Residents and other stakeholders last Friday left Chitsanga Hall dissatisfied after Chiredzi Town Council chairperson Gibson Hwende failed to clarify several issues concerning council operations, including the tender processes which are allegedly being flouted.

By Garikai Mafirakureva

Council called for the meeting for feedback on how $6,5 million received from government as devolution funds is going to be used as well as to address service delivery and the water situation in the town.

However, Hwende did not give the actual figures of the money received as he continued to say $6,5 million to $6,6 million and also admitted that a transformer has already been bought, but failed to explain how that happened without going to tender.

A resident, Monica Taunga, asked if it was true that council had already bought a transformer using devolution funds, to which Hwende admitted: “Yes, I can confirm that the transformer was already bought. That issue of transformer and everything to do with tenders will, however, be explained to businesspeople since they are the most
affected.”

The transformer is supposed to be installed at the waterworks and connected to the Hippo Valley power line to ensure continuous water pumping and supply to Chiredzi town, after erratic power supply from Zesa has caused water shortages in the sugar growing town.

Hippo Valley is generating its own power and is contributing over 15 megawatts to the national grid.

Another resident, Lot Magwizi, said council was shortchanging businesspeople through restrictive tender conditions which include a short timeframe of two to three days and prohibitive charges, resulting in Harare companies winning all tenders.

Mark Shoko asked how the local authority was going to deal with inflated water bills which had caused untold suffering to residents after council raised water consumption for every household from 20 to 40 cubic metres per month.

“On water, we decided that those with working water meters will continue being charged for 20 cubic metres, while those with non-working meters shall be punished and charged on 30 cubics metres,” Hwende said.

Soon after the meeting, residents were shocked to receive messages on their phones of water bills pegged at the old rates.

AGRO firm, CFI Holdings has announced that its subsidiary, the Crest Poultry Group exited judicial management shortly after the reporting period, last month.

BY TATIRA ZWINOIRA

CFI Holdings also announced its food processing entity, Victoria Foods, is expected to exit judicial management before the close of the FY2020 financial year.

The two companies were placed under judicial management in September 2016, to allow for debt restructuring, re-organisation and recapitalisation of the firms.

“Notwithstanding the constrained business environment, your board is pleased to advise that Crest Poultry Group exited judicial management shortly after the reporting period, in January 2020,” said CFI’S acting chairperson Itai Pasi, in a statement accompanying the group’s results for the year ended September 30, 2019.

“The Board equally looks forward to the imminent exit of Victoria Foods from judicial management before the close of the FY2020 financial year.”

The group raised a $42,5 million loan to fund the payment of Crest Poultry Group’s scheme creditors and moderate working capital funding required to re-launch the businesses now under its control.

“The Crest Poultry Group scheme of arrangement was approved by creditors in May 2019. The payments of amounts owed to scheme creditors were fully resolved shortly after year-end. Resolution of scheme’s foreign creditors is, however, still underway,” he said.

“The board anticipates resolution of the same before end of 1st quarter for FY2020. In the meantime, Agrifoods has made commendable progress in reclaiming market share.”

Regarding Victoria Foods, the group commenced settling all local legacy debts for the entity, pending resolution of the payment of the foreign debts.

“During the year, Victoria Foods continued with flour toll milling arrangements under the Judicial Manager’s control, with other strategic business units all remaining under care and maintenance,” Pasi said.

The group incurred costs of $38,9 million arising from the loan raised to finance the exit of entities from judicial management. Pasi added that disregarding financing costs associated with the cost of taking entities out of judicial management, “the businesses under the Board’s control in FY2019 were profitable in historical and restated terms”.

Entities under judicial management posted a profit before tax of $144 million against losses of $4,1 million incurred in the prior year with the improvement mainly attributable to monetary gains of $171.9 million during the year.

CFI Holdings, for the period under review, recorded an increase for its inflation-adjusted turnover of 25,2% to $347,8 million from a 2018 comparative of $277,9 million.

COMEDIAN Tinashe Mapoka, who lost his front teeth while still a child decided to use his “disability” to his advantage by venturing into comedy and has since produced a number of social media skits that are fast gaining traction.

BY GUMISAI NYONI

Mapoka told NewsDay Life & Style that he used sarcasm and irony to explore the difficulties encountered by many people who migrate from rural to urban areas in search of employment in a struggling economy.

“I discovered that what I thought didn’t matter in life cost me a lot of opportunities. Having no front teeth was an eye-opener for me; hence my acting probes issues surrounding ‘disability’ and how people living with disabilities are treated and perceived in their communities,” he said.

“For instance, when I applied for jobs, it would look like I would be acting comedy in interviews, with some interviewers focusing entirely on my looks than my responses to their questions.”

