Zim News Blog -NEWS NETWORK

Wallace Ruzvidzo
Herald Reporter

President Mnangagwa has appointed Dr Martin Rushwaya as the new Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet

The President announced the appointment at the first Cabinet meeting of the Second Republic’s Second Cabinet held at State House in Harare.

President Mnangagwa also revealed that the former Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Dr Misheck Sibanda had retired.

Herald Reporter

Youth empowerment lobby, Young Miners for Economic Development (YMED), has pledged to work with the newly appointed Minister of Mines and Mining Development Soda Zhemu, to address challenges faced by small-scale miners. 

Zimbabwe has seen a rapid increase in the number of small-scale miners with an estimated 500 000 gold miners now operating in the country, supporting approximately three million dependants.

The Zimbabwe Miners Federation said the 50 000 registered small-scale miners were employing an average of at least 10 workers each.

As the price of gold continues to climb to new heights, the number of artisanal miners keeps soaring and is expected to reach around 1,5 million in the next year.

YMED President Mr Nyasha Magadhi said they were optimistic that Minister Zhemu, who formerly headed the Cabinet energy portfolio, would assist them in electrifying mining sites dotted around the country.

Mr Magadhi said they would work with the new Minister to bring stability and growth to the small-scale mining sector.

“We are hopeful that since the Minister is coming from the Energy and Power Ministry, he will address the challenges being faced by small-scale miners and help in electrifying the mines which will result in increased production and cut operational costs. 

“We are happy that His Excellency President Emmerson Mnangagwa has appointed Hon Zhemu as the Minister of Mines and Mining Development.” Artisanal and small-scale miners rely heavily on diesel powered generators and want to adopt new technologies like solar energy to increase efficiency. 

Mr Magadhi said the lack of investment in exploration and development had also been identified as a challenge for the mining industry in Zimbabwe which they were imploring Minister Zhemu to look into. 

The country’s mineral resources were largely underexplored, with potential for new discoveries and increased production. 

Lack of investment in exploration had limited the sector’s growth and development.

“The issue of formalisation should now be taken head on. The youths are rising into the mining industry and we are urging the Minister to prioritise formalisation of artisanal and small-scale mining and ensure that young people who want to venture into the sector are able to attract capital,” he said.

“We would also want the Government to ensure that the young people who peg mining claims are financed to do exploration to ensure their mines are bankable,” Mr Magadhi said.

Youth in Lithium Mining Association Chairperson Mr Shelton Lucas said the Minister needed to look into some Statutory Instruments that seem to be disenfranchising small scale miners, including the suspension of special grants.

“There is need for the Ministry to look at some of the Statutory Instruments which are heavily affecting miners especially in the chrome sector.

“The Great Dyke is entirely covered by reservation and there is need for the lifting of the bans on prospecting and pegging for lithium, copper and rare earth elements and also to implement an equitable ratio of exclusive prospecting orders against the surface area of peggable land in the county,” Mr Lucas said.

Chief executive officer for the Young Miner Foundation (YMF) Mr Payne Farai Kupfuwa said the Minister should look at things like Exclusive Prospecting Orders (EPOs) and ensure that young people are given the opportunity to sit on decision making boards in the mining industry.

“As young miners we would want to congratulate Hon Zhemu for being appointed the Minister of Mines and Mining Development. We look forward to him the working to create a US$12 billion mining industry. 

“We are also concerned about some elements of the Mines Bill and we also want young people to sit on the Mining Affairs Board.”

Herald Reporter

Following an outbreak of cholera in Manicaland’s Marange district, the Government, through the Presidential Borehole Drilling Scheme, has accelerated the borehole drilling programme in the area to provide safe and clean water for the affected communities, slashing the risk of infection.

So far thousands of boreholes have been drilled under the scheme in both urban and rural areas as solution to the perennial water challenges that Zimbabweans often face. The programme had an initial target of 35 000 rural boreholes, one in every village and all with solar-powered pumps. This has been extended to include urban areas hit by serious water shortages, as well as ensuring that all clinics and schools have water on tap.

In an interview, Dr Paul Tungwarara, special presidential advisor overseeing the borehole drilling programme and working with the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) said the new target is to ensure that every Zimbabwean has a borehole within walking distance.

“We responded to the distress calls in Marange and we are drilling boreholes for the communities here so as to ensure that people will not have to deal with medieval diseases like cholera and typhoid. We are also responding to President Mnangagwa’s call of leaving no one and no place behind,” he said.

