Warriors coach, Sunday “Mhofu” Chidzambga is a very happy man following his team’s goalless draw against the Super Eagles of Nigeria in an international friendly match at the Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba on Saturday.
BY Kevin Mapasure
Chidzambga admitted that he had learnt a lot from the match ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals. The Warriors gets the tournament rolling with the game against the hosts on Friday.
Mhofu gave hints on how he wants to shape is starting lineup and after creating some good chances, the Warriors impressed their supporters with the draw in a match that could have gone either way. The friendly was marred by unrelenting showers that pounded throughout the entire 90 minutes, but both teams would have been pleased with the run out.
After avoiding defeat against the former African champions, Chidzambga told the media that he was very pleased with both the performance and the outcome.
“I am very proud of my boys because they played to my instruction,” Chidzambga told reporters in Asaba during a post-match interview.
“You don’t stop a good team like Nigeria from scoring if you are not good yourself. This shows that we are going to the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt with high hopes and expectations.”
Before making their fourth Afcon appearance in Egypt, Zimbabwe have one more friendly match against the Tanzania on June 16. Zimbabwe are in Group A of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations finals where they will also play Uganda and the Democratic republic of Congo. “Super Eagles are a strong team, not only in Africa, but the world,” Chidzambga said.
“And it is always important to play such teams going into a big tournament like the Nations Cup.
“They have won the Nations Cup many (three) times and it is important we use this game to learn from them.” He admitted his side are going into their fourth Afcon finals as underdogs, but refused to set a particular target. “I don’t believe in setting targets. What if you target a quarter-final and you (eventually) go ahead to win the cup?” Chidzambga asked rhetorically.
After the Nigeria match he said he is looking forward to leading his team through to the knockout stages. “On our part we will try to get past the group stages. Ever since we started this Afcon campaign we haven’t gone past the group stages, but we are going to try to get past the group stages.
“I think the Super Eagles are in an easier group, they are seeded too and with their play they will be able to go past the group stages.”
Chidzambwa shared three lessons he learned from the Super Eagles in their goalless draw against the Warriors. “I have learnt a lot of things from the Super Eagles, the best thing I learned was the way they support the ball carrier and the way they fall behind the ball, keeping possession. They were very good, I learnt something.” Zimbabwe 2019 Afcon squad: Goalkeepers: George Chigova, Edmore Sibanda, Elvis Chipezeze.
ORGANISERS of Shoko Festival, Magamba Network, have begun preparations for the ninth edition of the fiesta slated for September 27 to 29 and are calling for interested artists to submit applications by July 5.
BY TAFADZWA KACHIKO
Organisers are looking for poets, singers, comedians, dancers and DJs.
Festival director Samm Farai Monro, popularly known as Comrade Fatso, told NewsDay Life & Style that they were looking forward to some interesting collaborations for their Mash Up Nights.
“We intend to have a very vibrant line up including artists from different genres. Hip hop to dancehall, comedy and poetry. We are calling interested local artists to apply now before the deadline. We are encouraging a lot of new collaborations, especially for our Marshall Night event. Last year we had brand new powerful collaborations such as ZCC Mbungo Stars with T Shock and Vabati VaJehovha with Black Zion,” he said.
“So this year we look forward to promoting some our best urban artists presenting new collaborations.”
He said they would, in due course, announce an international musician and comedians to grace the festival.
Comrade Fatso said the theme for Zimbabwe’s premier urban culture fiesta, is meant to create an inspirational artistic space at a time the country’s citizens are suffering from an enduring economic crisis.
“We chose the theme Good Vibes Only because we know Zimbabweans are going through such a difficult period of uncertainty and pain. So we want to create a space with art and creativity that represents serious good vibes and that motivates all our festival goers to keep believing that their dreams are valid. Shoko will be a good vibes only zone where it’s all about free expression, thrilling performances and positive energy,” he said.
The multi-faceted festival is retaining the diverse programming including the Hub Unconference, the Shoko Comedy Night featuring top local and international comedians and Peace in the Hood concert to be held in Chitungwiza.
