Lazarus Sauti

Lazarus Sauti Nanoscience and advanced manufacturing technology will provide countries within and across the great African continent with new frontiers to bridge the technological divide. This means African countries should build capacity in the areas of advanced manufacturing and nanoscience and embrace nanoscience and advanced manufacturing technology to close the poverty gap.

(First posted by Lazarus Sauti [09/11/2011] on Zimbabwe Library Association - ZimLA ). UNIVERSITIES have been urged to embrace new information communication technologies to help students easily acquire knowledge when using libraries. The call was made yesterday by University of Zimbabwe Vice Chancellor Professor Levi Nyagura in a speech read on his behalf by Pro-Vice Chancellor Professor Chipo Dyanda at a workshop on information literacy. "Much as we recognise the beauty of accessing e-resources, it is critical to ensure that users are able to make the best use," said Prof Nyagura. "Information literacy plays an important role in the development of knowledge and the importance of us all working together to share experiences. "By imparting information literacy skills to Zimbabwe universities, we commit ourselves to promoting use of electronic resources beyond the duration of this workshop and enhance electronic resources usage in tertiary education in Zimba...

Lazarus Sauti Chinese computer maker Lenovo presented a new tablet device including a hinge-cum-handle allowing it to tilt and stand, a feature it billed as a ‘game-changing’ innovation. The device has three modes: hold, tilt and stand. A cylindrical hinge on one side can either be held, or opened to produce a stand. “Watching and discovering that people frequently use tablets in three main ways allowed us to break the mold on the current ‘sea of sameness’ designs,” said Lenovo senior vice president Liu Jun. The devices run on Google’s Android operating system; have relatively low-resolution 1280 x 800 screens and comes in 8 and 10 inch models. An optional bluetooth keyboard is available for the larger model, which serves as a cover. The new tablet enters a hugely crowded tablet market still dominated by Apples iPad and South Korea’s Samsung.  

Lazarus Sauti Chameleon, a new feature film written and directed by Tapfumanei Chimboora is now available on the big screen at various local theatres in Zimbabwe. The feature film is centred on various issues that try to examine betrayal, unfaithfulness, and infidelity in families, among other issues that affect society. “Chameleon is as educative film on the dangers of infidelity. Therefore, it will play a vital role in shaping the society,” said Chimboora. The one hour and fifteen minutes film features Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation SpotFM producer and presenter Tafadzwa Bvocheko who plays the role of Mr James’ second wife, afro jazz musician and guitarist Pablo Nakappa who stars as Mr James and vocalist Tendazvaitwa ‘Lipsy’’ Chitimbe. The film also features Getrude Jaricha (DJ SpotFM), Elizabeth Gulugulu (actress), Norman Muvavarirwa (journalist), two university graduates and a form one student (Chelsea Hughes). The script writer encouraged film lovers to...

I have come to realise that character cannot be developed in ease and quite. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved. -- Savious-Parker Kwinika, Editor-in-chief & chief executive of Centre for African Journalists (CAJ) News Africa.

Lazarus Sauti LG unveils its G Flex curved phone with a ‘self-healing’ cover that repairs itself after it is scratched or dropped. The phone has an elastic coating capable of ‘recovering from scratches’ and it has a 6-inch vertically curved screen designed to mould to a user’s face. The phone also has a curved battery, developed by LG’s research arm LG Chem. Other features include a 13MP rear-facing camera with a timer that uses the Rear Key to show a countdown has started. LG will launch G Flex in Korea in November, and other countries ‘thereafter.’

Lazarus Sauti A high-powered delegation from Iran, led by Professor Hamid Rez Amirinia, paid a courtesy call on Zimbabwe’s Vice President, Joice Mujuru and pledges to support Zimbabwe in its technology development. Professor Amirinia said Iran is ready to partner and transfer advanced technology to Zimbabwe to assist the country in its economic development. “Iran has a lot of high tech products so we talked about how we will be importing them to Zimbabwe and how we will help in technology transfer to Zimbabwe,” he said. The delegation’s leader further said the transfer of technology will not be difficult as Zimbabwe has a highly educated human resource. “This country has highly educated people so we hope the partnership between Zimbabwe and Iran will see us establish technology centres here where high technology products will be produced,” said Professor Amirinia. Professor Amirinia assured VP Mujuru that Iran has lots of home grown technologies in agriculture tha...