Mapoka said even establishing relationships with the opposite sex was a problem.

“I am still finding it difficult to establish a steady relationship, with most ladies I approach poking fun at me, telling me to first get my lost teeth replaced,” he said.

In one of his projects titled Special Interview, Mapoka, reflects on how sitting for examinations more than once to acquire the required qualifications was not a sign of weakness or lack of intelligence, but a depiction of dedication and hard work.

In the skit, the comedian, who is requested to produce his ordinary level qualifications, does so by providing the interviewee with six different certificates, each with one subject passed per sitting.

“It is a motivation to those who may feel are less important in society after failing to attain brilliant results in one examination sitting. Their resilience and determination matters most. It is an attribute that employers must consider as virtuous, since it is a reflection of hard work,” he said.

Mapoka, who is the scriptwriter and main character in his skits, said he was shooting several projects that include Window Shopping and Vision, which he hoped would turn him into a household name.

The film industry was last week robbed of a promising actress, Samantha Kapora, who died following a short illness and was buried at Warren Hills cemetery in Harare on Saturday.

BY TAFADZWA KACHIKO

Kapora — who also worked for Zimbabwe Motor Distributors, Toyota and Mr Cruiser — succumbed to a stomach ailment last Thursday.

During her acting career, she featured in Telecel and Zimgold adverts as well as local movies, My First Boyfriend and Tsitsi.

Renowned filmmaker Shem Zemura described Kapora’s death as a loss to the film industry.
“She was a people’s person, full of fun and professional. The little time she dedicated to art, she gave her all, and is visible in productions she featured. She had a bright future in acting. The industry has suffered a great loss,” he said.

“I worked with her on my first project, Highscore, a music video I produced for hip hop artiste Bry360 in 2016.”

Producer of the film, Tsitsi, Billy Kabasa said: “The industry has lost an amazing talent that was destined to make Zimbabwe shine as the hub of African cinema. The future of the film industry has been robbed.

“On Women’s Day we were planning to premiere Tsitsi in which she played the role Aunty Sugar. We are going to edit the film that is going to the censorship board on Tuesday by adding credits in honour to her.”

Kapora’s friend Anesu Chipunza said: “She was a hard working woman who I worked with for five years. She could even hide her pain with a smile. Most of her time was spent selling cars, but she never left acting. When she got chance she utilised it.”

Another filmmaker, Mary Mphande, said she was saddened by Kapora’s death, “which was a great loss to the film industry”.

RISING Beitbridge gospel singer Tinashe Lunga Kurambiwa and his outfit, Voice of Thunder, have been invited to Botswana’s celebrated author and gospel singer Agnes Ntswejakgosi’s triple album launch set for March 28 at Moshupa Community Hall in Gaborone, Botswana.

BY WINSTONE ANTONIO

In an interview with NewsDay Life &Style, Kurambiwa said it was an honour to get an opportunity to rub shoulders with seasoned regional artistes at such an event.

“This is the beginning of great things in my career. Getting such an invitation to share the stage with talented and veteran regional singers is a great honour in my endeavour to spread the word of God through music,” he said.
“This is our first live show outside Zimbabwe and we promise our best at the event as we represent our beloved country.”

At the concert, Kurambiwa will share the stage with Bishop Michael Gaotloge, Mayoress Mochankana, Lucky Sephiri, Momphi and Keitumetse Ngwato all from Rustenburg, South Africa, Collen Zweni of Cape Town, South Africa, Lucky Sephiri of Botswana and Motivational speaker and president of United Gospel Artistes in South Africa Morake Makhudu, among others.

A member of ZAOGA-Forward in Faith Ministries International in the border town, Kurambiwa realised his music dream last year following the release of his debut eight-track album, Mbiri Kunashe that was produced by Ngoni Gwasira at Ngodza Gee Studios in Harare.

Kurambiwa said despite being in different genres with multi-award winning singer Jah Prayzah, he drew his inspiration from the latter’s artistic abilities and his prowess.

“I am an avid follower of Jah Prayzah and it is his music influence in me that I have embraced to pursue my music journey,” he said.

“It will be a great honour one day if I can get the chance to collaborate with veterans in the industry such as Pastor Charles Charamba. These are the people who can definitely give you direction.”

The sustainable future that we all want cannot be realised if youths are left out from the planning process or when their concerns are not factored into the country’s vision. Strategically situating the youths in the national discourse is paramount since they are there to oversee the full cycle of events because of their age. Therefore, responsible authorities need to nurture innovation and provide spaces for practical learning solutions to the young people if the country is to beat challenges and sustainable development targets.

