ELECTORAL reforms before the 2018 elections seem to be a mirage as the government has not demonstrated commitment to implement new constitutional provisions to ensure that elections will be held in a manner satisfactory to all stakeholders.

BY VENERANDA LANGA

Chief Fortune Charumbira

This emerged during a meeting of civic society groups — including the Southern Africa Parliamentary Support Trust (SAPST) and the Zimbabwe Institute (ZI) — and the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice to discuss a petition by the Elections Resource Centre (ERC) and 14 other civic society groups in Bulawayo recently.

The groups are pushing for an efficient and swift alignment of the Electoral Act with the new governance charter to ensure the credibility of next year’s plebiscite.

The petition, which was presented to delegates at the workshop by ERC director Tawanda Chiminhi, highlights that the processes and pace of substantive electoral legal reform has been too slow given that the Constitution was adopted in 2013.

Civic society groups said they were alarmed by the administrative lethargy in government and the piecemeal approach to the review of the electoral law to ensure it conforms to international and regional standards, norms and principles.

The petition was sent to Parliament in September 2015, but was only discussed last weekend, prompting the Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda to express dismay that such an important matter was being discussed 12 months before next year’s elections.

Chimhini said they were appealing to the legislature to relook the entire electoral system presided over by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec).

“Your petitioners appeal to Parliament to take into account issues for the democratic overhaul of Zimbabwe’s Electoral law to enhance the independence of the Zec, review all legislation that negatively impacts on the political environment, hence, on the electoral processes and its outcomes, review provisions relating to voters registration and the voters’ roll to ensure they enhance credibility of Zimbabwean elections, and enhance voter education by creating more space for stakeholders other than Zec,” he said.

“There is need to extend the franchise to the right to vote to all citizens of Zimbabwe, wherever they may be and to reconstitute the Electoral Court in compliance with the Constitution. There is need to ensure that the invitation of Election observers is an exclusive function of the body entrusted with the conduct of the polls and to enhance the role of Zec in electoral boundary delimitation,” he said.

Other demands by civic society as presented by Law Society of Zimbabwe executive secretary, Edward Mapara, are that institutions like traditional and security service chiefs must be regulated by a code of conduct during elections so that they do not meddle in politics in a partisan manner.

In the past, there have been allegations of traditional leaders in rural areas frog-marching their subjects to vote for Zanu PF, while some security chiefs publicly declared their allegiance to Zanu PF and President Robert Mugabe, while scoffing at other presidential aspirants as lacking liberation war credentials.

President of the Chiefs Council Fortune Charumbira said chiefs will never be guided by any code of conduct and dismissed claims that the traditional leaders force-marched people to vote for Zanu PF during elections.

“As chiefs sometimes we are attacked because we have bogus chiefs, and those things that you sometimes come across during elections have nothing to do with (genuine) chiefs. Some are pedestrian chiefs that can be hired and they misbehave and then you suggest that a code of conduct must be crafted for chiefs,” he said.

“I have not heard of a code of conduct for chiefs in the Constitution. It is better to say there be an Integrity and Ethics Committee for chiefs because it is demeaning for chiefs to give it the name ‘code of conduct’.”

Charumbira claimed no civic group has ever approached his council to lodge a formal complaint.

A Zimbabwe Republic Police assistant commissioner, Naison Chivayo, said they already have their moral code which details that the police should diligently, courteously execute their duties without fear or favour.

He described the Public Order and Security Act (Posa) — which opposition parties said was meant to curtail their operations and the rights to assemble and demonstrate — as a good law.

“Demonstrations have been hijacked by malcontents to the extent of violence generating and leading to the loss of life and property, disturbing vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Therefore, Posa ensures public gatherings do not impinge on rights of others,” Chivayo said.

Legislators Jessie Majome (Harare West), Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga (MDC proportional representation) and Innocent Gonese (MDC-T chief whip in the National Assembly) called on state broadcaster Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) to give coverage to all political parties and contestants in elections.

Misihairabwi-Mushonga also raised the issue of electoral violence saying women were the ones that bore the brunt of electoral violence which also discourages them from contesting elections or even registering to vote.

Constitutional law expert Lovemore Madhuku, however, said everything raised in the petition by the civic society groups is already covered by the law.

“There will be a few issues that require amendment but many issues that you have raised in the petition are already in the law. However, law making is an exclusively political process and it means that you ought to push those with political power to change certain things,” he said.

He said the Constitution is clear on the independence of Zec, for instance, and added that there were very few things in the Electoral Act that did not promote the independence of Zec. He said civic society needs to specify the exact issues they want amended in the electoral laws.

Madhuku said the Electoral Act and Constitution provided a lot of the changes that civic society wants before elections, adding what has been lacking in Zimbabwe is enforcement of the law by the Executive, police force and other institutions that civic society wants their conduct checked during elections.

“The bulk of the issues in the petition are already catered for in the current law. It is the political will to do some of those things that is not there and civic society might want to concentrate more on pushing for implementation of the law,” Madhuku said.

But as the 2018 elections draw closer, many in the opposition have little hope that the polls would be any different from previous ones as the conditions remain virtually the same.

Electoral reforms before 2018 a pipe dream : NewsDay Zimbabwe.

The place is located in a remote, hot, dry, rugged terrain, with gravel roads connecting the few sparsely located health centres.

BY STEPHEN TSOROTI

Patients awaiting their turn for fistula surgery

In this Zambezi Valley basin, Violet Simamba, a Tonga woman in her early 30s, has been fighting the odds with her bowls and urine, leaking uncontrollably, as she is afflicted with a condition known as obstetric fistula.

Although Simamba had always dreamt of becoming a proud mother, tragedy struck, as she gave birth at 17.

It has been 16 years now, and she has lived a nightmare since that time, ostracised, abandoned by her husband , scoffed by other women of her community, and worse, had little hope of ever carrying her own child. Simamba’s ordeal is far from unusual in Zimbabwe.

