Zim News Blog -NEWS NETWORK

Source: President consoles grieving nation | The Herald March 19, 2019

President Mnangagwa addresses the nation last night on Cyclone Idai, which he declared a State of Disaster

Tendai Mugabe and Elita Chikwati
President Mnangagwa yesterday sent his condolence message to families of the 98 people who have lost their lives after Cyclone Idai hit the eastern parts of the country, mainly Chimanimani and Chipinge districts, over the weekend.

The Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing said yesterday that the cyclone has left 102 people injured, with 11 719 affected in various ways, while 217 have been reported missing.

There are 42 people who are said to be marooned in various areas, with efforts to access them hampered by the bad state of the roads and destroyed infrastructure such as bridges.

The Meteorological Services Department has since indicated that the cyclone has died down and only heavy rains have remained.

In his address to the nation last night over the disaster, President Mnangagwa said it was disheartening that more people were still missing and yet to be accounted for.

“As I address you tonight, our nation, alongside sister nations in our Southern African region has been buffeted by a disastrous cyclone which has hit districts in three of our provinces, principally and gravely the contagious districts of Chimanimani and Chipinge in Manicaland,” he said.

“On behalf of our grieving nation, Government and indeed on my own behalf, I wish to express my deep, heartfelt condolences and profound sympathies to all the bereaved families which have lost their loved ones.

“I, too, share affected families’ ever-mounting anxieties and distress in respect of all those still missing, and whose hopes for possible rescue diminish with each precious hour and day that passes. My heart goes out to all those who have sustained various injuries from the cyclone, all the time wishing that they rally back and recover speedily.

“From reports on hand, we now know that many drowned, while others were killed in their sleep from swift and unexpected rock falls which demolished their homes and other forms of institutional shelter. Still others met their tragic fate from overwhelming landslides which suffocated, before swiftly burying them under.

“We believe that to this day, many still lie unrecovered beneath mounds of debris that hit them with such overwhelming fury in their sleep that they stood no chance.”

President Mnangagwa paid tribute to the United Arab Emirates which he visited recently for committing to assist the victims with medicines and other necessities.

He urged other well-wishers to continue coming forward to assist the affected families.

“I am grateful to the Government of the United Arab Emirates which, in the context of my just ended visit, promptly responded to my request for humanitarian assistance in the work of the disaster,” said the President.

“We are set to receive medicines and other materials from UAE, which will go quite a long way towards alleviating our situation. Equally, I am grateful to other governments and organisations which have heeded our call for assistance.

“To ensure the response to the disaster is national, Government will announce focal points which will be accessible for the collection of any kind of assistance meant to complement Government efforts.”

President Mnangagwa said he was aware that the cyclone affected other parts of the country in Mashonaland East and Masvingo provinces, adding that Government’s hand would also reach those areas.

President Mnangagwa declared that a State of Disaster exists in all cyclone-affected areas in terms of section 27 (1) of the Civil Protection Act Chapter 10:06 of 1989.

Speaking on the disaster yesterday, the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing said low clouds combined with torrential rains and windy conditions were hampering operations by air.

“The severely damaged road network has impeded access to the affected communities by road,” said the ministry.

“Every attempt is, however, being made to reach the marooned, albeit the access challenges by both road and air.

“Chimanimani district has more than 150 houses and eight bridges — Umvumvumvu, Biriiri, Muusha, Silverstream, Machongwe, Charter, Pondo Farm and Mhandarume —destroyed by the cyclone.”

In Mutasa, 24 houses and four toilets were damaged, while in Mutare Rural mud has blocked Leopard Rock Road.

Mutare urban has 59 houses damaged, Buhera 30 and Chipinge 234, Mutare Rural 189 and in Masvingo Gutu had 108 and Bikita 61.

In Chikomba in Mashonaland East, 68 houses, bridges and roads have been damaged.

About 500 people from Chimanimani have sought refuge at Chaminimani Hotel, while 300 are at Ngangu School.

The number of the people seeking refuge at Rusitu is not yet known due to access problems.

Relief items are being received in Mutare at the provincial administrator’s office or Makombe Building in Harare.

 

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Source: New Harare minister sworn-in | Herald (Top Stories)

Felex Share and Natasha Kokai
President Mnangagwa yesterday swore in the new Minister of State for Harare Provincial Affairs, Senator Oliver Chidawu.

Senator Chidawu took his oath of office at a ceremony held at State House in Harare which was witnessed by Vice Presidents Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi.

The former Harare mayor said he was in Government to provide strategic leadership for Harare province and his appointment as provincial minister comes on the back of a new mandate given to further the goals of devolution in line with President Mnangagwa’s Vision 2030 and other developmental goals.

