BY SIMBARASHE SITHOLE

THE University of Zimbabwe’s Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Engineering has urged government to support its ongoing Nutritional Post-Harvest estimation (Nutri-P-Loss) programmes, which are aimed at promoting good farming methods.

In an interview at a Grain Post-Harvest Stakeholder Learning Fora in Mbire and Guruve districts, programme team leader Brighton Mvumi urged government to facilitate investment in the initiative.

“The government should facilitate for investment in the ongoing nutritional post-harvest loss estimations we are currently rolling on as UZ. The institution on its own cannot go around the country fostering the programmes due to lack of funding, hence we need their support,” he said

The programme encourages farmers to adopt new technology that is non-chemical.

“Our programme needs thick plastics for hermetic bags and that plastic is imported, thereby making it very difficult for farmers to access it. It is our wish that government and the private sector join hands in coming up with a locally produced plastic that meets the standard to mitigate harvest loss,” Mvumi said.

The programme was launched in the 2017-2018 agricultural season by the UZ. Results from 2018-2019 experiments showed that the hermetic bags method was more efficient than the chemical method.

Addressing farmers at the meetings, UZ PhD candidate Patrick Ngwenyama said they had tested grains of cow peas and maize with hermetic bags to measure the quality of nutrition rather than quantity of the grains for eight months.

“We observed that of late, farmers were worried about the quantitative aspect while overlooking the nutritional aspect of it. Hence, we chose two districts with different climatic conditions, that is Guruve and Mbire. We ran the programme for eight months with different treated and untreated grain in a bid to see the effectiveness of the method,”Ngwenyama said.

“The hermetic bags method proved very useful in fighting weevils and it is chemical-free. A farmer can consume the grains soon after using it, unlike the chemical method. But if attacked by rodents, they become effective.”

Farmers in Mbire said they were trying to adopt the new method, but are facing challenges in accessing the plastics as there was only one type so far available.

Guruve farmer Solomon Chimanikire (60) praised the UZ for fostering education on the safe methods of keeping their grain.

IT is near impossible to put into words the feelings that are experienced in such a treasured National Park like Hwange. Just a two-hour drive from Victoria Falls and you are in this wild, yet totally magical arena. For us at Off 2 Africa, some of our favourite past times have been spent here and these are some of the reasons:

The camps

Sometimes a simple tent shared with your loved one, some easy-to-cook meals, and a 4×4 car to cruise around the park for some game viewing can be the perfect getaway. On the other hand, luxury is certainly not hard to come by in Hwange. Some of our favourite camps here have outstanding reputations for being the best in Africa, and for a good reason! There are not many places where you are able to relax on your private deck by the pool, and at the same time watch a fleet of animals approaching a watering hole to drink… with a cold drink in hand, of course. Pure bliss.

The wildlife

Hwange is famous for the tens of thousands of elephants that reside in the park, but also for the many other exciting species roaming around. Four of the big five are found here and are spotted regularly by our visitors. It is a surreal experience to be putting a real-life scene to “survival of the fittest”. With the help and knowledge of the incredible guides in Hwange, you are bound to be blown away by what wildlife you see and learn about during your stay.

The secluded safari experience

We would be biased if we claimed that Hwange was the best park in the whole of Africa, because there are many others which can boast similar views and possibly very similar wildlife. But one thing that we can confidently say is that the safari experience, in terms of exclusivity, may well be the very best. In visiting the bush, crowds are the last thing you would want. Here, you are able to drive around your camps area with not another vehicle in sight.

The classic bush fires

If you have not sat around a fire, talking with your loved ones, playing games and simply just being in that very moment – then we suggest you do not experience this for the first time in Hwange. It is just unbeatable, to say the least. With a blanket of stars above you, African wildlife all around you and a warm fire in front of you, you will undoubtedly remember this moment for a lifetime.

The photographic opportunities

The park is a photographers’ paradise. In fact, there is nothing that is not worth capturing. The animals is an obvious one, as is the scenery. If you enjoy wildlife photography and haven’t tried out bird life – this might become a new obsession of yours after visiting this area. The different terrains are also worth snapping at as there is something wonderfully creative about the ground as it’s cracking away due to dehydration, or the different colours that go with each season. Essentially, you will have a world of different and exciting photographic opportunities in Hwange.