Gladys Chinyama from Chiredzi, shares the same horror story. For 35 years, she suffered in silence until she learnt of the fistula repairs from a radio programme.

As they chat at bedsides awaiting their turn for corrective surgery at Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital, hope is rekindled.

According to medical experts, obstetric fistula is an injury that usually occurs during child birth, creating a hole between the birth canal and the bladder or rectum.

It is caused by prolonged, obstructed, labour without timely access to emergency obstetric care, notably a caesarean section.

The injury leaves the woman leaking urine, solid waste or both, exposing them to a host of other medical problems over time.

Sufferers also endure depression and social isolation, as people often avoid them or feel uncomfortable in their presence because of the smell associated with the condition.

“It is a condition that is becoming a leading cause of death and disability among women of reproductive age,” Bernard Madzima, the director of family health in the Health and Child Care ministry, said.

“At least eight women and girls die every day in Zimbabwe due to pregnancy-related causes another 20 to 50 suffer severe morbidities such as fistula.”

Through a programme, the Women and Health Alliance (Waha), in association with the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) have been giving free corrective surgery.

The programme has been so successful and plans are afoot to establish other surgery camps in the country.

In May 2015, with support from UNFPA, the Health ministry decided to replicate the programme in Zimbabwe after witnessing it during a fact-finding mission to Ethiopia, resulting in the launch of the obstetric fistula reconstruction centre.

“To date, a total of five fistula repair camps have been conducted and more than 300 women have benefitted from these operations, each surgical operation taking an average of four hours,” says Chinhoyi Hospital superintendent, Collet Mawire, who is also the only genealogist at the hospital.

“We are still constrained by lack of human resources and equipment. A lot needs to be done to clear the backlog.”

Pricilla Mabande, a co-ordinator with Waha, said the condition afflicts girls, who become pregnant, while still physically immature.

“Like many other countries in the region, Zimbabwe has been battling the scourge of child marriages and cultural norms that put women at risk, especially when they are pregnant.

“Obstetric fistula has already been eliminated in industrialised countries by the availability of treatment for prolonged and obstructed labour – typically caesarean sections, which I am convinced as a country we are doing well, but more needs to be done.”

Mabhande notes that efforts to address the underlying issues that fuel poverty, gender inequality, early child marriages and childbearing and lack of education are crucial.

Since August 2015, Waha’s technical assistance has provided support to Health ministry to implement the obstetric fistula programme by providing client hygiene kits for women in camp, hospital administration fees for clients during repair camp, allowances for the local doctors training in pre and post operative fistula management and drug and consumables for operating theatre for fistula.

UNFPA country representative in Zimbabwe, Cheikh Tidiane Cisse, believes that the reconstructive surgery can usually repair a fistula.

“Unfortunately, women, who are affected by this injury, often do not know about treatment, cannot afford it or cannot reach the facilities, where treatment is available. Counselling and other forms of support, such as job training, are necessary to help women re-integrate into their communities after they have been treated,” he says.

Cisse says prevention measures must include ensuring skilled attendance at all births and providing emergency obstetric care for women who develop complications during delivery.

The persistence of obstetric fistula in the country is a sign that health systems are failing to meet women’s essential needs.

Investment in maternity waiting homes that bring women closer to health facilities has been identified as key element in fighting the scourge. Pregnant women in most rural parts of Zimbabwe register late for antenatal care owing to sparsely located health centres, and in most cases they walk long distances to access health facilities.

This has prompted UNFPA to revitalise 120 maternity waiting homes to ensure that health services are accessible.

In 2003, UNFPA and its partners launched the global campaign to end obstetric fistula, which now works in more than 50 countries to prevent, treat fistula rehabilitate and empower survivors.

Over the 12 years UNFPA has globally, directly supported more 57 000 surgical repairs for women and girls.

Hope for women afflicted with obstetric fistula : NewsDay Zimbabwe.

VIOLA Sumbe (35) was once married off by her parents to an older man at the age of 15 and ended up as wife number nine.

BY HAZVINEI MWANAKA

Although the decision temporarily solved her family’s hunger problems, it left her dealing with the lifetime repercussions after she contracted HIV from her husband.

“We didn’t have anything to put on our table,” Viola recalled.

“That was when my father decided to marry me off to a well-known businessman in the village to ease the suffering that we were enduring at home.”

She said her marriage was nothing unusual, as it was the norm in the village, as several girls her age had already been married.

The passage of time, however, revealed that it was a fatal decision, when it emerged that her polygamist husband was HIV positive and was not taking any precautions to protect his wives from contracting the virus.

“At 15, I was not aware of HIV or sexually transmitted infections (STI) and negotiating for safer sex was still a dream. I later contracted an STI and that was when I also realised that I was HIV positive,” Viola said.

Following the death of her husband, she returned to her family home and was employed as a house help by a nurse, who eventually assisted her to go back to school.

“Not long after, the man I was married to, died and I returned back home, something I saw as a blessing. I started working at a nurse’s house and she later helped me to go back to school,” Viola recalled.

“If it was not for that nurse, I could not be a teacher by now. Being married at a tender age is very harmful. A lot of things happen that you are not aware of.”

She said with the increasing support from the government and other development partners, hopefully Zimbabwe will be able to achieve the fight against child marriages.

According to a UNAIDS report, “adolescents who start having sex early are more likely to have sex with high-risk partners or multiple partners, and are less likely to use condoms”.

“Delaying the age at which young people first have sex can significantly protect them from infection. Lacking the necessary knowledge and skills, younger adolescents are less likely to protect themselves from HIV than young people in their early 20s”.

Zimbabwe National Council for the Welfare of Children national director, Taylor Nyanhete, told NewsDay Weekender that early marriages and sexual activity increased health risks in young girls.

“Young girls do not have the skills to negotiate for safer sex, as many are coerced. They are also not fully developed to conceive, thereby, increasing their risk in pregnancy,” he said.