Just after the Second World War, political leaders in what was Southern Rhodesia started to think about how they would meet the needs of the country for electrical energy.
After that, the debate raged between Northern and Southern Rhodesia as to the merits of building the Kariba Dam. Eventually, it was the Federal Government which made the decision and the contract was awarded to an Italian company funded by a loan from the World Bank.
It was a huge step of faith for a small emerging economic system that was recovering from the global turmoil of the War. The dam would be one of the largest on earth and would be one of the biggest civil engineering contracts ever undertaken. It was the largest loan granted by the World Bank in Africa. The dam was commissioned in 1960. Prior to this development, the country had relied on three small coal-fired power stations built and located in the main cities and outside Kwekwe to accommodate the development of Zisco Steel.
The next major development came in the late 1960s when the government developed the Hwange Power Station. Further developments were made impossible by the conflict of the liberation war and Zimbabwe came to independence totally dependent on three old steam-driven power stations, Kariba Dam with its 700 megawatts (MW) and Hwange — a strange combination of differing components smuggled into the country in defiance of United Nations sanctions, a problem which has bedevilled the plant until today resulting in the power station never reaching its full potential.
Why electrical energy was not a priority for the new governments is a mystery, but the reality is that no new generation capacity was built until the Chinese constructed the new generation hall at Kariba and installed another 600MW. This followed a similar development on the north bank, where Zambia did the same thing.
We now face what was an almost inevitable crisis as water levels in Kariba reach new lows and no new power sources are available locally or even in the region.
The question we must ask is why has Kariba reached this point? The answer is very simply, poor management of the whole river system. One hundred years of records on the Zambezi River made the point that over time, the sustainable yield of the river in terms of power generation at the Kariba Wall was 1 200MW.
The design team installed 1 400MW. They knew this was about right and in the next 60 years, the dam spilled only four times, all normal riven flow going through the wall and its giant turbines.
Once thought to be a costly mistake, Kariba produces the cheapest electricity in the world and the loans that built the wall and its original turbines are long settled.
This made the power station an attractive alternative to other projects which would be more expensive, both in capital and operating costs. So it was a natural to increase its capacity and hope that the river could support the new capacity.
Zambia took the plunge first and under the very noses of the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) and the Zimbabwean Energy ministry, began to use much more water than they were actually allowed. When our people woke up to the issue, the dam had dropped to 16% of its capacity.
The ZRA woke up to the issue and restrictions were slapped on Zambia and the dam recovered slowly. By then the Zimbabwe government was already committed to the South Bank extension and this was contracted and completed last year, raising the generation capacity of the dam to well above its sustainable level. As a result, water levels below the dam rose by two metres.
Water restrictions have now reduced power generation to a third of the capacity of the dam and even at this level, the dam might well have to be almost switched off before the next rains. The knock on effect of this is to take cheap, clean hydroelectric power out of the sales mix of the power utilities in the region making power supplies more expensive. I am mystified by these events because all through the past season I have been watching the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone as it sat over Zambia and over the majority of the catchment of the Zambezi above the Falls. I have not seen the rainfall figures for the area, but some years ago I went fishing on the Chobe and on the flood plains in the Caprivi Strip. We fished for a day and travelled some 70km in the reed beds. The Chobe has no water of its own and all the water in the river comes from the upper Zambezi when it floods over its banks. We had a great day of fishing, but I asked the guide why there was no wild life, no hippos and no crocodiles. Just swathes of reeds three metres high and water pulsing through narrow channels to the Chobe. He said to me anything that crossed the Chobe from Botswana was shot in days. It occurred to me that if the hippo were not to return — no one would clear the drainage channels.
If that happened the vast quantities of flood water would be dammed up by the reed beds, drainage channels blocked and the water stagnant.
I thought about the massive flood plains in northern Zambia and asked what the hippo populations were like — no one could tell, but I said to anyone who would listen that if what was happening in the Caprivi Strip was happening in the north then the consequences for the lower Zambezi would be critical.
One person, who was familiar with the situation in Malawi, said there the same thing had happened to the Hippo population on the Shire River, which drains Lake Malawi, and the government had to import hippo to restock the river to drop the level of the Lake.