“Harare is a city where all of us are represented and we must be able to provide that leadership to ensure we maintain sanity in the city,” he said.

“The city, as you know, is the home of governance systems. The Executive, Legislature and Judiciary are here hence we should able to provide that leadership.”

He said concerted efforts were needed to solve the challenges the province was facing. We have to work together with the population,” Sen Chidawu said.

“A lot of plans are in place, things over the years have deteriorated and I think that is my priority to ensure that we work together. I think the biggest challenge that we have is water and we are going to be pushing to make sure that provision is there.

“I just have to raise the bar for all of us to appreciate the issues around us. We are forced to work together to make sure Harare is habitable for all of us.”

On wetlands, he said: “We have to get the people on the wetlands out. We have to get them alternative places. We can’t continue to deplete our water through people settling in wetlands. Those who are there they must know they have to leave.”

Born in 1954, Senator Chidawu became the youngest mayor in the history of Harare city in 1984 at the age of 29.

A chartered engineer and entrepreneur, Senator Chidawu is chairman of African Banking Corporation Zimbabwe, non-executive chairman of Manders Group and founder of Kuchi Group of Companies.

Senator Chidawu is also a major shareholder in Bitumen Construction. He was also a founding shareholder and director of Heritage Investment Bank that merged with First Merchant Bank in 1997.

He also sits on the board of Bindura Nickel Corporation Ltd.

The province has not had a Minister of State since September last year when President Mnangagwa appointed his new Cabinet.

Cde Miriam Chikukwa was the last Minister of State for Harare.

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Source: Agency to improve FDI approvals | The Herald March 19, 2019

Prof Ncube

Tawanda Musarurwa Business Reporter
The establishment of the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA) will capacitate the country to process Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) approvals within a day, Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube has said.

Zimbabwe is working on a plethora of measures to improve the ease of doing business climate to attract increased levels of FDI in line with the goals of achieving an upper middle-class economy by 2030.

Updating the nation on progress made in respect of measures being implemented to enhance the country’s economic performance, Minister Ncube said ZIDA should be operational in the next few months.

“We are accelerating and deepening the ease and cost of doing business reforms to improve competitiveness,” he said.

“This includes the establishment of a one-stop shop investment centre, and legislation to establish a specific and dedicated institution — the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA) — is now before Parliament.

“ZIDA is set to be fully operational in the coming months, and will enable the processing of investment approvals within a day, significantly improving the investment climate.”

Prof Ncube called for patience as economic reforms and restructuring are process-oriented.

“I am aware that there are those who are disappointed by the pace of change, and who expected progress to be faster,” he said. “Unfortunately, this was never going to be the case.”

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Source: Zim to engage Trump | The Herald March 19, 2019

President Mnangagwa

Herald Reporter
Zimbabwe will continue to engage American President Donald Trump’s administration to ensure removal of illegal sanctions which Washington imposed on the nation, hurting the economy, President Mnangagwa has said.

In an interview with foreign media on Sunday in Abu Dhabi, the Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces said his Government was engaging the Americans to impress upon them the need for the removal of the economic embargo, which has suffocated the economy for almost two decades.

President Mnangagwa, who has since returned home, said: “There is nothing new about renewal of the old sanctions. They have been there for nearly two decades and so there is nothing new to us. It may be new to other people, but we are busy now engaging the Trump administration to understand that there is no quarrel between the people of Zimbabwe and the American people.’’

President Mnangagwa said it was necessary that the Americans understand the conditions under which the sanctions were imposed.

“It is necessary that they appreciate the conditions under which we are,” he said. “Of course, at the time those sanctions were imposed, this was during the leadership of Prime Minister Tony Blair who was in England, and President George Bush.

“At the time, President Bush had problems with Iraq and when he went to the United Nations seeking the authority and support of the United Nations Security Council he did not succeed, so there was a coalition of willing partners. Britain was one of the willing partners under Mr Tony Blair and in exchange Mr Blair had a bilateral problem with Zimbabwe because we had taken our land back from the settlers and as a result of that, as Mr Blair was supporting Mr George Bush on Iraq, Mr Bush had to support Mr Blair on Zimbabwe by imposition of those sanctions.’’

President Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe will use her abundant natural and human resources to develop.

“But all that as far as we are concerned is behind us,” he said. “We must develop our country on the basis of the resources which we have. The human skills base which we have in Zimbabwe, we are one of the most elite countries on the continent.

“We believe that we are on the right track in our pursuit to modernise the economy.’’

