Lazarus Sauti

Lazarus Sauti Space technology – expertise that is related to entering, and retrieving objects or life forms from space – is advancing at an increasing pace in the world, yet most African countries lack the human, technical and financial resources to utilise this science to improve basic applications in meteorology, communications and natural resource management. In most parts of Africa to be general and Southern Africa to be specific, space technologies are largely absent despite the fact that they can enhance communications, mapping, weather observation and disaster management. Andhra Pradesh, one of the 29 states of India, situated on the country’s south-eastern coast, for instance, is using space technology to assess cyclone damages. With the help of Indian Space Research Organisation and National Remote Sensing Centre, Andhra is using latest technology tools to gather firsthand information about the destruction caused by Cyclone Hudhud. Countries in Africa can copy...

Lazarus Sauti Beware of Greeks bearing gifts. This is a metaphor that strongly discourages trusting your enemies, and it is one and the same with suspicion. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts comes out of a story where the ancient Greeks won a famous military victory against the Trojans, who unwisely accepted the gift of a large horse which concealed Greek soldiers who infiltrated the city at night. As the continent of Africa is always the recipient of foreign aid – gift – from powerful nations, it should view this assistance with scepticism and suspicion as most of this assistance is “ring-fenced”. The continent should be wary of “Greeks bearing gifts” because the aid is coming from former colonisers who are even prepared to bleed the continent of its enormous resources using gifts as baits. Joram Nyathi, the Group Political Editor at Zimbabwe Newspapers, agrees that African countries must be fully conscious when dealing with foreign aid assistance as the need for ex...

Lazarus Sauti The first millennium development goal, as identified by the United Nations, is eradicating extreme poverty and hunger but countries in the Southern African Development Community are facing big challenges in attaining this objective. To conquer this goal, countries in the regional bloc, as a matter of necessity, need to achieve sustainable food security – a scenario where all people at all times have physical and economic access to adequate amounts of nutritious, safe, and culturally appropriate foods, which are produced in an environmentally sustainable and socially just manner. Some people see genetically modified crops, as playing a big role in reaching this all-important goal of eradicating poverty and hunger. Genetic modification is the technology that employs genetic material from unrelated organisms and injects them into another organism (plant or animal), to confer the recipient organism new and desirable features such as higher yield, pest resistan...