Lazarus Sauti

Lazarus Sauti The digital revolution of the 21 st century is, devoid of doubt, based on the Internet, which is the driving force. Without a high-speed Internet connection, the citizen is excluded from today’s information society. In some countries, the essential role of this tool is well understood and the right to means of communication and to broadband Internet access is spoken of as a basic human right. On the other hand, Internet connectivity is rarely mentioned as evidence that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has successfully entered the information and knowledge society. In fact, the Internet is poorly developed in most, if not all, countries within the regional bloc. This, therefore, demands answers from two crucial questions. Is the SADC region becoming marginalised because of its lack of Internet connectivity? Is free Wi-Fi the answer for the region’s socio-economic woes? Dennis Magaya, the Chief Executive Officer of Rubie Technologies...

Lazarus Sauti Socio-economically, the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) is not at the desired level. Member-states are endowed with most of the natural resources on the planet, but they are poor and backward socio-economically. Citizens are living in abject poverty, and diseases are ravaging societies. Like many African states, countries in the regional bloc are independent politically, but not independent economically. This is proving to be an elephant in the room, and hindering socio-economic transformation in the region. However, SADC member-states, together with other African nations, can use their political independence, natural resources and sovereign power to put an end to economic dependence. They must simply look for long-term developmental prospects, put in place institutions as well as policies required to guarantee that natural resources profit all citizens, and catch up industrially. Naledi Pandor, the Minister of Science and Technology in So...

Lazarus Sauti Energy deficit in the region of Southern African Development Community (SADC) is one of the biggest challenges affecting socio-economic growth, as most of the economic drivers (mining, agriculture as well as manufacturing) in the regional grouping’s member states require uninterrupted power supply. Forlornly, energy demands in most, if not all, SADC countries continue to surpass supply. In fact, load-shedding and power rationing have become the order of the day in these nations. Countries in the regional bloc, sadly, have failed to invest adequately in renewable energy sources such as solar, despite abundant resources. SADC, according to the African Development Bank (AfDB), has the potential to become a ‘gold mine’ for renewable energy due to abundant solar and wind resources. This, therefore, means the region that needs more solar energy is SADC, to say the words of Craig Mapedzamombe, an expert in harnessing solar energy, because most countries in South...

Lazarus Sauti Sir Alex Ferguson once said, “That lad [Filippo Inzaghi] must have been born offside.” He was responding to the news that Filippo Inzaghi is the most offside player in the history of the game. In politics, Movement for Democratic Change-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, like Inzaghi must have been born offside. In May 2013, during the launch of the party’s national policy, Tsvangirai threatened media houses that wrote negatively about him and the party. He threatened those media houses with closure should he prevail in the July election. He was caught in an offside position again when he wrote to all MDC-T members on February 4, 2015 directing them to exit all social media groups they belonged to that have not been approved by his office. “As the president of the party, I have noticed with dismay the manner in which social media has been abused in pursuit of glorification at the expense of the part. The proliferation of this abuse has reached alarming proporti...

Lazarus Sauti Multimodal transport – whereby roads, railways, airlines, and shipping operate in harmony – can contribute significantly to the development of countries within and across the Southern African development Community (SADC). Its provision constitutes necessary preconditions for economic growth as multi-modal transport systems facilitate the creation of a single economic space that would lead to free movement of goods and persons , to borrow the words of Hon. Dr. Obert M. Mpofu, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development. “ The development of multi-modal transport systems is critical for economic transformation not only in Zimbabwe, but in the SADC region as it promotes the robust and dynamic industrial and enterprise sectors that the region relies on,” he notes, adding that the robust and dynamic sectors include tourism, mining and agriculture. Michael A. Luguje, specialist in ports management, chips in: “Where transport networks are we...

Lazarus Sauti Threat to Human Lives Road safety, traffic congestion, urban air pollution, road maintenance, accessibility and mobility problems in countries within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are key challenges for the 21 st century.   These problems together with poor infrastructure development have fuelled levels of poverty in the regional bloc. SADC must, therefore, consider the use of transport science research if the regional bloc is to come up with solid solutions to transport infrastructural challenges on top of other socio-economic challenges. Transport science research, according to Zimbabwe’s Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Hon. Dr. Obert M. Mpofu, provides novel as well as valuable transportation solutions and hence contribute towards socio-economic transformation. “Robust, efficient and cost effective transport system is critical for economic recovery not only in Zimbabwe, but in the region as it promotes ...