President Mnangagwa said US sanctions were hurting the economy, saying the embargo denied Zimbabwe access to international lines of credit.

“But Zimbabwe today is where it is, we have survived with resilience on the basis of our own domestic resources and this is why we are saying we would want the ZIDERA sanctions lifted because they are unconstitutional and they hurt the people of Zimbabwe, not individuals, but the economy,” he said.

“It denies us access to foreign capital as well as lines of credit.’’

President Mnangagwa dismissed the notion that his administration was considering Russia and China as alternatives to a hostile US administration.

“We believe that every single member of the United Nations should be friendly to the other member states, but we would also wish that America should relate to us as we would want to relate with them,” he said.

“Russia and China have never imposed sanctions on us and so we continue to relate with them and that is the same status that we would want America to do. We believe that America is a very important player in international affairs in the same manner China is or Russia is.

“So, we believe that these major players in an international economy should stretch out their hands to small economies, to small nations like us and see us develop also.’’

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Source: ED heads to Manicaland | The Herald March 19, 2019

President Mnangagwa

Tendai Mugabe and Felex Share
President Mnangagwa will today lead a high-powered delegation to Manicaland province to supervise rescue and relief efforts, as Government steps up efforts to assist several people affected by Cyclone Idai that has so far left 98 people dead and displaced thousands.

The President will be accompanied by Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, and will be joined by several Government ministers already in Manicaland where they have been involved in the rescue and relief efforts.

President Mnangagwa had to cut short his official visit to the United Arab Emirates to attend to the disaster, which has left a trail of destruction to infrastructure and property.

Hundreds of people are still to be accounted for in the affected communities.

In his address to the nation following the unfortunate disaster last night, President Mnangagwa said Government would do everything in its capacity to help the affected people.

“No efforts or resources will be spared to reach all those in distress,” he said. “Any extra life lost is one too many. I shall be leaving for Manicaland tomorrow (today) to acquaint myself with, and personally lend weight to rescue efforts already underway.

“Government is doing all it can to reach all lives that can still be saved and to bring succour to families and communities fast running out of necessities, including food, medicines and shelter. Units of our Defence Forces have now accessed Chimanimani town where they have begun working with different arms of Government already active on the ground.

“The blocked roads have to be reopened so food, safe water and medicines reach people who have congregated around hotels, churches, schools, community centres and other makeshift safe gathering points. This is an effort which is now underway.”

President Mnangagwa said he had since directed that food be drawn from the national strategic reserves and distributed to the affected communities once access roads were cleared.

“Already, lots of relief is now building up in Mutare waiting for access roads to be cleared,” he said. “I have also directed our Department of Civil Protection to help with meeting burial expenses for those we have lost. In view of the broken infrastructure and delays in reaching such families, burials must proceed without further delay.

“The assistance that Government has pledged will still reach the affected families even after these burials.”

President Mnangagwa said efforts should be committed to rebuilding the damaged infrastructure.

He said the nation had learnt lessons from the disaster which called for broad national housing policy that takes safety issues into consideration.

“Once we have stabilised the situation, we must immediately embark on the onerous task of repairing broken lives and communities,” said President Mnangagwa.

“There are homes to be rebuilt, schools to be rebuilt or repaired. There are physical and social infrastructures to be replaced or repaired. Above all, there are broken livelihoods which have to be recreated and resuscitated.

“The disaster which has befallen us must spur us to better site our homes, and of course to use more durable building materials for safer, better homes for our people. This disaster must get us think long and hard about a broad national housing policy which takes safety issues into consideration.

“There is no guarantee that this fickle act of nature will not visit us yet again and do so with equal if not worse devastation and hence the more reason we must draw lasting lessons from this mishap in order to plan and build a more secure and durable future for our families and communities.”

Secretary for Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Mr Nick Mangwana said yesterday that Vice President Chiwenga will be part of the delegation to co-ordinate the team of ministers already on the ground

He said army engineers were creating detours to make roads passable in Chimanimani for aid to reach the affected people.

“Tomorrow, VP Chiwenga will be in Manicaland, particularly in Mutare coordinating the ministers that are on the ground,” said Mr Mangwana. “Army engineers have managed to create a detour where we had a patch of the road which was impassable.

“Now, it means that we can get some aid through because the convoy that we had was stuck in this place. The convoy was full of aid, medication, food and other supplies and provisions.”

Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister July Moyo is leading the ministerial delegation already in the disaster area comprising Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement Minister Minister, Perrance Shiri, who is also the Acting Defence Minister, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Dr Sekai Nzenza and Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Joel Biggie Matiza.

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