Nyanhete said violence was also common in relationships with young girls, as they were not capacitated to negotiate for safe sex.

He called on the government to do more in the area of sexual and reproductive health, as a way of assisting young girls, who are at the risk of being married off in childhood.

“Government should increase funding to sexual and reproductive health programmes and education. It should also ensure that girls remain in school until they are eighteen,” Nyanhete said.

Around 39% of girls in Africa are married before the age of 18 and 13% are married by the time they reach 15 years of age according to Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe.

In Zimbabwe, Mashonaland West province has recorded the highest number of child marriages in the country at 42% of the national total.

Vicious cycle of child marriages and poverty : NewsDay Zimbabwe.

RAYMOND Kanyemba (not real name), is a qualified engineer, but has nothing to show for his skills and expertise.

BY TINOTENDA MUNYUKWI

Statistics from the Health and Child Welfare ministry show that 45% of all mental health issues are related to drug abuse while 57% of all psychiatric patients are victims of drug misuse as many young people abuse drugs such as marijuana and cough syrups like Histalix and Bron Cleer as well as cocaine

With high levels of unemployment and little opportunities, frustration and bitterness has been taking a toll on him.

With hopes of a brighter future diminishing by the day and prospects of finding a source of income getting dimmer, Kanyemba — a family man — has been slowly sinking into gloomy self-indulgence, having found respite from misfortune’s roll call in drugs.

“I am stressed because I am not working. Things are so difficult for me and I have a family that needs to be taken care of. My only resort is taking these drugs,” said Kanyemba, with an empty look in his eyes.

“I know they are harmful, but I have nothing else to do and they help me forget everything else that is troubling me.”

Kanyemba is just one of the thousands of young skilled Zimbabweans, who have failed to secure employment due to the Zimbabwe’s debilitating political and economic crisis. Statistics show that Zimbabwe has over 90% unemployment rate.

Many of the unemployed youth have turned to drugs and they are often referred to as zvigunduru (sleepers), as they spend most of their time sleeping or lying down after consuming drugs.

Last month, President Robert Mugabe called on the youth to desist from abusing drugs and to be disciplined.

“We have students, sometimes losing their opportunities by being rough, not disciplined sufficiently and wanting to be immoral when they are still pursuing their courses, some get addicted to drugs, to drinks. Please leave these killers alone. Even when you are grown up and mature, or even if you will have graduated, they will still destroy your lives,” he was quoted saying.

Social commentators contend that drug abuse affects every strand of society including its moral fibre and the health of users.

Statistics from the Health and Child Welfare ministry show that 45% of all mental health issues are related to drug abuse while 57% of all psychiatric patients are victims of drug misuse as many young people abuse drugs such as marijuana and cough syrups like Histalix and Bron Cleer as well as cocaine.

During commemorations of the International Day against Drug Abuse and International Trafficking on June 26, drug abuse survivors opened up on the horrors associated with abusing toxic substances.

They spoke how most of the street kids that beg for 50 cents use the money to buy an illicit drug referred to as Musombodhiya, whose effects are said to bolster survival tactics in the hard, cold streets.

Many of the drug abusers are school dropouts. Faced with a bleak and uncertain future, many of them end up drifting along the backstreets of Harare while taking drugs.

The government is in the process of crafting solutions to drug abuse, with some abusers and traffickers having been convicted.

A female cocaine mule, who tried to take advantage of the country’s porous immigration entry points to smuggle 3,8kg of cocaine, was recently slapped with a 10-year jail term.

Although for a long time Zimbabwe was classified as a transit point for international illicit drug trade, over the past few years many locals have resorted to using the drugs.

For victims of drug abuse, however, some civic society organisations disagree with the incarceration method, which they believe will only create additional problems including exposure to HIV infection.

Zimbabwe Civil Liberties and Drug Network chief executive officer, Wilson Box said it is better to create a situation where drugs users are rehabilitated rather than incarcerated.

He said many of the drug abusers engaged in drug use out of hidden pressures associated with life’s difficulties emanating from unfavourable socio-economic situations.

“Rather than demonise people who use drugs, we should humanise them and rather than jailing them, we should give them the support they need. We need to end the war against drugs and make our priority the well-being of the people who use them, their families as well as communities,” he said.

The nation is, however, yet to have a single public rehabilitation centre that can help in restoring drug addicts and making them acceptable once again within their communities.

Hardships driving youth to drugs : NewsDay Zimbabwe.

AS Zimbabwe hurtles towards another election cycle, fears abound that President Robert Mugabe might resort to his age old tactic of coercion to retain power; last week marked nine years since the June 27 bloodbath in 2008.

BY RICHARD CHIDZA

Hundreds of innocent opposition supporters were brutally murdered, tortured and raped. Inset: Many homesteads in rural Zimbabwe were razed down by marauding gangs of Zanu PF thugs and hooligans

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) has warned it could force the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to call off the watershed poll if violence flares up again.

It remains to be seen whether ZHRC chairperson Elasto Mugwadi and his colleagues have the wherewithal to keep their word and stop Mugabe’s march towards another shot at the presidency for what could be his last stint given his age and the new constitutional requirements.

Violence begets violence, from colonialism, the liberation struggle, Gukurahundi which left over 20 000 civilians dead, Murambatsvina in 2005, Zimbabwe has known major periods of human carnage inter-spaced with peace in-between.

Asked his views on Gukurahundi, presidential aspirant Nkosana Moyo a former Cabinet minister in Mugabe’s government at the height of the violence at the turn of the century indicated if he won, he would pursue a futuristic policy than “seeking to reconstruct a dark past which could deprive us of the opportunity of building a beautiful future”.

In what has been described as the greatest book on power and politics, Italian philosopher, Niccollo Machiavelli said: “In the actions of men . . . when there is no court of appeal one judges by the result.” “. . . he (the leader of the State) must stick to the good so long as he can, but, being compelled be necessity, he must be ready to take the way of the evil.”