The painted dog conservation

On a trip to Hwange, we’re able to visit the amazing Wild Dog Centre which educates travellers about one of our most endangered species. The sanctuary provides a great amount of information, emotional stories and, if we’re lucky, we can meet the gorgeous rescued dogs that are loved and cared for so deeply by everyone around them! We are so grateful for this incredible initiative and everyone involved. There is always more to learn and every bit of help towards conservation is so appreciated!

www.victoriafalls24.com

BY KENNETH NYANGANI

THE Grain Millers of Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) has so far procured food worthy $1 million to assist 10 schools that were affected by Cyclone Idai as part of its feeding programme.

GMAZ chairman Tafadzwa Musarara yesterday met headmasters in Chimanimani, whose schools are set to benefit from the school feeding scheme, which he said would run until the end of the year.

“The issue of transparency is very critical in this food aid programme. If there is transparency, this programme will go a very long way in feeding children affected by the cyclone,” he said

“We were deeply affected with the disaster. We never anticipated it. We asked for 10 schools for a start, but it’s not us who chose them.”
Musarara said GMAZ met President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Local Government minister July Moyo and his Primary and Secondary Education counterpart, Paul Mavima, who
helped identify schools to assist with food.

“We are not just providing food, but we are providing food that has nutritional requirements. In the morning, pupils will be given porridge and at around 10am,
they will be given maheu, while at lunch they will get sadza and soya beans,” he said

Hangani Primary School headmaster Lovemore Timbira said the feeding project would go a long way in ending hunger at schools affected by the cyclone.

“This is a good project and we are happy as school heads in Chimanimami, as we hope attendance will improve considerably,” he said.

BY SHINGIRAI VAMBE

GOVERNMENT programmes and policies, including the much-hyped command agriculture, suffered a huge setback due to lack of supervision, monitoring and evaluation by Cabinet ministers and office bearers, a Zanu PF central committee member has said.

Zanu PF central committee and Manicaland provincial council member Moses Gutu said all the programmes that government had rolled out lacked supervision, hence the lack of progress, particularly in the agricultural and industrial sectors.

Addressing land-seekers in Nyanga recently, Gutu said only 35% of land redistributed in 2000 was being utilised in his district and the remainder, though
occupied, was unproductive because those allocated the farms had no interest in farming.

“Most farms here were given to tourists, who only come once in a while to visit their farms. The majority of the people on these farms are workers and some
owners have since abandoned the farms and workers. We have seen cases of human-wildlife conflict escalating in Nyanga because wild animals are now hibernating
in these unused farms,” he said.

The land redistribution exercise was widely condemned as many were allocated farms along political lines without taking into cognisance the ability of the
individual to utilise the land.

Approximately 70% of land that was grabbed from white commercial farmers is unproductive as current owners have no access to lines of credit to fund farming
activities. Some have no knowledge of the types of crops suitable for the areas where they were allocated land; neither do they know weather patterns or soil
types, nor input requirements to ensure the lands yield more.

“I invited the Manicaland provincial lands officer, Clifford Mukoyi here, and went around the district. He was satisfied that most farms are vacant, but
applicants are told everyday there is no land on offer. Since 2010, we have been told about rhe land audit, but nothing is coming out of it. Land should be
given to those with the interest of farming, not selfish tourists,” Gutu said.

The Zimbabwe Land Commission is currently carrying out a comprehensive agricultural land audit. The audit is meant to identify land utilisation patterns and
optimal farming activities which influence appropriate policies for increased agricultural productivity, poverty alleviation and sustainable utilisation of
agricultural land.
Gutu said the command agriculture programme, just like the land audit, had failed to meet its target because of lack of supervision.

“Yes, there is climate change, but in majority of the cases, besides corruption and misuse of inputs, farmers are ill advised by their Agritex officers, who
also lack fundamental farming knowledge”

Zimbabwe, once the breadbasket of Africa before the turn of the century, has been reduced to begging for handouts from the international community to feed its
impoverished citizens. The country now also relies on grain imports to augment its poor harvests, blamed on the El Nino-induced droughts.

Manicaland is one of the provinces with vast tracts of unproductive farms, including those allocated to ministers and government officials, with some putting
as much as 300 hectares to waste. The farms have farmhouses, tobacco barns, pivots and vast water sources, including dams, which if tapped into would benefit
the nation.

“If the land audit was of great importance, the Chipinge farm wrangle (pitting Remembrance Mbudzana and former Swiss banker Richard Le Vieux) would not be an
issue at this particular time. But I have noticed that there is corruption and lack of seriousness. Land seekers should be given small pieces of land such as
20ha each. It’s enough to bring back the name of the country on the map as the bread basket of Africa,” Gutu said.

