment platform for Indonesian Government and business people in Africa.

Zimbabwe’s potential

There are vast investment opportunities here. Together with the Vision 2030 and economic reforms Government is implementing, we see ourselves creating lasting economic ties.

I only have three years here and my strategy is to tap onto the low hanging fruits first, in the realisation that some things are doable during that three-year period and some are not.

I have to think strategically on what can be my medium and long term plans.

I have already met with some ministers and plan to meet more to see how we can work together.

When I met President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his deputies, we talked about how we can help revitalise the textile industry in this country with the understanding that we have a very active textile industry back at home.

When I also spoke to the Transport and Infrastructure Development Minister (Joel Biggie Matiza), we realised we can also help in the revitalisation of the railway system in Zimbabwe as well as civil aviation.

 Investment and cultural exchanges

My job here as ambassador is to assess what deal or sectors can be profitable for Indonesian private investors who would like to come and invest here.

I have spoken to a soap manufacturer who interested to come here and set shop.

We can also work on cultural and education diplomatic exchanges and this is something I hope we can achieve in a year’s time.

Then with time, we can move to bigger projects.

Like I said, it is very important for us to strengthen education and cultural co-operation.

We have a small budget on capacity building, but we can provide scholarships for Zimbabweans to learn in Indonesia and, at the same time, strengthen our people to people linkages.

From the cultural co-operation we hope that we can develop into tourism synergies going forward.

Pathisa Nyathi

The light of the armed liberation struggle icon has been extinguished.

Dr Dumiso Dabengwa, affectionately known as DD, is no more.

He died in Nairobi, Kenya on his way back home from medical treatment in India.

He was 79.

Born on 6 December 1939, Dabengwa grew up at Ntabazinduna and went to Tegwane Secondary School. The school belonged to the Wesleyan Methodist Church; and there, he was with colleagues that included Dr Eddison Zvobgo and Kotsho Dube.

His work, after Tegwane, got him in touch with the political prisoners at Khami Prison who had been incarcerated following the February 1959 Emergency Regulations. That experience was to shape his career in the struggle for Zimbabwe’s independence.

For some time he worked in the banking sector. His career in the liberation struggle dates to the days of the National Democratic Party (NDP) when he was a member of the Youth Wing.

He carved his mark at the time as a youth in Bulawayo where he led the Zhi-i Campaign, which was characterised by, among other things, arson.

That was the beginning of the violent campaign to bring about political change, a struggle whose fruition was only realised in 1980, following a protracted and bloody war, which cost several lives.  Once the Zhi-i Campaign was over, the Sabotage Campaign ensued.

Dabengwa was actively involved in it.

At that time, he came into contact with trained personnel coming from Egypt and China. Trained personnel at the time included the likes of Misheck Velaphi Ncube, John Maluzo Ndlovu, Clark Mpofu, Luke Mhlanga and Joseph Zwangami Dube (Cuban trained), Amon Ndukwana Ncube, inter alia.

As a member of Mpopoma Branch, he worked closely with the likes of Ethan Dube, Abel Siwela, Thomas Ngwenya, Bobbylock Manyonga, Stephen Jeqe Nkomo and Findo Mpofu.

Their role was to receive war material and get it distributed throughout the country. Bulawayo was the national receiving point for arms coming into the country via Zambia from Tanganyika.

Even before receiving military training, Dabengwa had travelled to Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) where he took delivery of a consignment of hand grenades. He got these onto the train and offloaded them at Nyamandlovu Railway Station and was nearly caught transporting the contraband in a car.

Formal military training still beckoned. That opportunity came following the banned ZAPU’s Cold Comfort Farm meeting on 10 August 1963 when a decision was taken to have some people leave the country for military training and to establish presence outside Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).

Initially, ZAPU based in Tanganyika (now Tanzania) and later, when Zambia was on the verge of attaining her independence, ZAPU’s external offices relocated to Lusaka. The likes of Luke Mhlanga and Joseph Zwangami Dube were already in Zambia together with James Chikerema (uPhongo), George Silundika, George Nyandoro (uMagigwana), Jason Ziyaphapha Moyo, among others.

Dabengwa and other ZAPU cadres began their trip to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) from Lusaka.

