Zim News Blog -NEWS NETWORK

Source: We have learnt nothing from our immediate past | Daily News

IT was recently reported that the First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa has travelled to New York to attend the United Nations 63rd Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

One cannot help feeling that our immediate history is repeating itself.

After Grace Mugabe’s graceless fall from grace, it did not take long for the State media to prefix the pfeesident’s wife name with the title Amai.

Besides her children, whose mother is she anyway? Is it that automatic to call every head of State’s wife Amai?
This is the kind of sycophancy that we must never be seeing in the media, much still in the oft talked about new dispensation.

Last time she inserted her good self into the negotiations with the medical practitioners, there was public outcry over the blurring of government functions and what has been termed sexual transference of constitutional authority.

Now this time around to sanitise everything, the State-owned media reported that she was attending the conference through her Angel of Hope Foundation.
We were told that she has contributed immensely to the economic and social development of women in marginalised communities. Really, is that so?

Besides the State media hacks, this is new at least if you ask any random pedestrian roaming the streets.
To be honest, not many people can say they know about her Angel of Hope Foundation which apparently came to life when her husband became the pfeesident, how so convenient!

We will be keen to know if she or the organisation she represents paid her hotel bills and air fare.
While the first lady position is not an official position, it is not a must that the wife of a head of State must be philanthropic.
It is also allowed to be yourself, be a stay-at-home wife to pfeesident and stop pretending to be doing philanthropic work.
Shall we tell the pfeesident?

The pfeesident is a poor joker and there is nothing he can do to change it, it is not in him. His attempt at humour, when he compared himself with God during the Zimbabwe-South Africa Bi-National Commission, fell flat.

Besides the polite guffaws from his captive interlocutors, it attracted brickbats from the discerning public who can see through him.

Hon Criss could not even get the hang of his dull analogy. While it was decidedly not funny, it was indeed blasphemous.
He said he will not be distracted by negative forces because, even the Lord in heaven, could not keep His house in order but He remains there as a creator.

Now, it is either he is at sea on the subject or he is trying to twist the scriptures for his own ends or both, not least because God never failed to put his house in order because of Satan.

Not that it is Hon Criss’ place to judge anyone, but there are certain words which yours truly do not expect to come out of the pfeesident’s mouth, words like God or at least not in reference to himself, in supplication or even when dissembling piety.

Outspoken MDC spokesperson, Jacob Mafume, was quoted elsewhere saying “How can he dare compare himself to the creator when he is subjecting everyone in Zimbabwe to a living hell? Surely, God does not deliver suffering to His own people.”
Compassion
fatigued
Last week Zanu PF’s diplomatic correspondent, sorry, ZBC’s diplomatic correspondent Judith Makwanya passed away after a short illness we were told.

The ministry of information released a statement saying: “Government learns with sadness of the untimely passing on of diplomatic correspondent Ms Judith Makwanya. Judith served her country with distinction and was one of the journalists placed on the sanctions list which became a roll of honour for patriots. May her soul rest in peace .”

While the government was heaping praise on the departed veteran journalist, the jury was still out in the court of social media, at least as far as serving her country with distinction bit is concerned.

Opinions were riven. In death, she became a butt of many uncharitable jokes while the other section of the social media was forgiving.

For all her journalistic work, Hon Criss remembers her for soiling the image of the former South African president Thabo Mbeki in one fell swoop, when she asked him upon arrival at the then Harare international airport in 2008, if there was any crisis in Zimbabwe.

To which he responded there is no crisis notwithstanding the fact that Zimbabwe was in the throes of electoral crisis for which he was coming to mediate between Zany PF and the MDC.
For this and other reasons, Mbeki earned himself a term denialist, one can even call him the truth denialist.
Sauce for the goose
South Africa’s president was in our shores to shore up support for his Zimbabwean counterpart during the so-called South Africa Bi-National Commission.

He promised a lot but, in the end, delivered too little just like his Harare counterpart.
Cyril Ramaphosa was in Zimbabwe at a time when he is facing an election in his own country.
Of course, we are watching with a keen interest how the electoral foreplay is panning out in that country.

We have seen him going to the train stations, boarding the trains with great unwashed public so to speak, “in order to appreciate the life that most poor South Africans are living in.”

Something which prompted one of the brilliant South African writers to say that if leaders were to go and sleep under the bridges in order to appreciate the life they are living, then there is huge a problem.