Mugabe seems to have mastered Machiavellian ideals to the letter and spirit using every trick in the book The Prince to power.

After losing the first round of voting to MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai in March 2008, Mugabe forced through a run-off that turned into a blood-spattered one-man-show before announcing himself winner.

The real results may never be known after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission took weeks to announce the results that showed Tsvangirai had vanquished Mugabe, but failed to garner enough votes to take power.

Mugabe called for the “run-off” on June 27 and the rest as they say is history. Hordes of youths trained in bush camps across the country were unleashed and the carnage began in earnest. The world reacted with fury and forced the Zanu PF leader into a coalition with his arch-enemy.

Tsvangirai said the 2008 scenario shows the extent to which Mugabe is prepared to go in order to keep power.

“We lost many innocent souls. The June 27, 2008 bloody event showed the brutal extent to which Zanu PF can go to undo the verdict and will of the people. Ironically they killed people for exercising their democratic right to vote, which right was one of the reasons the country waged the liberation struggle,” Tsvangirai said.

He added: “But the resilient and heroic people of Zimbabwe will not tire. In 2018 the people will once again show that it is they who are sovereign”.

Only last week, MDC-T MPs moved a motion calling on government to declare June 27 — a public holiday to commemorate one of the darkest episodes in the country’s history.

“Since today is June 27, maybe as Parliament we can propose that this day becomes a national holiday in commemoration of the atrocities and genocide in slow motion which happened in 2008 when we lost more than 200 members,” Chitungwiza North lawmaker Godfrey Sithole said. His move was rejected by stand-in Speaker of the National Assembly and Zanu PF’s Melody Dziva.

Opposition People’s Democratic Party leader Tendai Biti then secretary general of the MDC-T said June 27 remains an epoch in Zimbabwe’s history.

“This day will never be forgotten because it is the day when the army carried out a coup against the people of Zimbabwe and imposed a civilian puppet in the form of Robert Mugabe. We lost heroes such as Tonderai Ndira and Better Chokururama to name, but just a few,” Biti said.

Biti blamed former South African President Thabo Mbeki for the deaths of hundreds of activists and ordinary citizens.

“The blood of those people who perished at Mugabe’s hands is in former South African President Thabo Mbeki’s hands.
He and other leaders in the region looked away as Mugabe waged a reign of terror against the citizens of this country. They had power to stop the violence, but never did. They had power to force Mugabe to announce the real results, but never did. Instead they molly-coddled their comrade and lives were lost for the sake of power,” the former Finance minister said.

Party spokesperson Obert Gutu said June 27 was a sad reminder in the “struggle for democratic change in Zimbabwe”.

“Hundreds of innocent opposition supporters were brutally murdered, tortured and raped. Many homesteads in rural Zimbabwe were razed down by marauding gangs of Zanu PF thugs and hooligans. Tonderai Ndira, Beta Chokururama, Abigail Chiroto, Shepherd Jani and hundreds of others were murdered in cold blood in a senseless orgy of politically motivated savagery and banditry,” Gutu said.

The mayhem continued and the MDC-T fingered senior Zanu PF leaders including former Cabinet ministers Didymus Mutasa (now opposition leader), Hubert Nyanhongo, Amos Midzi (now late).

Mugabe has acknowledged somewhat grudgingly the Gukurahundi atrocities describing the period as a moment of madness, but has never said a word about 2008.

Instead on the occasions the Zanu PF leader has spoken about the election, Mugabe has paid tribute to the military for keeping him in power despite the fact that the results of the run-off poll were rejected at home and abroad.

Mugabe was forced into a coalition government with Tsvangirai and the smaller MDC then led by Arthur Mutambara.

In the March election, Tsvangirai, outpolled Mugabe by a 47,9 % vote against the latter’s 43,2 %, the Zanu PF leader in 2014 “erroneously” told his party’s 6th congress that his adversary had won by 74%. This cemented the belief in the opposition ranks that indeed electoral authorities had connived with Mugabe to rob Tsvangirai of a clear victory.

Gutu said such kind of electoral practices should never be allowed in Zimbabwe.

“Today, we remember the historic occasion on which one man participated in a one-man election in which he was declared the winner with an overwhelming 85% victory margin. Never again should our beloved motherland go back to those gory days of politically-motivated violence and intolerance,” Gutu said.

Various non-government organisations continue to help whole villages and families to cope with post-traumatic counselling, but for Mugabe it business as usual. Power remains in his hands, as for the costs of it, it’s a story for another day.

June 27, a reminder of Mugabe’s legacy : NewsDay Zimbabwe.

Forty-six-year-old Agnes Chida has no regrets that she and her husband relocated from Harare to the rural outskirts of Hurungwe in 2014 to preach the gospel.

BY NHAU MANGIRAZI

Shepard and Agnes Chida in their garden

Although many who migrate to rural outposts often struggle to access clean and potable water, with infrastructure like boreholes having broken down and wells running dry, this has not been the case.

“We have enjoyed a good life as we are assured of clean water anytime of the day as long as there is wind, which is natural. Water is readily available and we have an all-year round irrigation facility for our garden, maize field and chicken run,” she said.

About 100m from her home is a windmill borehole drilled in 1996 by the Methodist Church of Zimbabwe, which has brought hope to the rural community.

The windmill borehole is situated a few metres from the main tarred road linking Magunje and Zvipani under headman Matawu in Chief Dandawa’s area.

The water point is used by all the members in the community, including schoolchildren and has become a daily haven of activity for villagers who prefer to get water there compared to other boreholes.

Nearly 200 households and their livestock are benefitting from the borehole which was set up as part of a renewable energy programme and has become key in sustaining livelihoods through provision of water for domestic use and irrigation.

Chida and her husband, Shepard, are preachers in Methodist Church and the couple has two children.

They live at Chivakanenyama rural outpost situated about 60km west of Karoi.

