Zim News Blog -NEWS NETWORK

Source: ‘African problems require African solutions’ – herald

Zimpapers Writers

President Mnangagwa has applauded the African Union’s efforts to achieve financial autonomy, stressing that reduced donor dependence will empower the bloc to drive its own development priorities without external interference.

The Head of State made the remarks on Monday during a meeting with African union High Representative for Financing the union and the Peace Fund, Dr Donald Kaberuka, at State House.

Mr Kaberuka is currently conducting stakeholder consultations across the continent on progress in strengthening the AU’s financial sustainability.

Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Professor Amon Murwira confirmed the meeting, saying that Dr Kaberuka had requested President Mnangagwa’s leadership in championing continental integration for financial self-sufficiency.

“He paid a visit to His Excellency, President Mnangagwa, to request his leadership and recognise that he is a progressive leader and influential on the continent. He wanted President Mnangagwa to help in continental integration, so he wanted him to be Champion of Continental Integration, where he would lead in ensuring that there is financial autonomy for the AU,” said Prof Murwira.

In a statement on its X handle, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade said President Mnangagwa commended Kaberuka’s efforts.

“During the discussions, His Excellency President Mnangagwa commended Dr Kaberuka for his tireless efforts to advance initiatives to restore the African Union’s financial autonomy and reduce dependence on external funding,” said the Ministry.

“The President reaffirmed Zimbabwe’s support for ongoing institutional reforms designed to strengthen the AU’s capacity to sustainably finance its programmes, peace and security operations, and development agenda, and emphasised that a financially self-reliant African union is critical to advancing the continent’s aspirations for greater unity, resilience, and ownership of its development priorities.”

President Mnangagwa also underscored the importance of unity among member states in achieving financial sustainability.

“The meeting also underscored the importance of collective commitment by Member States in ensuring the successful implementation of mechanisms that promote long-term financial sustainability for the Union,” reads the statement.

President Mnangagwa has previously pledged Zimbabwe’s continued commitment to meeting its financial obligations to the AU and has urged member states to pay their dues on time to eliminate donor dependency.

Dr Kaberuka is on a continent-wide tour consulting key stakeholders on the implementation of the AU’s financing and peace fund reforms.

Earlier this month, Dr Kaberuka met the Chairperson of the African union Commission, Professor Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, with discussions centring on advancing the AU reform agenda.

The discussions formed part of the Chairperson’s ongoing consultations, in line with the guidance of the AU Assembly at its 39th Ordinary Session, to strengthen institutional reforms and ensure the effective implementation of the Union’s mandate.

During that meeting, Dr Kaberuka commended the AU Commission for advancing reform initiatives, including the operationalisation of the Skills Audit and Competency Assessment.

He, however, cautioned that the evolving geopolitical environment and shifts in international development financing present growing challenges for multilateral institutions.

In this regard, he underscored the importance of sustainable and predictable contributions from Member States to safeguard the Union’s financial sovereignty and enable it to deliver on the aspirations of the African people.

The Chairperson reaffirmed that financial sovereignty remains a central priority of the new leadership of the Commission in advancing the objectives of Agenda 2063. He welcomed the decision of the Assembly to convene a joint session of Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Ministers of Finance to consult on and develop a sustainable financing model for the Union.

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Source: Airport Road interchange set for completion within year – herald

Mayor Councillor Jacob Mafume

Zvamaida Murwira

Senior Reporter

The construction of the Airport Road interchange between Harare Drive and Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Expressway is expected to take less than 12 months, with design work now complete and the contractor having already mobilised the required equipment.

The interchange is part of several major projects being undertaken by the Government following the completion of the Trabablas Interchange, which has eased traffic congestion in southern Harare.

In an interview on Star FM’s current affairs programme “Muriro on Monday”, Harare Mayor, Councillor Jacob Mafume, said the city has since leased a quarry to the contractor, Makomo Engineering, where work has commenced.

Cllr Mafume said work had started in earnest, with the contractor importing a range of heavy equipment for the project.

“We have given the contractor that is going to do that road a lease on the quarry. If you go there, there are huge machines that are being put in place to start the quarrying, to also establish an asphalt plant and to begin the roadworks. The designs have been completed,” said Cllr Mafume.

“The contractor is there and they have already imported lots and tonnes of equipment from China to do the work.”

Makomo Engineering, a renowned firm, has previously executed several projects for the Government and is currently working on Kunzvi Dam.

Cllr Mafume said the project is expected to be completed within 12 months.