Hon Criss hopes the South African electorate will punish him for his two-faced nature.
He comes to Zimbabwe to support dictatorship, whilst promising good governance to South Africans.

My uncle, Criss senior, God bless him, made me laugh recently when he said if you see yourself marrying someone with a few loose screws without you noticing it, it means your own screws are not tight enough.

In the same way Ramaphosa cannot be friends with budding dictators whilst he is not.

The post We have learnt nothing from our immediate past appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

Source: Divine Ndhlukula: Goat breeder par excellence | Daily News

FOR many, the mere mention of Divine Ndhlukula brings to mind Securico Security Services — the award-winning company she formed close to two decades ago — and most probably the fact that she is the immediate past president of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce.

Not many, though, know that Ndhlukula is a hard-nosed farmer with deep-rooted interests in livestock breeding.
Interestingly, Ndhlukula claims she ventured into farming 26 years ago by default.

She bought Zvikomborero Farm because her brother, who inherited it from their father, had failed to maintain the farm and it was on the verge of being auctioned.

“In short, I think I got into farming by default and not by design. What happened is my late father bought that farm and when he died my brother inherited it because that is what the customary thinking says,” she said, adding:
“But obviously my brother was not a keen farmer.
He held to the piece of land for close to 10 years and did not pay rates.

“At some point he took a loan on the farm and when he failed to service the loan, the farm was almost being auctioned by the bank.”

After taking over the farm in 1992, she ventured into egg production and the breeding of livestock — cattle and goats.
Encouraged by the huge market for goat meat, the award-winning businesswoman commercialised goat breeding three years ago.
“I just had a few goats that I got from my rural home and put on my farm. They started multiplying and when they were now getting to 80, I noticed the scope for commercialising the goat business.

“We then looked for market opportunities and realised that there is a huge market for goat meat. There is a huge gap for constant supply of quality goat meat,” she remarked.
According to Ndhlukula, the first step was to import improved exotic breeds from South Africa such as the Boer and Kalahari red goats.
She pointed out that her business venture is unique because she sells genetics unlike other commercial goat farmers.
“When you are doing study breeding, you are breeding for other breeders. We sell genetics; we sell seeds just like Seedco does.

“Study animals are expensive. When we talk about seed, we sell a goat for $2 300 and it’s expensive because it’s seed. You are not buying a goat but you are buying genetics,” she said.
She added that at Zvikomborero Farm they have programmes in which they train goat breeders on how to commercialise their operations.

“At Zvikomborero we actually run courses for goat breeders. Zvikomborero has been supported by quite a number of NGOs that support rural communities. They send smallholder farmers to our farm for training and buy them breeding stock so that they improve.

“Basically we train people; we want more people to understand the business of goat breeding because people have goats out there in the rural communities but they don’t know how to commercialise,”  said the former Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce president.
Ndhlukula, who is vice chairperson of Goat Breeders Association of Zimbabwe, is particularly keen to expand the breeding of Boer goats in the country.

“We are one of the best goat breeders in Zimbabwe, and most importantly, we now have an association. I was instrumental in setting up an association of Boer Goat breeders in Zimbabwe, because we want to grow the industry so that when more breeders come in, we can tap into the lucrative export market,” she said.

Though Ndhlukula is happy with the strides they are making as goat breeders, she conceded that the sector has not been spared by the economic challenges affecting the country.

“Like everyone else, we are suffering the effects of the current economic situation. The prices for livestock drugs have spiralled out of control and that’s a serious challenge for goat breeders,” she said.

The post Divine Ndhlukula: Goat breeder par excellence appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

Source: African cities  need R1 trillion  to avoid  water crisis | Daily News

AFRICAN cities are experiencing devastating water shortages as their populations continue to grow.

These water shortages have led to sanitation problems, which can contribute to the incidence of diseases like cholera and typhoid fever.

The African Development Bank estimated last year that it would require as much as $66 billion (R950 million) to provide universal access to water and sanitation across Africa.
One of every three people in Africa is affected by water scarcity — the circumstance in which a region’s available water supply isn’t enough to meet demand.