“Even people who pass through here on their way either to Nyaminyami or Gokwe, get water here for free,” Chida said.

Chivakanenyama Primary School, one of the oldest schools in Hurungwe built by missionaries in 1952 and Chikavanenyama Secondary School built in 1966, have also benefited from the development.

Currently there are over 700 pupils at the primary school with over 300 students at the secondary school, according to teachers who are a stone’s throw away from the church.

Chida explained that the windmill borehole pumps water into three tanks: a 5 000l tank near the windmill borehole a few metres from the couple’s house, while another 10 000l tank is a feeder to their house and the third 5 000l is for irrigating their two-acre plot.

“We are mostly likely to have green maize in August as we are preparing the fields,” she said, adding that their orchard — with mangoes, bananas and guavas — was also flourishing due to the abundance of water.

Her husband explained that the windmill borehole was built through an initiative by a former reverend, Webster, who sourced equipment and was installed in 1996 bringing relief to the community.

Joyce Zata (53) of Ruzende village, about 3km away, said they are at ease getting water at the windmill borehole.

“Unlike some areas where the water is contaminated as people share with animals from unprotected sources, the windmill borehole has been a good solution for us,” Zata, who has been living here since 1990, said.

Theresa Mapara of Murimbika village concurred saying women in the community had been hugely relieved, as they can now do their chores at the windmill borehole without challenges.

“Naturally we get water for free and it has been good for us,” the 36-year-old mother of three said.

Headman Chigango, however, expressed concern over unruly elements that had vandalised the borehole.

“Our main challenge is that some members of the community have vandalised the windmill of late and since a church is a non-profit organisation, it affects everyone,” Chigango said.

Chida admitted that this was their biggest challenge as some community members did not appreciate the significance of the infrastructure.

“Some people don’t understand community ownership in the true sense and we have to endure such challenges sometimes. Someone stripped the facility of bolts and we had to seek donations to have it repaired,” she said.

Hurungwe rural district ward 25 councillor, Lovemore Mushawashi, said the availability of water to the communities proves that the some of the rural folk may achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 6 that looks at provision of clean water and sanitation.

SDG6 calls on policymakers to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030.

“We may be facing challenges about water and sanitation for our communities but the windmill borehole has proven that it can be easily through natural resources and clean energy,” Mushawashi said.

Windmill powered borehole transforms livelihoods : NewsDay Zimbabwe.

When my team and I visited Felix Jumbe of Peacock Seeds, a hybrid seed grower in Salima, Malawi, in March, we were shocked by the destruction caused by the fall armyworm.

JOE DEVRIES

Armyworm caterpillars are devastating maize plants in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi, where it is a staple food crop

Virtually every plant in every row of the 20-hectare hybrid section of the Peacock Seeds farm had been severely damaged.

Jumbe and his farm manager had sprayed the field four times with pesticides, but without success, triggering losses of $150 000 on just that one 20ha field.

The scale of the damage in Malawi prompted Growing Africa’s Agriculture (AGRA) to issue a call to action that has since drawn together scientists from across the agricultural sector. But the worm has continued to spread, now to Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, and most recently to Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It has so far destroyed over 300 000ha of maize across Africa, which is the staple food to more than 200 million people in the region.

Kenya’s Trans Nzoia County, considered the country’s food basket, has, alone, lost 103 876 hectares of maize, in destruction that is set to cause serious maize shortages ahead and comes hard on the heels of a drought-triggered shortfall.

Authorities have reported that in Rwanda, the pest has infested maize and sorghum crops across a full quarter of the country’s cropped land. The worm has similarly infested 90 000 hectares of maize in Zambia, 17 000ha in Malawi, 130 000ha in Zimbabwe, approximately 50 000ha of maize and millet in Namibia, over 40% of the crops in Uganda, and over 20 000ha of maize in northern and south-eastern Tanzania.

The Centre for Agricultural and Biosciences International (CABI) estimates the losses to Africa’s maize could cost the continent $3 billion in the coming year. Nor is maize the sole casualty. The fall armyworm feeds on more than 80 plant species, including rice, rice, sorghum, sugarcane and vegetable crops.

Little is known, however, about how it came to Africa. Scientists suggest the insect may have arrived in imported food from America. Or it might have crossed the Atlantic in wind currents, with the wind borne adult moths capable of covering vast distances.

But its subsequent spread has been ferocious. The worm was first reported in West Africa in January last year. It quickly spread to Central Africa, before reaching Zambia and spreading across all of southern Africa.

Farmers and governments have scrambled to respond. Ghana, for instance, declared a state of emergency as the worm swept through its crops. The Zambian government deployed its national air force to transport pesticides across the country for spraying. Likewise, Rwandan soldiers have been diverted to spraying fields. But the impact has been limited, often because the treatment has been applied too late in the worm’s lifecycle.

There is hope a biological agent could help in future. Lancaster University professor, Kenneth Wilson, found a virus that killed the loosely related African armyworm.
Replicating the same virus in the fall armyworm could create a viable pesticide against the insect.

Lessons can also be drawn from Brazil, which has grappled with the worm for decades, even as the pest has developed resistance to a growing range of pesticides. The country spends some $600 million a year in the battle, but has benefitted from the worm’s vulnerability to freezing temperatures, meaning that turning soils in the cold season can kill the pupae and larvae between harvests.

In Africa, cold is not a ready tool, with rising temperature levels further fuelling the worm’s spread. Curbing the damage ahead, therefore, requires concerted action, in which the farmer is placed at the heart of the fight.

It is vital to generate a massive awareness campaign to educate farmers on early detection signs, so that infestations are tackled early and at speed. To be effective, farmers also need to know exactly what they need to do — which pesticides are effective, and how they need to be applied. They also need to access supplies, and may require support in applying control measures rapidly enough.

Enabling our agricultural communities with quick and co-ordinated responses is now essential, to ensure the continent stays ahead of the plague.

