Lazarus Sauti

Lazarus Sauti Harare - For some, the role of football agents has grown increasingly fundamental to soccer and the value of their importance helps to make the sport the multi-million-dollar industry it is across the world today. For others, football agents are unnecessary commodities that suck millions of dollars out of the game each year at the expense of the sport that relies on them to keep the system working efficiently. This leaves soccer lovers with many questions like: “Are football agents fair or foul? Are they contributing to the development of soccer in the world? Are FIFA football agents adding any value or confusion to our football? Since the turn of the millennium, there had been an increase in FIFA licensed agents across the globe and this has triggered the above questions. Football agent Jonathan Barnett believes that agents add value to the development of soccer. Barnett, who works with some of the biggest names in the English league says: “We look ...

Lazarus Sauti Basic sciences and basic research – research directed towards the increase of knowledge, the primary aim being a greater understanding of the subject under study- are the building blocks for long-term economic growth and the key to a 21st-century economy. Accordingly, African countries should focus on basic sciences, such as physics and chemistry, to grow their economies faster and create employment. More so, investing in basic sciences and research are best ways a middle-income country can foment fast economic growth. Robert Birgeneau, Canadian physicist, educator and university administrator, believes that societal advances depend on basic sciences. “To achieve transformative advances for society, we must invest in long-term basic science and in new technologies, which in turn can be developed into new industries,” remarked Birgeneau. Sharing the same views, researcher Klaus Jaffe believes that scientific productivity in basic science, including ph...

Lazarus Sauti Zimbabwe Media Commission member Chris Mhike believes access to information is key to economic growth. He said access to information is also the only way leaders could be held accountable to the electorate. “Access to information is a right which is good for the economy as no economy can thrive when there is no access to information,” said Mhike. He goes on to say, “We should ensure there is infrastructure in place to facilitate access to information because the problem in Zimbabwe is that transmission of information is still below standard as not all citizens have access to information and infrastructure.” Mhike said a lot of important documents are still not accessible in languages that people can understand. As a result, the country is still lagging behind most of its regional counterparts in the development of information infrastructure.  

Lazarus Sauti 11-year-old Zuriel Oduwole from Nigeria is among 100 most influential Africans according to a new list published by the New African on Wednesday. Oduwole featured given her fight for women’s education. “Her accomplishments to date include having interviews with eight African heads of state and the launch of a mentorship programme for girls,” noted the magazine.

Lazarus Sauti For Africa to be a truly successful destination of choice, tourism product owners and providers need to engage potential customers and meet their needs and wants in a way that exceeds expectations. To meet these needs, they should embrace information and communication technology (ICT) since it has the great advantage in that it allows players in the tourism industry to replace expensive human labour with technological labour. Since many tourists worldwide have regular access to the internet, stakeholders in the tourism fraternity should invest in e-tourism. E-tourism is the digitisation of all the processes and value chains in the tourism, hospitality, travel and catering industries that enable organisations to maximise their effectiveness and efficiency. The goal should be to compute leisure and tourist plans users, taking into account their preferences and the information of the context where the visit will take place. Africa is full of natural won...

I dream of the realisation of the unity of Africa, whereby its leaders combine in their efforts to solve the problems of this continent. I dream of our vast deserts, of our forests, of all our great wilderness. I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself - Nelson Mandela.   For Africa to me… is more than a glamorous fact. It is a historical truth. No man can know where he is going unless he knows exactly where he has been and exactly how he arrived at his present place - Maya Angelou.

Lazarus Sauti Youth emancipation for sustainable development is a right and African countries should guarantee and uphold this fundamental human right. African youths must therefore commit themselves to the struggle for economic emancipation and work towards the development of the continent. To unravel emancipation, it is any of various efforts to procuring political right or equality, often for a specifically disenfranchised group, or more generally in discussion of such matters. Ibrahim Ceesay, a social justice activist, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Youth Ambassador and independent film ‐ maker from Gambia believes that African youths must be emancipated to transform the economy of the continent. “It is the young people of Africa that must drive the charge within the continent to achieve a society based on universal human rights, equality and prosperity,” Ceesay said. African National Congress (ANC) spokesman Jackson ...

Lazarus Sauti Cities and towns across Africa are full of school-going children who are either begging or selling illicit products such as tobacco cigarettes and illicit beers. Others are busy sifting the refuse scavenging for recyclable food to put on the family tables. Whether selling beer or tobacco cigarettes in stadiums or at entrances to beer gardens, the sad thing is that all of them had allegedly been assigned these duties and heavy responsibilities by their parents and/or guardians. More so, these children should be at school; working hard to chase dreams of their lives and interacting with children of their age. Communities within and across the African continent are not protecting these disadvantaged children. What happened to the adage, “It takes a village (community) to raise a child? A considerable number of children in and around the African continent are suffering in silence and are unaware who to turn to for help after all kinds of barefaced abu...

Lazarus Sauti Since Africa is a continent with the highest unemployment rate, finding productivity work is a matter of priority. The continent’s new growth path should call for the creation of employment and this will have a major impact on the economies of African countries. Accordingly, the continent should prioritise the brightest sector in terms of growth and job creation – small business sector. The health of small businesses is increasingly crucial to Africa’s collective success as a continent. Creating job employment requires commitment from governments, entrepreneurs, business policy decision makers and practitioners in the enterprise development space and without doubt, Africans embody precisely the resilient and creative spirit that should be ripe for entrepreneurship. Accordingly, practitioners in the enterprise space should interrogate what kinds of initiatives and programmes could bridge the gap between ‘forced’ survivalist business ownership and the ...