But the most immediate question is how do we manage our system until we can get more capacity built? If we cannot find a solution to this question, then there can be no talk of growth and recovery — the energy just will not be available to even maintain what we are currently doing.
My suggestion to resolve this problem is as follows:
Start with putting Kariba Dam on generating power only during daylight hours. This would help us meet peak demand. The ZRA should be instructed to investigate the situation in the Zambezi Flood Plains and take appropriate action. Secondly, I suggest we introduce a subsidy of 50% on the cost of all new solar installations. Solar can easily meet a quarter of our power needs during the day — do not provide for storage — just panels and use of the sun.
All solar instillations should be encouraged to install excess capacity and smart metres introduced to provide for sale of any surplus to the national grid. Finance should also be provided over three years at a reasonable interest rate.
Thirdly, we need to get Hwange working to capacity on a continuous basis so that this can provide us with our base load demand and run during the night. The installation of the two new generators at Hwange should be expedited. Fourthly, we need to start the construction of the private sector sponsored power station at Lususlu south-east of Binga town.
Fifthly, we need to investigate urgently how we can use natural gas for power generation and build a plant at Mutare for this purpose. This is clean energy and can be installed quickly. This should be a private sector project. Natural gas is going to be the cheapest form of energy in the long term.
The Central African Power Pool is located in Harare and immediate talks should be initiated to secure an allocation of electrical energy from the region to prevent a real crisis in Zimbabwe.
Clearly we will have to pay more for power and this should not be ignored. We should not imagine that we can hold energy costs down in defiance of our current economic fundamentals.
Eddie Cross is a businessman and former parliamentarian. He writes in his personal capacity. This article was first published on Eddie Cross’s personal blog eddiecross.africanherd.com
DYNAMOS coach Tonderai Ndiraya tore into his side after their failure to secure maximum points in a Castle Lager Premiership tie against Manica Diamonds at Rufaro Stadium yesterday.
BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA
The Glamor Boys also settled for a 0-0 draw against Ngezi Platinum in their previous home match, results which have not pleased the coach.
Ndiraya said he was disappointed with his charges, blasting them for lacking intrinsic desire to win matches, especially before their home fans.
The Dynamos gaffer noted that although he has a young squad he expected senior players to drive the team and is concerned that it was the younger players instead who were taking the initiative.
The draw against Manica Diamonds came a week after the Glamour Boys had stunned FC Platinum 1-0 in their own backyard, a result that heightened expectations for the Manica Diamonds clash.
The Dynamos coach said complacency had crept into his side despite him having spent the better part of the week trying to work on that psychological aspect.
“We had a bad day at the office, a poor performance. When playing at home you would want to get maximum points, not playing two home draws. It’s quite worrisome. From the body language of the players one could see that there was complacency,” Ndiraya observed.
“In the first half we were a bit shaky, but we were good defensively, especially the central defence who stood their own against top strike force, but look the overall performance was poor, it does not reflect the status of the team. The commitment and the fighting spirit wasn’t there. Of course we got a point, but that is not enough, its quite disappointing particularly in front of our fans. We have a young squad, but we have some senior players who you expect to drive the team and when you have the younger players driving the team it becomes an issue of concern.”
His counterpart Luke Masomere felt his side should have won the match and was equally disappointed.
“To us its two points dropped because we had planned for this match. We thought we were going to win, but unfortunately we couldn’t get a goal and wrap up the match, but I am happy with the way we applied ourselves. We had injuries to some of our players you could see how Timire Mamvura and Partson Jaure were struggling,” Masomere said.
The visitors created better chances in the first half with Jaure coming close on the quarter hour as they threatened with some dangerous raids. Dynamos had a good opportunity towards the end of the first half, but Jarrison Selemani lacked urgency which could have seen him bury the effort in a one on one situation with goalkeeper Dube.
In the second half Dynamos appeared to take control of proceedings, but their forwards were denied by the heroics of experienced goalkeeper Dube.