African governments are urgently identifying capacity and building strategic alliances with key stakeholders in the agricultural sector to achieve both short and long-term action plans to address this pest.

This drive offers the hope, over time, of delivering an integrated management strategy that can save Africa’s agricultural sector, which feeds the continent and is key to Africa’s economic transformation.

Other parts of Africa can draw lessons from Southern Africa. Despite major infestation by the worm, the region has recorded bumper harvests this season. Although this greatly attributed to increased acreage under cultivation and higher use of improved seed varieties and fertiliser as a response to the devastating drought, this may also point to greater resilience against the worm.

Such lessons and more need to be distilled quickly and applied elsewhere on the continent. We cannot allow the fall armyworm to wipe out all the gains made in the agricultural sector. That makes the fall armyworm an issue too urgent to ignore, and a challenge that now needs to be on every agenda.

Dr Joe DeVries is the AGRA vice-president for programmes

African govts race to halt armyworm catastrophe : NewsDay Zimbabwe.

SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD Munashe Mhanda sits at the Beitbridge border waiting for his chance to cross into neighbouring South Africa. He is fully aware of the dangers that await him, but the young man from the Chikombedzi area has got no option, but to cross the crocodile-infested Limpopo River to seek greener pastures.

BY JAIROS SAUNYAMA

It is not his choice to migrate using dangerous routes, but Munashe is not a holder of a valid passport and neither does he possess an identification document.

“I have no option, but to take the illegal and dangerous route. I would love to gain entry into South Africa using a passport, but I do not have even a birth certificate. I am following my father who left us many years ago,” he said.

This is not about Munashe’s predicament only, but a number of children in the country have no identification documents. Due to the current economic hardships, many of them have been migrating to neighbouring countries, mainly South Africa, with no proper documentation, thereby making it difficult for them to get employed as well as to be re-united with their parents if they get arrested by law enforcers in foreign land.

Child rights lobby group Destination Unknown Zimbabwean Chapter (DU) have come together to protect the rights of children on the move (CoM) and is currently calling on all governments and various stakeholders to assist in the registration of children.

DU is sponsored by Terre De Hommes (TDH) Germany. CoM refers to all persons below the age of 18 who have left their place of origin or home with or without their parents, adult companions or primary caregivers. Trafficked, unaccompanied, migrant, in street situation, kidnapped, forced into displacement, refugees, asylum seekers, nomadic — these are some of the different categories of CoM.

Recently, local legislators from the Health and Public Service portfolio committees met with other stakeholders and revealed that a number of children were struggling to get the needed documents and registration due to a number of reasons among them abuse of office.

Child rights activist Samuel Mandiwana said unregistered CoM faces a lot of challenges among them difficulties in efforts to re-unite them with their parents if need arises.

“When children and youths are not registered and are on the move, a lot of challenges are encountered. Firstly, it is difficult to trace the families of the children since they will have no documentation and reunification is difficult.

“Moreover, when they successfully migrate to other countries in search of jobs, they are always in hibernation of the police since they fear deportation. When they encounter abuse, they fear to report to the police since they have no legal papers and are scared of being detained as illegal immigrants. Unavailability of birth registration hinders children from acquiring documents which allow them to move freely to their destinations,” he said.

According to Unicef an estimated 50 million children are on the move in the world today. Millions more have been deeply affected by migration.

According to Childline, 65 cases of CoM (46 males, 19 females) have been attended to in Chiredzi and according to gender there are more boys on the move as compared to the girl child. However, all CoM face the same challenges of exploitation, be it child labour, sexual exploitation and physical abuse.

Local legislators who attended a breakfast meeting in the capital recently to deliberate on best possible ways to assist children on the move said obtaining a birth certificate was still a daunting task in the country.

Kadoma Central Member of Parliament Phanuel Phiri said officials at the Registrar-General’s (RG) Office were turning away people over unnecessary requirements. He also said some parents were failing to secure birth records as clinics and institutions demand payment of $10.

“A certain woman came to me so that I could assist her in obtaining birth certificates for her two children. But she was told to go to Gokwe where the father’s children reside. It is weird.

“Moreover, some clinics and hospitals demand $10 for a birth record. They say it’s a regulation to charge that fee. The mothers cannot afford that,” he said.

However, speaking at the same event, former Health deputy minister and Gutu South legislator Paul Chimedza said it was not government policy for medical institutions to withhold a birth record because of non-payment of a fee.

“Parents need to be educated that it is not government policy for hospitals and clinics to withhold a birth record and demanding money for it. The parents should contest it. In fact, there is need for legislators and other stakeholders to sensitise parents on the issue,” he said.

Meanwhile, the RG’s Office has been urged to implement the much-hyped mobile registration process so that a number of children especially in the rural areas will have documentation.

Zimbabwe National Council for the Welfare of Children (ZNCWC) director Taylor Nyanhete said government, through the RG’s Office, should conduct mobile registration even once a year in the rural areas.

“We are seeing a number of children crossing into neighbouring South Africa for greener pastures unaccompanied and without any registration documents. This is also a burden to the receiving country.

“We continue to speak to the issue of mobile registration and it works more than any other method because it gets to the village, it gets to the ward. The parents who want to register their children and relatives find it easy to walk to that mobile unit. Even if they want supportive documents, it is easier to walk back home to collect them,” he said.

Nyanhete said government launched the programme and should roll it and not wait to do so during election time.

CoM are protected from all human rights violations, in particular children rights as enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child of 1999, which encompass every child’s rights to provision, protection and participation (the 3Ps).

Documentation crisis affects child migrants : NewsDay Zimbabwe.

AS the world’s population surges towards nine billion by midcentury, food production has failed to keep pace, creating rising food shortages and a global food crisis ahead, according to the United Nations. To avoid mass starvation, the world needs to produce 70% more food by 2050.

