Zim News Blog -NEWS NETWORK

Source: ‘Govt moves to stop cholera in cyclone-hit areas’ | Newsday (News)

BY VANESSA GONYE/VENERANDA LANGA

THE Health ministry says it is making frantic efforts to prevent possible cholera and typhoid outbreaks in Manicaland and Masvingo provinces that were affected by Cyclone Idai as well as ensure an adequate supply of life-saving medicines.

Speaking at the handover of a donation of medical supplies by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Health minister Obadiah Moyo pleaded for support from the international community and said the nation requires more supplies to help prevent the outbreak of waterborne diseases.

“This donation comes in handy as we are mobilising more medicines, especially for possible disease outbreaks. We want to prevent waterborne diseases. We want to prevent all that,”he said.

“I have been informed that children are being affected by parasites. We need to get more donations so that they are treated. We still need more.”

Moyo applauded the gesture by the Red Cross, saying abundant medication was one of the most important things needed in times of crises.

He said his ministry was also making efforts to ensure adequate supply of drugs for chronically ill patients because they lost all their stock to the cyclone.

Zimbabwe Red Cross Society finance director Morris Machawira said his organisation would continue to assist until the situation normalises.

“Our auxiliary role is to complement government efforts in times of disaster; we have been on the ground and we will continue assisting the government together with our partners,” he said.

Moyo’s call for more medical donations comes as the Zimbabwe Network of People Living with HIV (ZNNP+) revealed that several of their members in Chimanimani were defaulting on treatment.

Tonderai Chiduku, the ZNPP+ HIV intellectual property officer, recently told NewsDay that some of the people marooned in Chimanimani were not receiving anti-retroviral therapy and tuberculosis drugs, adding that their lives were in danger.

“Some of the people that have been marooned in Chimanimani and other parts of the country have sent SOS messages asking for help after their medicines were washed away by the floods, and they cannot go to any treatment centres to get replacements,” Chiduku said.

“We appeal to different institutions to assist our membership so that they can be evacuated from the flooded places and administered medicines as soon as possible because their lives are in danger.”

If people living with HIV and TB defaulted on medicines, the danger was that they would develop drug resistant tuberculosis and other opportunistic infections, which would burden government, Chiduku added.

Meanwhile, ICRC is calling on people to refer anyone looking for assistance to find their families affected by Cyclone Idai to log on to their Restoring Family links website, https://familylinks.icrc.org/cyclone-idai, where they can register themselves and the family member they are looking for.

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Source: *Mobile operators lament industry watchdog’s ‘intransigence’ over pricing* – DailyNews Live

Business Writer      26 March 2019

Zimbabwean mobile network operators (MNOs) are up in arms with Potraz over the ICT industry regulator’s alleged intransigence over the operators’ pricing adjustment application.

Sources say since the new Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) was announced on February 20, 2019, operators have been pushing Potraz to review the call charges upwards.

The monetary statement effectively adopted the surrogate Bond note
currency into official currency and at the same time announced the
devaluation of the local currency from a fixed USD 1:1 RTGS  dollar to a
floated interbank rate of USD 1:2.5 RTGS dollar.

Matters came to a head last Friday, when – in a circular to operators –
the regulator proposed to leave the tariff unchanged. Tariffs for mobile
operators in Zimbabwe are regulated by by the Government through the
Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe.

“The problem is that the approved current tariff is in US dollars, but the
regulator has so far not allowed the operators to charge customers in USDs or the RTGS equivalent,” said the source, who said the circular
acknowledged this.

“How the regulator expects the industry players, whose USD debt and high forex capex costs are well documented defies logic

`’The expectation was that short of authorising the operators to charge in
USD, Potraz would propose an RTGS tariff that takes into account the new exchange rate.

“The operators would then be allowed to determine the effective tariff or
charge, within a certain range based on factors such as the elasticity of
demand and so forth,” the source said.

The input costs of several industries went up since the Government raised
the price of fuel three-fold in January this year and following the formal
devaluation of the local currency by nearly two thirds (or 66 percent).

Similarly, many industries that import inputs for their end-products or
services have adjusted their price structures in line with the change in
exchange rate, so that they stay in business.

Efforts to get official comment from the mobile operators or from Potraz
were unsuccessful as both parties said they did not want to preempt
on-going consultations.

The post *Mobile operators lament industry watchdog’s ‘intransigence’ over pricing*  appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

Source: Cylone Idai unified nation: Govt | Newsday (News)

BY FARAI MATIASHE

GOVERNMENT has said the Cyclone Idai-induced floods that ravaged the eastern part of the country nearly a forthnight ago has unified politically-polarised Zimbabweans as they seek to assist survivors.

Speaking at a ministers’ briefing to ambassadors accredited to the southern African country, Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa said Zimbabweans had set aside their political differences to provide relief to those affected by the cyclone.

“I am very proud of the people of this country and well-wishers have, indeed, responded so overwhelmingly. This has actually brought Zimbabwean people into one. We have shown love for each other,” she said.

Zimbabwe, which is deeply divided along political lines, has failed to find solutions to political and economic problems hounding the nation, but political rivals Nelson Chamisa of the MDC and President Emmerson Mnangagwa have both toured the affected areas to offer support to the victims.

Primary and Secondary Education minister Paul Mavhima said they were appealing for assistance in the education sector.

“There are 18 schools which were affected, particularly in Chimanimani and Chipinge. Some pupils were traumatised and we have established psycho centres to help them with counseling,” Mavhima said.

“We are appealing for teaching and learning materials. We need books to restore some of the libraries. We also need furniture — 1 500 desks and
1 500 chairs.”

Speaking at the same event, Local Government minister July Moyo said the cyclone left a trail of destruction in Manicaland.

“In Manicaland, we have recorded 179 deaths, we have buried 102 bodies. There are also 12 unidentified dead bodies. One-hundred and eighty-six people were injured and eight of these had severe injuries and they were airlifted to hospitals. Those missing amount to 329, while those displaced are 6 788 and 3 600 of those are children,” he said.

“There is Tongogara camp and it is located in a low-lying area and 2 000 refugees were displaced also. Seven-hundred and seventy-three houses were affected and 11 bridges were destroyed.”

According to Moyo, in Masvingo province, 6 257 houses were destroyed, 17 people injured, while 511 people were displaced by floods in areas such as Bikita, Zaka and Gutu.

The post Cylone Idai unified nation: Govt appeared first on NewsDay Zimbabwe.

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THE body of a Bulawayo man is still stuck in mortuary three months after his death as his family members continue to fight over the issue of cremation which some family members consider as alien to their culture. The deceased, Mr Amos Nkomo, died on December 31 last year and the body is stuck at Farley Funeral Services parlour in Bulawayo, with his surviving spouse and daughter demanding

ASPIRING drivers will soon write provisional driver’s licence tests online to reduce interface with officials and minimise cases of alleged corruption. In a telephone interview yesterday, the deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Fortune Chasi, said all was set for the Vehicle Inspection Department (VID) to switch over to electronic testing for learners’ licences.