RECENTLY, the impact of natural disasters have been felt negatively in some countries in southern Africa which include Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, bringing memories and long term effects that will be very difficult to erase. The viciousness and destructive nature of Cyclone Idai will stand as a test case in human history on the part of the countries involved as well as the southern African region as a whole. The magnitude of destruction was quite immeasurable and unquantifiable, leaving women and children more exposed and hapless than ever before.
Natural disasters do not only render women and children helpless and more vulnerable, but they also pose serious challenges of overcoming psycho-social and economic obstacles. Although it is within their lack of ability to cope, impacts of natural disasters normally affect the poorest, the most vulnerable and marginalised groups, due to their exposed, neglected and often peripheral nature. This is a state of affairs which has been nursed for centuries until it was sufficiently internalised and accepted as part and parcel of the living phenomena.
Women and children are always at risk, not that they are seen as vulnerable, but they are always weighed down by the baggage of patriarchy and unequal power relations, perpetuated by unfair historical and generational negative tendencies. This is compounded by the fact that, in our societies and midst, they don’t normally decide, lead and make their voices heard. Such traits are still manifesting themselves and were even evident during and after Cyclone Idai. Our own national television, the Zimbabwe Television interviewed more males compared to their female counterparts. This doesn’t mean that the interviews were designed in such a deliberate attempt to interview males more than females, but it just happened. For one to notice this anomaly, the situation required, one to put on gender lenses, in order to visualise these procedural and information gaps.
In this regard, if the story of Cyclone Idai was to be retold, it would tilt directly or indirectly in favour of the males’ world-views and experiences. To come up with a balanced perception of events, its actual unfolding and its impact on affected communities; inclusive selection of interviewees would have actually helped. These are some of the several factors which often militate against women during the times of disasters. They also include limited livelihood options, restricted access to goods and services, inability to recover lost asserts and above all, lack of meaningful voices to be heard. In this regard, failure to sufficiently and sustainably situate female concerns in disaster recovery and management strategies, normally has its costs and repercussions too.
These recovery and management gaps are part of the inhibiting framework resulting from gender blindness with regard to sustainable responses to natural disasters. Collective efforts are required to remove inborn and procedural bottlenecks which perpetuate inequalities leading to making already bad situations worse for women and children as well as affecting resilience to climate change impacts.
The first and critical point of make in mainstreaming women voices into disaster risk management is at the community and local levels. This is a critical level in making sure that women and other beneficiaries are empowered.
Women’s roles should not continue being restricted to the usual routines such as fetching water, household chores, looking after children and seeing to it that their husbands are well-fed even without enough food being provided. Women need to drive adaptation programmes in their communities by designing, planning and engaging in sustainable nutritional gardens, fish farming, horticulture, forest regenerations, pen feeding and small-scale dairy, among a host of many so that they realise the power to bargain and having ownership of their products. Women also need to be able to study weather and rainfall patterns as well as early warning systems in order to plan adequately and engage in adaptive measures aimed at bringing food to their households. These would make the aftermaths of disasters more bearable because there is time for grieving, counting losses, rebuilding and moving on.
Instead of being products of change, women should be the agents of change, where they participate in transforming, not only their lives, but also the lives of their communities. Being agents of change, equips women with visionary skills, necessary for life-long survival strategies and resilience in the new-knowledge economy. Women need to participate in the production of goods and services for the fulfilment of basic needs. They also need to have comprehensive knowledge of their physical and socio-cultural environment necessary for community mapping and networking skills. In this regard, they will be able to tell their own stories about successes and community based adaptation challenges with regard to effects of climate change rather than being the stories themselves.
Peter Makwanya is a climate change communicator. He writes here in his own capacity and can be contacted on: petrovmoyt@gmail.com
Founders High School toppled five schools in a science exhibition competition held by African Institute of Biomedical Science (AIBST) and Technology in collaboration with the Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development ministry in Harare yesterday.
BY RUTENDO MATANHIKE/RUVIMBO MUNCHENJE
The competition sought to challenge high school students to identify health problems in their communities and solve them using science as a way of promoting a culture of research in the science world.