“The roadworks will be done and they are being done in Harare and the interchanges will be done, and they will ease the flow of traffic in a great way, like what Trabablas has done. So this will be done. The timeline, of course, is probably 12 months to complete or under 12 months or just over 12 months because these are major, major civil works,” said Cllr Mafume.

“I believe that we are on track. We are on time. There is no confusion as to what is to be done, who is to do what and when. That’s clear and that’s being supervised by the Ministry of Transport and central Government at that point, and we are assisting or complementing where need be and we will complement them as we did around Trabablas without fanfare, without noise. A seamless operation to make sure that the transport landscape of Harare changes in a big way to the benefit of the residents and the various stakeholders that use our roads.”

Turning to the Mabvuku Interchange, Cllr Mafume said it was one of several projects under construction, with council complementing the efforts.

“The Mabvuku interchange is being done and all the interchanges that were announced by the Government are at various stages of work or beginning to take shape,” he said.

The Government is working on several other interchanges in the capital.

Four further interchanges are planned to continue decongesting roads and modernising infrastructure. These will be located at Harare Drive–Mutare Road, Harare Drive–Liberation Legacy Way, Nemakonde Way–Harare Drive, Sam Nujoma Street–Harare Drive, Westgate Traffic Circle, Kuwadzana Traffic Circle and Churchill Road–Liberation Legacy Way.

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Source: Matemadanda burial on Friday – herald

Zanu PF secretary for Legal Affairs Cde Patrick Chinamasa shares a conversation with Apostolic Faith Church elders at the funeral of national hero Ambassador Victor Matemadanda in Mt Pleasant Heights, Harare yesterday. – Picture: Edward Zvemisha

Joseph Madzimure

Zimpapers Politics Hub

NATIONAL hero Ambassador Victor Matemadanda, who died on Sunday, will be buried on Friday at the National Heroes Acre, Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe has said.

Cde Matemadanda, who passed away at the age of 66 after a short illness, was Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Mozambique and the Kingdom of Eswatini.

In an interview yesterday, Minister Kazembe said the body of the national hero will be flown to his rural home in Gokwe today, where family members and friends are expected to give him a befitting farewell.

From Gokwe, the body will proceed to his Sanyati farm the same day, where it will lie in state before returning to Harare on Thursday, ahead of burial on Friday.

Said Minister Kazembe: “Yes, our national hero Cde Matemadanda will be buried at the national shrine on Friday. We are expecting our mourners to come out in their numbers as usual.”

Yesterday, mourners from all walks of life gathered at his Mt Pleasant Heights home in Harare to console his family.

Zanu PF Treasurer-General Cde Patrick Chinamasa said the national hero’s death was a great loss to the nation, as it was untimely.

“I went to Maputo in March this year and I spoke to him on the phone, and he told me then that he was in the Beira area preparing for the rehabilitation of the shrines of the war veterans at our shrines in Mozambique. Little did I expect that in less than three months he would be taken away from us,” said Cde Chinamasa.

He narrated the journey he had travelled with Cde Matemadanda since the country’s independence, describing him as a dependable cadre.

“Cde Matemadanda is a person I worked with very closely during the 2017 November leadership crisis. He was very dependable, a man of his word. If we agreed to do something, it would be done to the letter and spirit. That was Cde Matemadanda,” said Cde Chinamasa.

In a statement yesterday, ZANU PF Secretary for Information and Publicity, Ambassador Christopher Mutsvangwa, paid an emotional tribute to his comrade-in-arms, crediting him with saving his life during the darkest days of the liberation struggle.

Ambassador Mutsvangwa described Cde Matemadanda as a “stalwart of the Chimurenga-Umvukela National Liberation War from the expatriate community of Zimbabwean exiles based in Zambia”.

Recounting the role of the exile community during the war, Ambassador Mutsvangwa said: “This patriotic exile community played a crucial role in supporting the fledgling ZANLA and ZIPRA guerrilla armies at the incipient stage of the armed struggle.”

“Training principally in Tanzania, and deploying from Zambia, the two intrepid guerrilla armies sought to implant a permanent foothold on the soil of Zimbabwe as they militarily confronted the army of Rhodesia, the settler racist colonial outpost of the increasingly expanding British Empire.”

Explaining Ambassador Matemadanda’s role in saving his life, he said:

“Word of the hunger plight stalking Tembwe reached the exile community in Zambia. Comrade Matemadanda, together with the late Comrade Kombayi, the post-independence Mayor of Gweru, organised a hunger rescue convoy of food trucks from Zambia to Tembwe.”

Former Cabinet minister Walter Mzembi, who was also among the mourners described the war veteran and diplomat as a “distinguished patriot.”

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