Nyanga district administrator Nyashadzashe Zindove said: “We can only comment after getting an official report from the land audit. Yes, some are utilising
their pieces of land, but there are those who have completely failed and only an audit report can help those who have been applying for land to get an
opportunity replacing those who have failed.”

BY CHARLES LAITON

CONFEDERATION of Zimbabwe Retailers Association (CZRA) president Denford Mutashu has finally divorced wife Nomusa Memory Ruvazhe after High Court judge Justice Alpheus Chitakunye nullified the couple’s marriage 12 months after the couple went on separation due to irreconcilable differences.

On April 30 this year, Mutashu petitioned the High Court seeking a court order to nullify his five-year marriage with his estranged wife, saying he had since lost love and affection towards her.

“The marriage relationship between the parties (Mutashu and Ruvazhe) has irretrievably broken down to the extent that there is no longer any reasonable prospect of reconciliation …,” Mutashu said in his declaration, adding: “… During the subsistence of the marriage, three children were born … The defendant (Ruvazhe) did not adopt the plaintiff’s surname.”

Ruvazhe did not oppose the termination of the couple’s holy matrimony, but rather consented to the move, which was then sanctioned by the High Court on Thursday this week.

“The plaintiff (Mutashu) and defendant (Ruvazhe) both agreed that the marriage has irretrievably broken down and consent to the granting of a decree of divorce subject to the terms herein alluded to being incorporated into the final order, which this honourable court may be inclined to grant,” both parties said in their consent paper filed at the High Court.

As regard the custody of the couple’s two minor children, the parties agreed that custody shall be awarded to Mutashu, while his wife shall have access to the minors during the first two weeks of school holidays and on alternate weekends.

“Plaintiff will provide maintenance for the minor children until each child reaches the age of 18 or become self-supportive, whichever occurs first. There shall be no maintenance obligation by either party to the other,” the parties agreed, adding that each party shall retain movable property currently in his or her possession as his or her sole property.

Opinion Nothando Bhila

I KNOW of a generation, a generation that may never be in future, a generation that though it may have orally passed on its rich wealth of knowledge to the next and sustained itself this way in the past without being eroded, may not survive now.

This wealth of knowledge may be tampered with as it is with a broken telephone, where the ‘original message’ does not always get to the final recipient the way it was first communicated. I know of a generation I lament how their unmatched life method is now rendered archaic with very little or no shreds salvaged; a generation whose knowledge should have been encrypted so that their written records can be used to shape the future and perhaps help the coming generations understand their identity by understanding their past.

Indeed, this generation has a lot to appraise of the next generations, but alas, there are also hurdles, unforeseen or seen and ignored, that the next generations have to embrace and perhaps come up with possible curtails where necessary in order to survive the future. What generation am I talking about?

I am talking about a generation where what they did had a lot of meaning to it, a black and white generation. A generation where black could not be perceived as being grey or navy blue, neither was white perceived to be beige. These “absolute” understandings meant life was not as complicated as it is today. I can only imagine what the outcome will be in the years to come.

I lament for the beloved generation that displayed what it was like to have a passion for what you do in life, not mostly driven by money, but by purpose and the good golden commandment of “doing unto others as we would love them to do unto us”.

It is this generation that afforded to work 50 years for a company, perhaps because companies also valued employees or perhaps it was a question of just being loyal, not in any way looking down at today’s employee-employer relations, as for everything under the sun there is a good and bad side to it.

A generation also that could afford to be married for 50 years and the community helped raise their children because children were regarded as the community’s children. Today’s generation is pretty much far from this. You dread to leave your children with the community because the community has become selfish and not selfless, as it can shamelessly harm your children instead of protecting them.

The stories that circulate on this are very much appalling; norms turned into anomalies. We have done away with the “good traditional ethos” of raising our children and spoil them unnecessarily in the name of being modern. We feed them with all sorts of immoral behaviour. Today’s children demand something for nothing majority of the times and hardly give something for nothing in return.

When they grow up and become a burden to not only society, but us the parents as well, we marvel and blame it on modernity and sadly chant the phrases,

“Children of today”, “Technology and its downsides” and yet there is no home or family called modernity or technology.

Multi-generational families are fast becoming a norm in today’s world. Grandparents now feature a lot, with the role of heading families as the parents of their grandchildren would have passed on due to different reasons, among which life threatening illnesses are encompassed. These then give rise to multi-generational families, among other reasons like broken marriages. The generation I lament for is a one that, as the saying goes, “fixed things when they were broken”, compared to a generation that does not always value marriage and its role in the community and the world at large.