Speaking during the awards ceremony, programmes manager of AIBST project, Next Generation of Biomedical Scientists, Frank Muzenda, said the programme and competition was aimed at cultivating a culture of research among Africans to solve African problems.
“We are basically saying that Africa has a problem of very limited innovations and discoveries. Of the many discoveries done globally, our continent has not produced a lot of innovations mainly because of lack of a culture that promotes scientific research,” he said.
Muzenda said the idea, targeted at high school students, was created to instil a culture of research within young minds.
“For us, the victory is that we have created a platform where children learn to do research at a younger age before they go to university,” he said.
Also speaking at the event, Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development secretary Fanwel Tagwira said industrialisation in Zimbabwe could be driven by technologies developed within the country.
“While industrialisation in Zimbabwe can be driven by foreign investment, it can also be driven by people within the country coming up with industries out of technology that is made locally, and that is what this event is all about, cultivating young minds and preparing them for a brighter future,” he said.
Founders High School’s project focused on eliminating cases of cattle theft in communities through the use of technology that captures DNA samples from different cattle to identify their owners, an innovation AIBST programmes manager said could be used at national level.
Founders High School won ZWL$3 000, while St Faith’s High School, in second place, took home ZWL$2 000, with third-placed Regina Mundi High School getting ZWL$1 000.
THE Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Minerals Workers’ Union (Zdamwu) says workers in the mining sector should be paid in United States dollars since the sector is one of the top foreign currency earners in the country.
BY MTHANDAZO NYONI
Zdamwu general-secretary Justice Chinhema told NewsDay Business that mining workers should be given US$790 per month as salary, and not the ZWL$486 they are currently getting.
“If you go around Zimbabwe, the mining industry is one of the lowest paying industries despite us producing the foreign currency which government is crying for,” he said.
“This 80% increase is nothing to us. The mining industry must pay equivalent to what the employers are retaining from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe after selling the gold to Fidelity (Printers and Refiners).”
Workers in the mining industry were recently awarded an 80% salary increment following collective bargaining agreement between the National Employment Council (NEC) for Mining Industry and unions.
But Chinhema said a number of mining companies had approached NEC asking for exemptions.
“So, we are saying the minimum wage of the mining industry must be commensurate to the mineral that we are mining. It must also reflect, if the employer is retaining 80% in US$, that should also be the salary and the minimum wage must be in line with the poverty datum line, which is US$790 (and) not ZWL$486,” he said.
“We are not in agreement with ZWL$486. The 80% increment that came through NEC is not a proper wage to an employee with a family of five.
“So the mining workers must be earning US$ component equivalent to what the employer retains after selling their minerals. That’s the benchmark we are talking about and it should be US$790, which is the poverty datum line from the central statistics agency.”
Chinhema said working conditions in the sector were poor.
“This is slavery and mining industry employers are enjoying free labour because salaries that they are paying are pathetic,” he said.
“Remember, mines are found in the remote areas of this country. Basic commodities in those areas are pegged at three or five times what they cost in cities like Bulawayo and Harare. That ZWL$486 is not even equivalent to the ZWL$486 being earned by a person living in Harare because they are in remote areas. The prices there (remote areas) are double.”
TOBACCO sales are down 44% at $292,8 million after 53 days of trade, compared to $523,5 million achieved last season, data from the industry regulator Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) shows.
BY FIDELITY MHLANGA
Deliveries are down 12% at 157,7 million kg from 180,3 million kg delivered in the same period last year. The price being offered for the crop is also lower than last year at an average of $1,85 per kg, down from $2,87 per kg.
So far, the highest price fetched at the auction floors is $4,66 per kg, down from the $4,99 last year. Zimbabwe Tobacco Association chief executive Rodney Ambrose said despite the challenges, this year’s target of 220 million kg was still attainable.
“We still have at least one and half months to complete selling,” he said.
In 2018, the country produced a record 252 million kg of flue-cured tobacco, generating at least $1 billion in forex.
THE wife of a jailed MDC councillor romped to victory to retain the seat for the opposition party in a by-election, where Zanu PF supporters allegedly attacked voters in a bid to stop them from taking part in the poll.