In rural areas, a total of 35 000 solar-powered boreholes will be drilled under the scheme to provide water for drinking and also irrigation of special nutrition gardens that will feed into the national vision of attaining food security and sovereignty.

On the other hand, urban areas, that have for long been short charged by opposition councils will also have borehole water from their taps, as Government plugs the service delivery gaps that have been created by the inept councils.

The Presidential Borehole Scheme is part of efforts by the Government to provide clean water to the people, particularly at a time the country is still faced with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Under the borehole drilling scheme, Harare and Chitungwiza are expected to get over 200 solar powered boreholes with another 20 being drilled in Marondera.

Other cities like Kwekwe, Bulawayo and Gweru are also witnessing similar schemes.

This is part of the short-term solution to the challenges faced by urbanites as Government works towards the completion of major dam projects like the Gwayi-Shangani Dam and the Kunzvi Dam, which will supply extra water to Bulawayo and Harare.

Ivan Zhakata

Herald Correspondent

Zimbabweans at home and abroad have a duty and responsibility to uphold the prevailing peace as the key ingredient to development and prosperity, Zimbabwe Peacebuilding Initiative (ZimPI) chairperson Senator Sekai Holland has said.

In a statement on the United Nations International Day of Peace, Sen Holland said this year’s 2023 UN theme anchored on attainment Sustainable Development Goals is a call to peace as a prerequisite for development.

The UN International Day for Peace is being celebrated this year under the theme: Actions for Peace: Our Ambition for the #GlobalGoals.

Sen Holland said it was a call to action that recognizes our individual and collective responsibility to foster peace.

“Fostering peace contributes to the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals and achieving the SDGs will create a culture of peace for all,” she said.

“ZimPI salutes Zimbabwe for aligning its development blueprint National Development Strategy 1 with the SDGs. ZimPI now calls us all to go forward together, finding peacebuilding ways to consolidate this peace; within our homes, communities and nation, with a new focus: identifying that common ground that Zimbabweans share, as the basis to unite ourselves as a society. 

“This unity opens us to recognise that unity of purpose is essential in society; it is a key ingredient for our sustainable development: for without development we cannot achieve equality. Let us all work together, mapping our way forward, in solution-based community conversations, flowing from our households, communities and into our Government’s national plan.”

Sen Holland said traditional values of uBuntu/Hunhu, embody our society’s values of justice and fairness for all.

“We could think about adopting these two values in our personal approach to those around us, to maintain this environment of hard won peace, still enveloping our country, empowering us to, as one, develop our beautiful Zimbabwe together,” she said.

“ZimPI salutes our President, for his Vision 2030 campaign messages: Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo. Ilizwe lakhiwa ngabanikazi balo. 

“A country is built by its own people. The message opens our eyes and minds, to move ourselves away from the current prevailing, damaging, donor dependency syndrome.

“It is in this light that ZimPI also implores Zimbabweans from all walks of life to put the country first, by coming together to realise the Zimbabwean dream, united as one regardless of race, gender, religious or political affiliation.”

ZimPI focus is on mainstreaming the peacebuilding instrument, our foundation in all policies and programmes designed with/by disadvantaged households, in communities and at national, ensuring sustainability.

The marginalised, living in rural, peri-urban and urban areas are ZimPI development priorities.

Herald Reporter

THE Meteorological Services Department (MSD) and the Department of Civil Protection Unit yesterday warned of light showers and lightning strikes on the same day in some parts of the country until Friday.

In a joint statement, the two agencies said the provinces of Matabeleland North and South, Bulawayo Metropolitan, Masvingo and Manicaland, as well as southern districts of Midlands, were most at risk.

They said the light showers and lightning strikes were expected to hit the south western parts of the country while south eastern areas would be affected from tomorrow until Friday.

The agencies warned the public in affected areas to take precautions against the lightning strikes and light showers,drizzle, moderate winds and a shift from hot to cloudy, cold weather.

“When thunder roars it is best to be indoors. Do not seek shelter under trees or near poles or pylons, try to find an earthened building,” they said.

If unable to find shelter, they advised the public to stay low, and far from livestock. The agencies said the rains, however, did not indicate the start of the rainy season, and farmers should not plant crops.

“Ensure the elderly, persons with disabilities, young and ill are kept warm when the weather changes from hot to cool on Wednesday 27 September,” they said.