In my opinion, it is with these realities that it is not surprising that individualism has fast become acceptable in a world where we boast of “globalisation”, the world becoming one village. Ideally, for me it is here people were conceivably supposed to be more united and perchance create a better world, but regrettably, globalisation appears to be scattering people more than it is bringing them together.

Cry the beloved generation where transparency was a noble thing in society and was dignified, thereby making it easy for people to relate and help each other without constantly suspecting the next person.

Today’s generation is a generation that would rather die than give a password to their mobile phones. It is so bad that in times of trouble befalling a person, perhaps after having fainted and in dire need of an ambulance, rescuers with no credit on their mobile phones cannot access help, them not having air time, whereas the victim’s, which has the air time cannot be used as doing so would need the victim’s password first. A people who are so full of passwords, we sometimes even forget them and find ourselves not only locking other people out from our valuables, but us too.

It is when God has blessed you well enough to come in contact with this generation I bemoan, that you begin to compare and contrast and ask if there surely was not anything good about their ways we could carry into the future and still make the modern adjustments to it and preserve the good side of our culture.

BY Staff Reporter

Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) Zimbabwe chapter has said the recently gazetted Freedom of Information Bill does not adequately reflect globally accepted access to information standards and best practice.

In a submission to Information minister on the Bill, Misa-Zimbabwe chairperson Golden Maunganidze protested that most of the submissions made by non-governmental organisations and stakeholders during the inter-ministerial taskforce-led engagement on the repeal of Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act (AIPPA) did not make it into the current version of the Bill.

“Submissions made during these meetings have not been included in the Bill, save for the reduction of the period within which requests for information have to
be finalised,” Maunganidze said.

“The Bill also retains vast, far-reaching blanket bans on the classes of information that cannot be requested or accessed in terms of this law. The threshold
for denying access to information is set so low that when passed into law, this Bill will not result in a positive or significant shift in Zimbabwe’s access to
information regime.”

He said in some instances, the Bill removes some of the positive aspects of AIPPA such as a section which permitted for the voluntary disclosure of information
that is in the public interest, but is no longer there in the proposed legislation.

“The Bill is also silent on the internal transfers of requests for information submitted to the wrong entity. It is unclear whether these provisions were
intentionally omitted for whether these are drafting errors,” the Misa boss said.

He added: “Another contentious issue is the assignment of the role to oversee the enjoyment and exercise of the right to access to information solely to the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC). This is erroneous as the ZMC is tasked only with media freedom issues.”

INTERVIEW Obey Manayiti

MDC external branches have not been seen as key players in national politics because the diaspora vote has been shut out of local elections.

However, Tawanda Dzvokora (TD), chairperson of the United States branch, told NewsDay Weekender senior reporter Obey Manayiti (NDW) that as external branches, they have a bigger and important role to play, not only to their party, but to the nation as whole. He shares his insight in excerpts below:

NDW: Congratulations on your election victory to lead the MDC-US branch. Can you briefly share with us your mandate?

TD: Thank you. My mandate is not simple, but very much achievable. I must lead the North America Province (NAP), reinvigorate the party, grow and resource it.

I must connect the party to institutions within the United States and Canada as well as the United States State Department.

Strategic partnerships with key organisations here is also one of my priorities. As chairperson, I will lead the fight for the diaspora vote, which is a fundamental right to every Zimbabwean.

Fundraising is the primary reason why we have external assemblies and I will spearhead fundraising programmes that will help the party.

NDW: Do you think the external branches have a role to play in Zimbabwean politics, where you don’t participate in the actual voting?

TD: External assemblies are very much critical to the democratisation and development of Zimbabwe. External associations/assemblies are beneficial for both nation and party.

By just a critical look in the just past years, the diaspora carried the nation on its shoulders. It sustained the Zimbabwe economy through the diaspora remittances.

Over US$2 billion was channelled in Zimbabwe’s economy by diasporas. So, logically, such helpful components of the nation should be recognised and there is no better recognition than a vote.

NDW: After the congress, the MDC came up with a totally new leadership. Do you have confidence in this leadership? Do you think the party can finally seize power from Zanu PF?

TD: The leadership that came out of our congress is a reflection of trust and wishes of the people. The leaders are of good character and disposition, who possess abilities to wrest power from the failed Zanu PF regime. I sincerely believe the people’s revolution is imminent and we will have an MDC government before 2023.

NDW: Between now and the next elections, what reforms do you want to see being implemented?