They travelled to Dar-es-Salaam from where they proceeded to Sudan en route to the Soviet Union. Their hosts awaited them with warm coats at the airport. There were two groups in 1964 that went to train in the Soviet Union.

Amongst the members of the two groups were Robson Manyika, Ambrose Mutinhiri, Akim Ndlovu, Ethan Dube, Retired Colonel Tshinga Dube, Roger Matshimini Ncube and Report Phelekezela Mphoko.

While in the Soviet Union the ZAPU cadres trained in various fields.

Dabengwa was trained by the KGB in intelligence. They were afforded a chance to say what they wished to see included in their military curriculum. They indicated they wanted everything including anti-air guns.

They did not forget sabotage, which they had engaged in prior to military training. It was this training in intelligence that would, in later years, lead Dabengwa being referred to as the “Black Russian” and “Intelligence Supremo.”

The following year, in 1965, the first personnel to train in the Soviet Union went back to Lusaka where a small High Command was created.

Akim Ndlovu was the Commander with Dabengwa in charge of Intelligence and Reconnaissance. Manyika was the Chief of Staff, while Mphoko was in charge of Logistics. Roma Nyathi was Political Commissar with Abraham Dumezweni Nkiwane in charge of Personnel and Training.

Many ZAPU cadres had, by that time, undergone military training and were being infiltrated into Southern Rhodesia in small numbers, mainly to carry out recruitment, politicisation and caching of arms. Engagement with the Rhodesian military was avoided in those early days of the armed struggle.

By 1966, a deal had been struck with the ANC’s armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) for the two armies (ZAPU cadres then fell under Special Affairs) to launch a joint incursion. As a result, an advance reconnaissance party led by Roger Matshimini Ncube was launched.

Assisted by Peter Mackay, the group, which included Retired Colonel Tshinga Dube and David Mongwa “Sharpshoot” Moyo crossed at Kazungula. Indeed, the following year, 1967, the Luthuli Detachment was put together to launch the joint infiltration.

The Algerian-trained John Dube (JD, real name Tjakalisa Ngwenya from Zimnyama in Plumtree) commanded the contingent. The ZAPU contingent, then falling under the Special Affairs headed by James Chikerema had 60 members while MK had 30 fighters. Chris Hani was the Chief of Staff.

Both Chikerema and Oliver Tambo of the ANC were present alongside the military leaders of both parties.

Dabengwa, together with Joe Modise, was also present. Crossing was done at Chisuma, downstream of the Victoria Falls.

The first to go down the roles was Hani. The nocturnal crossing saw Dabengwa sustain a cut on his head during the hazardous crossing which was completed at daybreak.

The choice of the crossing point was occasioned by the desire to quickly get to a settled area where the group was expected to quickly melt into the community and, at the same time, get logistics.

It was a place the enemy would least expect the group to cross.

Dabengwa and the rest of the High Command returned to Lusaka in Zambia once the group was on its way towards Wankie.

Another joint incursion was planned for the end of 1967 and the beginning of 1968.

This joint group was named the Pyramid Detachment and its crossing was far to the east and the route was to pass through Chipuriro, then Sipolilo.

The joint group was led by Moffat Hadebe who, as leader of a six-men group is credited with firing the first shots in the armed liberation struggle at Zidube Ranch in September 1964.

This time, there were several groups crossing at different times.

The dinghies were not in use then. Rafts made of drums were used.

Dabengwa, together with Nkiwane, Modise and others members of the High Command crossed into Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).

The reconnaissance party had reported the presence of a road not far from the river.

According to Hadebe, intelligence given to them was inaccurate.

The road was far away at Angwa, prompting the members of the High Command who had crossed into Rhodesia to go back to Lusaka as there was no road nearby.

Dabengwa was among the returnees.

By 1969 ZAPU’s armed wing faced a crisis which culminated in a split in 1971.

With ZAPU obtaining war material from the Soviet Union, ZAPU’s struggle was viewed against cold war interests.

Soon, some intelligence agencies working against the Soviet Union fomented internal strife.

Dabengwa and colleagues were waylaid on their way to the Zimbabwe House.