BY AGNES KALIBATA

Agriculture accounts for 32% of Africa’s GDP and employs more than 60% of the continent’s total labour force

The greatest potential to deliver that growth exists in Africa. The African continent is home to 25% of the world’s agricultural land. Yet it produces just 10% of the world’s food. That compares with China, which has just 10% of the world’s agricultural land, but produces 20% of the global food supply.

If Africa can now rise to the challenge of upgrading its agricultural output, it will open the way to a takeoff in GDP, greater youth employment, and the potential of positive trade balances and rising currencies.

Yet, the continent faces two profound issues in delivering its own agricultural turnaround, with its agricultural industry both rural and fragmented and built upon smallholder farmers. It is the continent’s rural areas that have been most deprived of resources and investment: with the straight-line consequence that the continent’s core industry continues to under-perform, and under-perform badly.

The allure of city living has left rural areas neglected and strained Africa’s urban infrastructure and services, including health, water and sanitation, creating rising social problems and competition for city space. Indeed, Africa is now the fastest urbanising continent in the world, with 60% of all Africans forecast to be living in cities by 2050, according to United Nations Habitat.

But urban areas are dependent on rural populations for food. Moreover, agriculture holds more power in creating youth employment than any other sector, at a time when 10 million youth are entering the labour market each year in Africa, according to the 2015 Africa Agriculture Status Report.

In late April this year, at the G20 Conference in Germany, panelists at the ONE World no hunger meeting powerfully demonstrated the importance of attracting youth to the agricultural sector.

Rural youth are the future of the sector, with the capacity for innovation and entrepreneurship. Yet their participation has been hindered by the perception that the sector is unattractive due to risks, costs, low-profitability and agriculture’s labour intensive nature.

Additionally, rural youth have limited access to educational programs that provide agricultural skills, often limited access to land, and a lack of financial services tailored to their needs, as well as poor infrastructure and utilities.

The outcome of the ONE World no hunger meeting was the Berlin Charter, which seeks to create opportunities for the younger generation and women in the rural world by mapping out a model for rural development to achieve food security, long-term jobs and improved livelihoods.

It calls on governments to put in place agricultural, nutrition and anti-poverty policies to “lift at least 600 million people out of hunger and undernutrition” and “cut youth underemployment at least by half” by 2025. The Charter with a core focus on smallholder farmers, was presented to the G20 leaders at their meeting in July in Hamburg.

Agriculture accounts for 32% of Africa’s GDP and employs more than 60% of the continent’s total labour force. But in order to realise its full potential, the political and economic environment needs to be conducive for smallholder farmers, who make up 70% of the sub-Saharan Africa population. With smallholder output hampered by insecurity of land tenure and unequal access to land, land policy formulation and reforms are critical in Africa to in order to boost agricultural production. Rwanda has provided a benchmark in this, with over 10 million land parcels now titled and owned individually.

Other problems smallholder farmers face include limited access to markets, finance, high-yielding seeds, farm inputs and mechanisation, which, invariably, lead to low levels of productivity. External shocks such as climate change have further hampered agricultural production.

African countries urgently need to support smallholder farmers in order to capture the continent’s $300 billion food market – projected to be worth $1 trillion by 2030. At present, only 5% of Africa’s imported cereals come from other African countries, with intra-African trade running consistently at around 15% of Africa’s total trade — which is amongst the lowest intra-regional trade levels in the world (UNECA). In fact, African governments have stepped-up efforts to transform agriculture over the last decade, delivering often exceptional results.

Ethiopia, for instance, has invested in extension workers, rural roads and modern market-building enabling cereal production to increase and increasing the number of calories its rural people consume by roughly 50%. As a result, Ethiopia is now reducing poverty at the rate of 4% a year (ONE.org, 2014).

Burkina Faso, a landlocked country, has also made remarkable progress in poverty reduction and food security with government investment in the sector averaging 17% of total expenditure for the past 10 years (ONE.org, 2014). Ghana’s agricultural transformation agenda has, likewise, remained a top priority for successive governments, spurring reforms and heavy investment.

Yet, as these early investments now move these particular economies up the growth ladder, other African governments have been slower to prioritise agriculture, despite the demonstrable financial gains and growing consequences in protest on food shortages.

As the G20 now reviews its strongest commitment yet to African agriculture and rural development, African governments and investors, likewise, need to heed the clarion call to action, and move agricultural reform and smallholders to the centre of the continent’s political and economic debate.

Agnes Kalibata is the president of Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)

Africa’s growth lies with smallholder farmers : NewsDay Zimbabwe.

As I settle back in my homeland Nigeria since retiring as the president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in March this year, I am reminded of a local saying that when you go to the stream to fetch water, your bucket will only be filled with the water that is yours. No one can take the water that is meant for you. Life will give you what you deserve, nothing more, and nothing less. But first you must walk to the stream, bend down, and dip your bucket.

BY KANAYO NWANZE

For instance, it is well established that GDP growth due to agriculture is at least three times more effective in reducing poverty in resource-poor, low-income countries than growth in other sectors

This parable inspired the title of my recently released book, A Bucket of Water, that distils lessons and experiences from my 40-year professional career dedicated to agriculture in general, and African agriculture in particular.

I have witnessed many inspiring changes in Africa over the years. Technologies that enable farmers produce more yield per unit acreage have been developed. Access to markets and financial resources have also improved as has the policy landscape. Additionally, Africa is experiencing unprecedented economic growth with five of the world’s 10 fastest growing economies being African.

However, this progress is ironical when Africa, rich as it is still unable to feed itself – poverty levels remain high and millions go to bed hungry. I see our over-dependence on minerals as the main problem.

According to the US Geological Survey 2016, Sub- Saharan Africa produces 77% of the world’s platinum metals; 60% of its cobalt (used for batteries and metal alloys); 46% of its natural industrial diamonds; and an abundance of gold, uranium, oil and gas. Tragically, this immense mineral richness has not benefited the majority.