Lazarus Sauti Zambian soccer icon Kalusha Bwalya has urged clubs to educate their supporters to practise the spirit of fair play by not bringing lasers to match venues. This comes after Orlando Pirates goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa had lasers shone in his eyes when they played to a 1-1 draw with Esperance in a CAF Champions League match in Tunisia recently. Bwalya said, “I saw the incident, it is not fair for anybody to be subjected to all those things by the fans who want their club to be in a position of advantage.” Use of lasers by supporters to distract opposing players is a violation of human rights and sporting rules. Bayern Munich’s Sports director Christian Nerlinger shares the same sentiments and notes, “Laser points are not acceptable. It is a major disturbance and an impossible thing to do.” Accordingly, sports authorities should act very fast and ban unsporting lasers in sports venues and because of this, Bwalya thinks it is the responsibility of sports club...

Lazarus Sauti Pedro A. Sánchez, director of the Earth Institute’s Tropical Agriculture and Rural Environment Program and a senior research scholar believes that fertile soils are critical to boosting cereal crop yields in Africa. Sánchez said replenishing soil fertility with mineral and organic fertilisers could therefore triple cereal crop yields in tropical Africa and achieve an African green revolution. Decades of farming without adequate fertiliser, according to Sánchez, have ‘stripped the soils of the vital nutrients needed to support plant growth’. Therefore, to improve soil fertility, countries within and across the African continent must now focus on adding organic fertilisers to their soils. “Only organic fertilisers add carbon, feed soil microbes and help to retain soil moisture”, writes Sánchez. The best way of applying them, he adds, is to grow leguminous trees that capture nitrogen from the air and transfer it to the soil. “Such ‘nitrogen-fixing’ t...

Lazarus Sauti Shem Arungu-Olende, director of the African Academy of Sciences, believes adequate science and technological activities, including research and development are pillars for Africa’s economic transformation. Arungu-Olende said the African continent is lagging behind in terms of development due to inadequate science and technological activities. He said: “Africa’s development is lagging behind the rest of the world because of, among other things, inadequate science and technological activities, including research and development. The situation is also worsened by the lure of talented African scientists to better, more lucrative positions and institutions overseas.” Accordingly, Arungu-Olende highlighted the importance and timeliness of the new capacity building initiative for Africa. Since Africa’s economy continues to struggle and experiencing minimal growth, research and development is the tonic to the continent’s path to its socio-economic progress. ...

Lazarus Sauti Political will and farmer involvement are critical to direct research and innovation on biotechnologies that could cut poverty in rural areas of developing countries. This is according to Andrea Sonnino, chief of the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation’s Research and Extension Unit. Sonnino said, “Political will and farmer involvement are crucial to direct research and innovation on biotechnologies that could cut poverty in rural areas of remote areas of developing nations.” In a report, ‘Biotechnologies at Work for Smallholders’, Sonnino, who is one of the report’s editors, added: “This publication provides evidence that, when there is the political commitment, when there is the willingness to apply direct research and extension to meeting the needs of smallholders and when there is full participation of the smallholders themselves, important results can be achieved.” This means that involving farmers in innovation projects from the...

Lazarus Sauti Harare -Sports consultancy is the business of helping sports teams to function and run as businesses and issues in this field take in site management, human resources and acquisitions among other things. This means sport is now a business and a platform to create employment. Accordingly, sports teams in countries within and across Africa should have comprehensive plans that focus not only on team development, but public relations – to establish and maintain their images. More so, Africa needs sports consulting firms that should specialise specifically in dealing with business law as it relates to sports. The consultants in these cases should be lawyers who advise clients on legal issues. Since infrastructure is of paramount importance to sports development, some sports consulting firms should specialise in the design and location of new facilities, such as stadiums and sporting arenas. More importantly, sports consulting firms should also deal with t...

Lazarus Sauti Calestous Juma, professor of the Practice of International Development at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, United States believes that new institutions are needed to modernise farming in countries within and across the African continent. Professor Juma said that the scientific community in Africa should therefore create a new generation of intergovernmental organisations that promote innovative science to address economic problems in Africa. “Science, technology and engineering are crucial to overcoming challenges in various sectors including health and agriculture. Yet, key international organisations do not encourage the role of innovation in development. “For example, sustainable agriculture and food production in Africa will only be possible with biotechnology and the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). “But, organisations such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) have even oppo...

Lazarus Sauti The Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, Professor Jonathan Moyo urged the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe to review fees charged by the regulatory body. Professor Moyo said this when he was addressing members of BAZ board and management on his tour of the body’s offices in Harare. He said, “There is need to review the highly prohibitive fees charged by the regulatory body, the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) which are making the sector unattractive and unviable.” Professor Moyo goes on to say, “After emerging from a difficult period, the country must chart a way forward in a manner that enables players in the broadcasting sector to operate viably.” He urged BAZ to look critically at the state of the economy in the country and reconcile that reality with how players in the sector will be assisted to grow.