According to The Brutland Report, sustainable development should meet the needs of the present without compromising the future generations to meet their own needs. In this regard, the youths have critical needs which can be converted into life-skills for livelihood development hence they need not be compromised. It is also significant to situate the youths within the framework of the new knowledge economy so that they can familiarise themselves with simple rural innovations using technology.

As a result of being techno-savvy and ready to communicate risks, the youths can be placed at the heart of sustainable development, transform lives and landscapes as well as enhance environmental security.

The prevailing situation on the ground and developmental paradigms should be able to translate to the youths’ aspirations and desires for a better nation. The youths, through sustainable mentorship, require creative spaces for divergent and versatile thinking around the sustainable development goals and climate action strategies in order to realise climate solutions and resilience.

In order to develop the country’s workforce for the future, it is important to empower the youth and place them on the forefront, rather than placing emphasis on the old and tired minds. Without taking anything from the old people, they should use their maturity and experiences to nurture the youths so that they build their confidence and realise their potential.

Educating the youths on sustainable development issues is paramount, although not all education is sustainable though, but it should be qualitative enough to achieve goals, create milestones and produce goods and services necessary to move the country forward. Youth oriented quality education and designs should solve livelihood problems according to their needs, situations and world-views. There are four pillars necessary to cultivate their standpoints, give them direction, vision, purpose and relevance. In this regard, the youths should be empowered to change lives and situations around them into marketable solutions.

As the youths focus in what is good for them and their designs, elders should only give guidance, material and financial resources without trying to behave as youths themselves. In this view, the definition of what the youth is not only known, but it is in the public domain too. Youths are within the age range of 5 to 35 years, not 45 or 50 years. These age groups are not only necessary to strategically situate and classify the youths, but they are also important in giving them meaning, relevance and vision. In this regard, they can be sufficiently oriented to participate at the heart of sustainable development, including ecological skills, necessary for the youths to explore their creative environmental spaces in order to identify and close institutional and procedural gaps, proactively. The youths also have a future they can imagine for themselves which becomes central and youth-focused to enhance participatory networking and sense of ownership.

The 2030 agenda for sustainable development and its sustainable development goals (SDGs) should have some of its objectives met hence the universal nature of the SDGs should never be taken for granted. These goals are practically oriented and people centred, therefore, they should not be for grandstanding or communication massaging. Indeed, they require sustainable action which the youths should be ready to demonstrate. In this regard, authorities should not be seen using poverty (Goal 1), zero hunger (goal 2), good health and well-being (goal 3), gender (goal 5), clean water and sanitation (goal 6) or climate action (goal 13) and other closely related goals for grandstanding purposes.

Although the sustainable development goals apply to all countries of the world and not just poor countries, there should not be any excuses for not placing emphasis on the livelihoods of developing countries where the youths should play active and empowering roles.

Above all, these universal goals should act as the youth’s local goals and they are the rightful candidates to realise Agenda 2030.

Issues of sustainable land use and inequality of development should be at the core of the youth aspirations. The youths need to use land sustainably to preserve the environment, for agricultural production and food security. Realising the success of SDGs requires collective efforts from all stakeholders which include government, businesses, academia, civil society, the vulnerable and the marginalised which include the youth, women and children. In this view, everyone has a role to perform, hence more emphasis should be placed on the youth because they are the future. As such, information about goals, perspectives and deliberations on how best to navigate the developmental pathways requires inclusive efforts without leaving the youth behind.

Necessary and conducive environments should be realised by the youths in their local communities so that they do not migrate to urban centres or even outside the country looking for greener pastures. Therefore, conditions should be necessary for the youth to come up with their own greener pastures locally that is if they are not locked out of national funding schemes. The youths also need financial resources just as high ranking government officials or those in the private sector with the ability to pay back. Youth cannot be capacitated using the word of mouth and promises, they need real and tangible funding including land to launch their livelihood projects. The opportunities are endless to the youths and with research, a variety of agricultural ventures can be realised. With suitable support, youths can explore opportunities in forestry, small-scale mining, livestock, horticulture, fish farming, tobacco, bee keeping, micro-lending projects and many more. Opportunities in forest regeneration are critical because even during droughts, trees may lose leaves, but they do not die, they will continue to grow. Trees are important for clothing the environment and improve their beauty as well as holding soils together to reduce soil erosion and improving soil fertility through falling leaves and twigs.

Youths can be expert agri-prenuers and through using their experiences of growing up in villages, with their comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the soils, trees, rivers, mountains, birds, vegetation and many others, they can be able to establish a relationship with the environment and connect with nature.

Therefore, training the youths would provide effective ways of creating local community ownership of the SDGs.

 Peter Makwanya is a climate change communicator. He writes in his personal capacity and can be contacted on: petrovmoyt@gmail.com