TD: We have a five-point plan that is being further cemented by the RELOAD blueprint, but of emphasis is the need to reform the electoral laws, starting by disbanding Zec [Zimbabwe Electoral Commission] itself.

Zec should be an independent commission and should return its autonomy, but currently, Zec is behaving like an extension of the Zanu PF commissariat
department.

We also need to align laws to the new Constitution. This is very important and can be the stepping stone to many other reforms that we need; they are quite many for your own information.

NDW: The State has indicated that it brooks no threats from opposition and civil society leaders. We have seen a wave of arrests. Without commenting on issues now before the courts, do you think the new dispensation is as tolerant as they want the world to believe?

TD: [President Emmerson] Mnangagwa’s establishment is very intolerant and a threat to national security.

The military junta government has charged more Zimbabweans with treason in a short period of time than colonial Rhodesia and the [former President Robert] Mugabe’s totalitarian rule.

The military junta has also slayed more through extra-judicial killings over a short period of time compared to the Mugabe misrule.

The military junta has perfected the colonial brutality and postcolonial misgovernance and is double evil and incompetent to Mugabe and Ian Smith added.

NDW: We have seen opposition members demonstrating in the United Kingdom against Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo and his delegation. Do you think this was justified and why?

TD: It is justified because people here in the diaspora enjoy full rights to register their discontent and disapproval of something.

It was rather unfortunate that the security detail started assaulting peaceful protesters. To make matters worse, they assaulted women.

An unfortunate act that is reminiscent of what’s happening in Zimbabwe, where women and children are attacked and raped without restraint.

We are, however, relieved to hear that we will be pressing charges against the abusive behaviour of the security detail that caused a raucous with the
otherwise peaceful demonstrators.

By Veneranda Langa

THE Joshua Sacco-led Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Industry on Tuesday recommended that the Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency (ZIDA) Bill must ensure that the agency is decentralised to provinces and districts, which must be empowered to approve investments of up to US$1 million.

Sacco said this in the National Assembly while presenting the Industry Committee report on the ZIDA Bill, which is currently in the Second Reading Stage of being crafted.

The ZIDA Bill seeks to establish the Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency, which will be a one-stop shop for investors.

“During public hearings, the public suggested that ZIDA should be decentralised and devolution be implemented to provincial and district structures,” Sacco said.

“The committee’s recommendations are that the Bill should encompass a clause which provides for maximum value of investment at provincial level and US$1 million is adequate for provincial and district investment.”

He said in order to promote the ease of doing business, investment licences should be out in five days and that officers manning desks at ZIDA provincial and district offices must be senior decision-makers to avoid bureaucracy.

Sacco said the Bill must follow the Rwandan model, adding that board members for ZIDA must only hold a maximum of two terms, which is eight years, with board members chosen on a performance-based format and the eight board members should also reflect gender and geographical representation.

Dzivarasekwa MP Edwin Mushoriwa (MDC Alliance) said he was shocked to see adverts for posts to be filled in at ZIDA before the agency was even formed, which smelt of corruption.

“Government was even paying for offices before the ZIDA Bill is crafted. Following the Rwandan model will be difficult because in Rwanda, their investment agency chief executive officer sits in Cabinet, yet in Zimbabwe it’s not the case,” Mushoriwa said.

Mutasa South MP Regai Tsunga (MDC Alliance) added: “It is an anomaly for ZIDA positions to be advertised when there is no structure or board. As Parliament, we take exception to that.”

Makonde MP Kindness Paradza (Zanu PF) stressed the need for the ZIDA Bill to include people with relevant skills in the Bill.

Mutare Central MP Innocent Gonese (MDC Alliance) blasted Industry minister Mangaliso Ndlovu, his deputy Rajeshkumar Modi and Industry ministry officials for being absent during debate of the ZIDA Bill.

Modi later turned up in the House to listen to MPs’ contributions.

Proportional Representation MP Priscilla Misihairabwi Mushonga (MDC-T) said as ZIDA was being implemented, the Industry ministry must be wary of corrupt tendencies, where government officials demand bribes from investors.

Chegutu West MP Dextor Nduna (Zanu PF) said government should be wary that investors do not export unbeneficiated products.

On gender issues, Mount Pleasant legislator Samuel Banda (MDC Alliance) suggested that if the CEO of ZIDA was a male, then the deputy should be a woman or vice-versa.

Mutasa North MP Chido Madiwa (Zanu PF) threatened that if the ZIDA board had no equal number of males to females, then the Bill should not be passed.
Other suggestions by MPs were that the Bill must ensure that all local and international investors must ensure public health standards are observed.