Disgruntled members of the March 11 Group including Livingstone Mashengele, Cain Mathema, Owen Tshabangu, Joshua Mahlathini Mpofu, Zwelibanzi Mzilethi, Philemon Mabuza, Bhezuzulu Khumalo and Eli Mthethwa rounded up the ZAPU leadership and took them to Nkomo Camp where some, including Dabengwa, were assaulted.

The crisis had been heightened by JZ Moyo’s stinging document titled “Observations on Our Struggle.” Chikerema had responded through his own document titled “Reply to Observations on Our Struggle.” ZAPU split into three. Dabengwa went along with the JZ group.

Aaron Milner, Minister of Home Affairs raised by the Dominican Sister at the Catholic Embakwe Mission for Coloureds, had tried to bring the warring groups together at Mboroma.

There was no success. Members of the March 11 Movement were thrown into prisons in Zambia. Chikerema and JZ groups went together to Chakwenga where they too split.

Dabengwa, with Jack Makethe Ndebele had reconnoitred the area and found a good place with water. They went to report to the rest of their group which included Aaron Ndlovu and Stephen Jeqe Nkomo. The place was near an MK military camp.

ZPRA’s Mwembeshi Camp was established later in the same location.

Some of the ZAPU cadres, including Nicholas Nkomo were sacrificed and surrendered to the Smith regime. Nkomo did find his way back to Zambia.

It was time to go back, re-strategise and revamp ZAPU’s armed wing.

Dabengwa was among those who undertook a week-long meeting which was attended by, inter alia, Silundika, JZ, Edward Ndlovu, Nkomo and Jane Ngwenya. ZAPU was reorganised.

A Revolutionary Council was created with groups affiliated to it.

That was the time when the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) was created with Alfred Nikita Mangena as Chief of Staff, effectively the commander.

Dabengwa became the Secretary of the Revolutionary Council and was no longer directly involved with the military outfit.

Ethan Dube had been in charge of party intelligence.

The army had its own military intelligence unit which, at different times, was headed by Gordon Mnyanyi “Terror Man” Tapson Sibanda, Dingani Mlilo and Retired Brigadier Abel Mazinyane.

Following the capture and murder of Ethan Dube it became necessary to reorganise intelligence.

The National Security Organisation (NSO) was created in 1978 with Dabengwa as its Director.

His Deputy was now Vice-President Kembo DC Mohadi who, upon his capture in Gabella’s car in Bulawayo, Swazini Ndlovu took over the post.

Dabengwa headed NSO until independence.

An incident is reported where Dabengwa was nearly captured by the Rhodesians.

They had captured Tjilisi Booker Mnyamana “Black Swine” at Pandamatenga.

Black Swine, who served under Dabengwa, was travelling to Francistown to take delivery of three vehicles intended for the NSO.

Ethan had been captured by McGuiness, an Irish mercenary working for the Selous Scouts.

It is thought that he was, after interrogation, either thrown into concentrated sulphuric acid or some disused mine shaft.

One day Dabengwa was in an aircraft from Francistown to Lusaka.

The pilot received a signal to land in Salisbury (now Harare).

Dabengwa quietly went to the pilot. It is not clear what he said or did to the pilot, save to say that the aircraft proceeded to land in Lusaka as planned.

It seems that Dabengwa did sneak into Bulawayo during the struggle where, under disguise, lived with a party sympathiser working for the Bulawayo City Council.

ZIPRA had advanced urban guerrilla units, especially both in Bulawayo and Harare.

He attended the Lancaster House Conference talks in 1979 and returned home to effect the brokered ceasefire.

It was Dabengwa who pacified Entumbane clashes and went on to disarm the former ZIPRA cadres at Gwayi River Mine Assembly Point where the ZIPRA weapons from Zambia had been offloaded from the trains

Last week, President Emmerson Mnangagwa swore in the new Minister of Energy and Power Development, Mr Fortune Chasi. Our Reporter Debra Matabvu caught up with the minister soon after the event to understand his immediate action to avert the current fuel and electricity shortages.

Q: The country is facing serious electricity shortages, what are the immediate Government plans to improve the situation?