BY NUNURAI JENA
Svorai Chiwara was declared the winner of the ward 2 by-election with 782 votes against 381 for Lloyd Nyambo of Zanu PF.
Michael Gore, Chiwara’s husband, is serving a four-year jail term for torching Zanu PF Kadoma offices during fuel riots in January despite his claim that he was out of town at a funeral when the incident occurred.
Violence erupted at Rimuka 1 School after suspected Zanu PF members tried to bar people from casting their votes. One of the MDC members and Kadoma deputy mayor, Tendayi Kokera, was assaulted and he accused Zanu PF members and State security agents of trying to rig elections by preventing people from voting at a polling station in an area the opposition party had a huge following.
“I was beaten by Zanu PF youths with sjamboks. They were also wielding machetes. I reported the matter to the police. The security agents were involved, because I saw some of them in suspicious vehicles,” Kokera said.
Chiwara said she dedicated her victory to her husband who worked so hard in the ward.
“I want to dedicate this victory to my husband who was jailed following January protests,” she said.
But Nyambo said violence was caused by Gore, who was released on bail on Friday. He claimed Gore tried to campaign at a polling station.
“The violence you are talking about was caused by Gore who was released on Friday and he came to vote, thereby instigating violence at the polling station,” the losing Zanu PF candidate said.
MEMBERS of the public have condemned the Maintenance of Order and Peace Bill (MOPA) for its oppressive clauses, one of which will compel conveners of public demonstrations or gatherings to give their addresses to the police in their applications to hold the gatherings.
BY VENERANDA LANGA
Last Friday, Parliament through its Portfolio Committee on Justice and the Thematic Committee on Peace and Security held public hearings on MOPA in Harare and Chitungwiza, where the majority of people rejected the Bill which is going to replace the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and the Law and Order Maintenance Act (LOMA). A member of the Thematic Committee on Peace and Security, Douglas Mwonzora, explained some of the clauses in MOPA, where he said section 5 of the Bill stipulates appointment of conveners and deputy conveners of the gathering or demonstration.
“Any organisation which wants to carry out a demonstration or public gathering has to appoint a convener to sign for the notice himself and he has to be present during the demonstration,” he said.
“The name and address of the convener and deputy convener must be given, and the police must be given details of the structure of the organisation and who will attend the gathering.”
But Harare residents who attended the public hearing said the clause made MOPA worse than POSA because giving the law enforcement agents the address of the convener might result in victimisation and increased cases of some people being abducted, beaten and left for dead.
A latest incident was that of Amalgamated Rural Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) leader Obert Masaraure, who was allegedly abducted from his place of residence in front of his wife and children and severely tortured and beaten.
Zimbabwe Centre for Equal Opportunities president Paddington Japajapa described the clause as very intimidatory.
“Usually, demonstrations are done by organisations or political parties and we do not see why the names of the convener and his deputy must be given to the police. It is intimidatory because the moment anything goes wrong, the person will be victimised. Only the address of the organisation which will hold the public gathering or demonstration must be given,” he said.
Another clause in MOPA which people said would render it more oppressive than POSA is the one which gives magistrates powers to give sentences of up to 20 years for contravening MOPA. People said it was tantamount to a death sentence, given the conditions of Zimbabwe’s prisons.
Mwonzora said section 12 of MOPA would stipulate that if a convener fails to give notice, they are liable for death or injury, or destruction of property during the demonstration and besides imprisonment of even up to 20 years, the convener might be required to compensate.
Public lawyer Veronica Zano said the civil liabilities imposed by MOPA were oppressive and meant to deter people from demonstrating.
“This is meant to deter people from demonstrating and these are criminal war liabilities in a way. The limitations in MOPA are more than what is required in a democratic society because it curtails freedoms enshrined in the Constitution,” she said.
One of the participants, Gift Dzorai, said if MOPA stipulates that conveners must compensate for damages, then it should also stipulate that protesters that are killed by law enforcement agents during demonstrations must be compensated as well and the law enforcement agents responsible must be charged.