Lazarus Sauti Most people in rural Africa still cook and heat their homes using solid fuels in open fires and leaky stoves. They burn biomass (wood, animal dung, crop waste) and use coal because most of them are poor. According to the World Health Organisation, such cooking and heating produce high levels of indoor air pollution with a range of health-damaging pollutants, including small soot particles that penetrate deep into the lungs. Indoor air pollution is a contributory cause of high death rates in Africa. Acute respiratory infections, ear and eye problems, breathlessness, chest pains, headaches and giddiness are just some of the symptoms that poor women and children suffer in their rural homes. The cause: smoke from cooking. WHO reports: “In poorly ventilated dwellings, indoor smoke can be 100 times higher than acceptable levels for small particles. “Exposure is particularly high among women and young children, who spend the most time near the domestic hearth....

Posted October 7th, 2013 by admin & filed under International Economics & Development, News, Telecom, Information & Internet Policy. In a recent piece for the South African publication Southern Times, Lazarus Sauti, a columnist from Zimbabwe, underscores the importance of technological innovation as a means for African countries “ foster social and economic development .” Citing Francis Gurry, Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), who says that policy makers have “a unique opportunity to define the key role that science, technology and innovation can play in achieving the development goals of the African continent,” Sauti argues that “ wireless communications broaden access to information, improve capital access, overcome geographic limitations and expand market access,” and calls for policy makers to “redouble their efforts to support this field and form partnerships that harness its power” in Africa. Against the backdrop of a gr...

ACCESS TO INFORMATION Presentation at the 47 th ZIMLA Conference/AGM and Exhibition, Peacock Hotel & Villas, Mutare from 24 – 28 June 2013     By Lazarus Sauti lazarussauti@gmail.com                       Abstract This treatise explores access to information and how libraries and related institutions can promote it for development. It explores the role of access to information in socio economic development. Furthermore, this paper makes it clear that freedom can be promoted in a democratic society only if its citizens have unrestricted access to information and ideas. The paper also strengthens the idea that access to information is a basic human right as clearly articulated in Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNUDHR) and Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) and it should be promoted...

INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT Presentation at the 47 th ZIMLA Conference/AGM and Exhibition, Peacock Hotel & Villas, Mutare from 24 – 28 June 2013     By Lazarus Sauti lazarussauti@gmail.com                     Abstract Indigenous knowledge (IK) is the unique knowledge restricted to a particular culture or society. This knowledge is generated and transmitted by communities, over time, in an effort to cope with their own socio-economic environments (Fernandez, 1994). It is generated through a systematic process of observing local conditions, experimenting with solutions and readapting previously identified solutions to modified environmental, socio-economic and technological situations (Brouwers, 1993). Accordingly, this treatise explores the use of indigenous knowledge in the context of national development. It also provides recommendation on w...

Lazarus Sauti S outh Africa launched its National Recordal System on 24 May this year to catalogue its indigenous knowledge. This was a crucial step in its quest to protect its indigenous or traditional knowledge. The National Recordal System (NRS) is an initiative of the South African Department of Science and Technology (CSIR) with the ultimate goal of creating opportunities “for benefits to flow back to the communities,” according to the CSIR. Benefits could include community recognition, sustainable livelihood, economic value and improved quality of life. “Most of the traditional knowledge in South Africa is oral, passed down from one generation to the next, so that there was no record of it,” said Yonah Seneti, chief director of the National Indigenous Knowledge Systems Office (NIKSO). Seneti goes on to say: “We had to find a way to take note of and record this traditional knowledge. One of the challenges of this oral tradition is that in most cases...

Lazarus Sauti C ountries worldwide are recognising the significant role that renewable energy can play in their national development. By early 2011, nearly 100 countries had set targets for wind, solar, biomass and other renewable energy sources. This is so because power and energy play a central role in the overall framework of development planning of any nation and a vital input to growth and development of any economy. Accordingly, countries within and across the African continent should aim to utilise renewable energy to meet a host of development priorities, including reducing carbon emissions, expanding energy access, enhancing energy security, and creating new jobs and industry opportunities. To start with, renewable energy is energy that comes from resources which are continually replenished such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves and geothermal heat. About 16 percent of global final energy consumption comes from renewable resources, with...