A: We need to deal with the supply side as well as the demand side of power. We are going to be chasing projects that have been in the pipeline, projects that were originated five or six years ago, but have not materialised.In that regard, I have tasked the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) to give me a complete list of these projects and I intend to implement them as soon as possible. At a suitable point in time when I have achieved clarity on these projects and what needs to be done for them to be executed, I will make a public announcement, giving sufficient detail to the public to understand what we are doing in this regard, and to counter the hydrological situation at Kariba Dam.

We also need to deal with the consumption side, as I have said. Those that owe Zesa need to pay, and this includes Government departments.

We have engaged other Government wings, particularly the Ministry of Finance (and Economic Development) and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to find creative ways to deal with the debt owed by the Government ministries.

We need to monitor (electricity) consumption (levels) and identify the ‘guzzlers’ of power. I have initiated a process of identifying big and critical consumers with a plan of taking them off the grid, meaning we will be seriously working on this project.

We have big buildings in this country, which have (roof) space where solar energy generating equipment can be installed so that during the day, these buildings use solar power and at night, resort to Zesa electricity.

I am looking at critical areas such as hospitals, the Reserve Bank and universities, so that we begin a deliberate process that will see us saving power. Once I have achieved clarity on this programme, we will be able to determine the level of power we need or can save as well as the money, in terms of United States Dollars, because we import electricity.

We need to save the foreign currency that we have so that we use it on other projects. We can only achieve this if we invest in alternatives like solar energy.

This is very critical and we will not be methodical in our approach to the whole thing.

We will not keep things under wraps. We would want the public to get this information because I believe when there is clarity on power availability, whether it is Zesa power, petrol or diesel, individuals and businesses are able to plan their schedules.

What businesses and individuals want is assurance of continuity and that their businesses will not be interrupted by the power shortages. Information is very important.

I need to establish a balance sheet of power, what we need, the deficit and how (power) projects will fill in the gap. Once there’s clarity on this, we will communicate it to the public so that they also keep track and call us to order when necessary.

Q: There is a general feeling that Government needs to liberalise the petroleum sector by allowing more private players to bring in fuel, what is your take on that?

A: This is a very critical matter. I will be open, at whatever hour of the day, to any investor who wants to see me and engage on the matter. There is no room for delays. We are in a dire situation and we need speedy decision making. I have made that point to my staff as well as the leadership of the parastatals. We need all transactions to be considered on an urgent basis. I have asked Zera (Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority) to develop a framework for consideration of applications detailing the critical steps as well as timelines for consideration of applications. Once this is in place, it is necessary that it be made available to the public.

Q: Lastly, there are some sections of society that say your latest appointment is tantamount to being thrown in the deep end. This is in light of you presiding over electricity and fuel, which is in shortage, what is your response to this as well as your vision?

A: We need to recognise that the enormity of the task requires commonality of vision and a determination to achieve it.

Resolution of the challenge requires everyone’s cooperation and, in that regard, engagement is key. That is why I have met the players in the petroleum industry. We agreed to work together for the good of our country and the national interest. I want to engage everyone, including the ordinary person. I also need, desperately, to engage commerce and industry to hear their side of issues and them to hear ours.We need to use our fuels and power responsibly and with sensitivity to the implications on the country. We need them (industry) to consider going off grid, by going solar during the day and using Zesa power at night.

We need to do this for many institutions, particularly those that are strategic like hospitals and so on. Many buildings in Harare have spaces for solar installations. We need to invest in solar energy equipment so that we can reduce reliance on traditional sources of power. The private sector will be key in all of this, so will pension funds and any other institution that needs a home for its money. This is a good way to invest. I hereby invite all those interested to contact me so we can commence this conversation.

This will not only save us significant amounts in foreign currency, but it will also make substantial amounts of power available for other purposes. It would be highly irresponsible for me not to pursue this.Econet has led in this enterprise and I want to encourage other corporates to do so.

When I meet industry and commerce, I am hoping to persuade them to take this approach. Above all, it makes serious business sense as it removes uncertainty and assures them of business continuity.

So yes, it is a deep end but my team and I, as well as, the entire power and petroleum industry, will leave a serious imprint.

It will be necessary for me to engage international financial institutions to assist us.

So, only a collaborative approach will yield results. If I am in the deep end, then all of us are. If it is a live snake that has been thrown at me, then I will play my part in its skinning!