My vision for Africa’s future is not built on a foundation of extractive industries. These riches have not translated into wide-ranging job creation, or social welfare and stability. They have not fed hungry people. They have not reduced poverty.

I see Africa’s economic growth predicated upon unlocking and fully tapping into the potential of smallholder farmers who make up 70% of our population. When I insisted for many years that small-scale farms were as much businesses as large-scale operations, my views were considered at best romantic and at worst foolish. I am glad to note that the concept of smallholder farms as a business has become commonplace today.

Achieving the kind of economic growth that leaves no one behind requires deliberate prioritisation of the agricultural sector. In fact, agriculture is the surest path to Africa’s prosperity. For instance, it is well established that GDP growth due to agriculture is at least three times more effective in reducing poverty in resource-poor, low-income countries than growth in other sectors. In sub-Saharan Africa, it is estimated to be 11 times more effective.

We are richly endowed with what it takes to achieve greatness – ideal climatic conditions which are, unfortunately, changing in devastating ways; large swathes of arable land; huge deposits of water that can be used for irrigation; and, most importantly, the vast potential of the people themselves especially the ingenuity and vigour of our youth. Our women who do most of our farming deserve a special mention. In 2016, I was honoured as the winner of the Inaugural Africa Food Prize which I dedicated to the millions of African women who silently toil to feed their families. I am a strong believer that no nation has been able to transform itself without giving women the same rights and opportunities as men.

However, as I have said many times before, achieving a continent-wide agricultural transformation, as the foundation for food security and poverty alleviation, requires visionary national and continental leadership. For our continent has all it needs to succeed in the right climate of leadership.

We laud our leaders’ commitment to allocate at least 10 per cent of public expenditure to agriculture, and to ensuring its efficiency and effectiveness, in the Malabo Declaration. A lot more still needs to be done. For instance, only eight out of 44 governments in sub-Saharan Africa have kept these promises to invest more in agriculture.

However, where the resolution has been adopted, and the will is there; where the decisions have been taken, and the actions implemented; the results have been both swift and phenomenal.

Ethiopia, for example, has reaped huge benefits for the last two decades from visionary leadership and by honouring its development commitments. The government set up the growth and transformation plan (GTP) to bolster smallholder farmers’ productivity, enhance marketing systems, upgrade the participation of the private sector, increase the volume of irrigated land and curtail the number of households with inadequate food.

Today, agriculture is Ethiopia’s most important sector, accounting for nearly half of the country’s GDP (46,3%), 90% of exports and 85% of the labour force.

Rwanda is another example where agricultural transformation has spanned land reform, land consolidation, and better access to inputs and extension for smallholders. This has increased the country’s food availability by 150%, reducing chronic malnutrition and stunting significantly, and reducing poverty by 20% in the last 10 years.

Visionary leadership in agriculture, therefore, demonstrably offers rapid returns. Ethiopia and Rwanda, both among the fastest growing African economies, are good examples of countries that have walked to the stream to fill their buckets.

Other countries should make the same walk to the river of agricultural opportunities that continues flowing. The landmark African Green Revolution Forum to be hosted in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire by President Alassane Ouattara, is one step towards the river. At the Forum, global and African leaders will develop actionable plans that will move African agriculture forward.

Kanayo F Nwanze is the 2016 winner of the Africa Food Prize and the immediate former president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). He is also a board member of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)

Seeds, not diamonds, will make Africa great : NewsDay Zimbabwe.

IN 2016, government officials, commuter omnibus operators, passengers and members of the public converged at the Mabvuku railway crossover bridge to launch and celebrate the newly-refurbished Plumtree-Mutare Highway.

Curse of Plumtree-Mutare Highway : NewsDay Zimbabwe.

ALTHOUGH Zimbabwe has made significant strides in promoting gender equality, female farmers feel marginalised and that has consequently affected the nation’s food security.

Zim losing plot on food security due to women marginalisation : NewsDay Zimbabwe.

THE running of community affairs in rural areas is often left to men, leaving women playing a passive role both in the political and developmental arenas.

Women, local authorities collaborate : NewsDay Zimbabwe.

ZIMBABWE is supposed to embark on a major process, which will likely transform the electoral playing field for the better — coming up with a new biometric voters’ roll (BVR), which, for the first time since independence in 1980, will not be controlled by register-general, Tobaiwa Mudede.

Why Zanu PF govt dumped UNDP : NewsDay Zimbabwe.

HARARE — As the cock crows, Tambudzai Zimbudzana (32) is suddenly awakened from her sleep. She quickly folds her blankets and strides outside her three-room, sheet iron-roofed house in rural Masvingo.

16-hour days for Zim’s women : NewsDay Zimbabwe.

The number of teenagers venturing into commercial sex work has been increasing notwithstanding the bad weather caused by current heavy rains spawned by the Cyclone Dineo phenomenon, the youngsters continue to venture out in a desperate bid to make ends meet.

Teenage sex trade boom in Mutare : NewsDay Zimbabwe.

TWENTY one-year-old Natasha Murenga (not real name) is a bitter young woman.

Curse of ‘sexually-transmitted’ grades haunts female students : NewsDay Zimbabwe.

Hauna Growth Point in Mutasa district, Manicaland, is struggling to recover its lost glitter.

Hauna has lost its glitter : NewsDay Zimbabwe.

PARLIAMENTARY Portfolio and Thematic committees are pivotal in making the Executive accountable, and last week in Gweru during stakeholders meetings between the Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda and members of the public, he was put to task to explain how effective Parliament is in putting to check the Executive arm of government.

Members of public grill Mudenda : NewsDay Zimbabwe.

FOUR-YEAR-OLD Nokutenda playfully tugs at her father’s ear and scampers off giggling. She skips about in the dimly-lit mud and pole hut in Nhema village, Shurugwi. Her eyes shine with excitement.

Defying odds: A woman’s courage in the face of ‘calamity’ : NewsDay Zimbabwe.