In nations like Ghana, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe, water shortages can raise people’s risk of getting sick, since when water is in short supply, households often hoard the precious resource indoors, creating a breeding ground for disease-carrying mosquitoes.
Water is also needed to run toilets and basic sanitation facilities.
In its absence, residents are often forced to defecate in rivers, a practice that contaminates fresh water with bacteria, viruses, and parasites.

Contaminated water also puts residents at increased risk of diseases like cholera and typhoid fever, which can cause dehydration and malnutrition.
That’s the case even in major cities like Nairobi, Kenya, and Accra, the capital city of Ghana, which are becoming more dense and urbanised.

Between 2016 and 2050, Africa’s population is expected to double, with 80 percent of new residents located in urban areas.
This growth could provide new economic opportunities and higher living standards for urban residents — but only if cities are equipped to handle the strain on their water resources.

What’s more, when women and young girls are forced to walk kilometres to the nearest water supply, their ability to attend school or earn an income becomes significantly diminished.
The African Development Bank’s estimate of $66 billion (R950 million) doesn’t include the trillions of rands needed to build critical infrastructure like dams and purification plants.

Without these resources in place, cities like Cape Town, South Africa could find themselves ill-equipped to deal with drought and might eventually run out of water.  — Business Insider US

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Source: RBZ allocates $28m to millers | Daily News

THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has allocated US$28 million to millers in about 12 months for the importation of wheat.

According to a statement released by the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (Gmaz), the imported wheat was used to complement the country’s local wheat and to supply bakers with flour nationwide.

Gmaz chairperson Tafadzwa Musarara said they remain indebted and grateful to government and the RBZ for the support, despite the chronic inadequacies, for prioritising imported wheat payments.

Gmaz was on Tuesday summoned to appear before the parliamentary portfolio committee on Lands and Agriculture to explain the support that government is rendering to the grain and wheat sectors in the wake of continued food insecurity in the country.

The committee, chaired by Zanu PF Member of Parliament for Gokwe Nembudziya Justice Mayor Wadyajena, wants Gmaz to provide its constitution as well as its full membership including senior executives, among several other documents.

It also wants Gmaz to avail a schedule of RBZ allocations and or payments for both wheat and grain from the period January 1, 2015 to March 11, 2019; list of all beneficiaries who have been allocated wheat or grain and the criteria used and proof of all wheat and grain acquittals at the ports of entry into Zimbabwe from money allocated or paid by RBZ.

The committee also requested that Gmaz avails to it a comprehensive list of contact details of all wheat or grain suppliers and quantities purchased from each supplier from the period January 1, 2015 to March 11, 2019.

It also wants the millers to provide a list and contact details of all grain transporters used during the same period as well as proof of delivery notes and goods received vouchers and all donations made during the same period.

This comes after Zimbabwe’s major wheat supplier Holbund Limited threatened to cut supplies due to non-payment by the cash-strapped government.

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Source: Dairibord pulls out of Malawi | Daily News

LISTED milk processor Dairibord Holdings Limited (DHL) is pulling out of Malawi to cut losses incurred by the unit.

Dairibord Malawi (DM) has for a long time been facing viability problems due to foreign currency shortages coupled with other challenges.

“The holding company could not leverage its balance sheet to capacitate Dairibord Malawi and as a result the company continued to experience difficulties…” said DHL’s chief executive Anthony Mandiwanza.

“In our decision we looked at various options… to attract potential investors who may want to inject equity so that we can invest and turn around the business that was not successful,” he added.
DHL was also unsuccessful in securing credit facilities from banks to capacitate DM owing to failure to provide security for the loans.

“Malawi is now regarded as a discontinued operation, the assets are available for sale and for the year ended 31 December, business posted a loss of $693 000 which was actually an increase from the $594 000 it incurred in 2017”, added DHL company secretary Mercy Ndoro.

These challenges among others, according Mandiwanza, resulted in DM being accounted for as held for sale “following our decision to divest out of Malawi.

“That decision has been taken, we are in the process of implementing and executing the exit from Malawi.”
DHL will, however maintain its market share through exports from Zimbabwe to retailers in Malawi, says Mandiwanza.

This comes after Zimbabwe Limited (DZL) recorded 28 percent increase in total revenue to $126.4 million in year ended 2018.
Export growth surged modestly to 67 percent accompanied by operating profit 119 percent to $10 million.

In the year ended 2019 DZL says it is estimating a revenue growth of 40-50 percent, a six percent volume and an operating margin of nine percent.

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