Lazarus Sauti

Lazarus Sauti This possibility lies in its land and water – agriculture, one of the key pillars of the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), an African Union (AU) strategic framework for pan-African socio-economic development. Agriculture, says NEPAD, forms a significant portion of the economies of all African countries. “As a sector, it can contribute towards major continental priorities such as eradicating poverty and hunger, boosting intra-Africa trade and investments on top of rapid industrialisation and economic diversification,” asserts NEPAD, adding that agriculture can have a say towards sustainable resource and environmental management, job creation, human security and shared prosperity. Sadly, African agriculture is at the crossroads. Calestous Juma, an expert is science, technology and innovation, believes that persistent food shortages are now being compounded by new threats arising from climate change. Juma says for Africa to compete in a develo...

Lazarus Sauti Poor water and sanitation infrastructure in countries within and across the Southern African Development Community (SADC) sets off cholera outbreaks that are ravaging the region. Hein Zeelie, the Johannesburg-based United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reporting officer, recently said that the disease, caused by eating food or drinking water contaminated with a bacteria called Vibrio cholerae, was rearing its ugly head in Southern Africa, infecting nearly 6 000 people in Mozambique, Malawi as well as in Zimbabwe. Since the first outbreak in late December 2014, Mozambique has recorded 5 118 cholera cases with nearly 50 deaths. The situation in Tete province is the most severe. Malawi has to date registered 60 cases with 2 deaths since its first confirmed case on 13 February 2015. All are related to the outbreak in Tete Province, Mozambique. In Zimbabwe, 12 cases of cholera have been confirmed since late February 2015, wi...

Lazarus Sauti Merilyn Moyo, 25 (not her real name) from Nyikadzino Village under Chief Chundu in Gokwe does not have leverage in negotiating for the use of a female condom, a barrier device intended to protect women from contracting sexually transmitted infections , in her relationship due to socio-cultural inequalities within sexual relationships and marriages in Zimbabwe. “When it comes to female or even male condom use, I do not have power to say anything. I wait for my husband to initiate as well as approve which protection method to use,” she said recently. Patriarchy and male domination, without doubt, impact women’s capacity to make sexual and reproductive decisions. Like Moyo, most women in the country leave the responsibility of wearing protection during sex to their husbands or partners, and this is contributing to the low uptake of female condoms. Evince Mugumbate, information officer of the Women and Aids Support Network (WASN) agrees: “ In our culture, wom...

Lazarus Sauti R oad infrastructure is a key pillar in unlocking Africa’s economic potential. It is a long-term investment that has a big socio-economic impact in the development matrix of any country. “Importantly, road infrastructure sustains economic development not only in Zimbabwe but in Africa and the world over,” said Zimbabwe’s minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Obert Mpofu during the African Road Maintenance Funds Association (ARMFA) annual general meeting in Victoria Falls recently. The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development’s Permanent Secretary, Munesu Munodawafa, added, “The provision of good and modern road infrastructure is a condition for economic growth and technological renewal.” Sharing same views, Elly Twineyo, an economist and author of “Why Africa Fails” adds, “The continent of Africa fails because of poor road infrastructure. Once you have built road infrastructure, our traders, our business people and tourists can ...

Lazarus Sauti Southern Africa is extremely vulnerable to the increasing impacts of climate change, which will worsen food insecurity and water stress for the region’s growing population, but it is failing to factor in climate change in long-term investment and planning. As a result, citizens in the regional grouping are exposed to extreme weather events, and this is halting development in the region. “The devastating flooding in Malawi and Mozambique, for instance, highlighted how weather-related hazards undermine social, political and economic development,” agreed Saviour Kasukuwere, Minister of Environment, Water and Climate in Zimbabwe and the outgoing Chair of the African Ministerial Conference on Meteorology recently. The Malawi and Mozambique floods left a grim legacy of death, destruction and devastation. The scale of the disaster wreaked havoc as crops were destroyed, villages obliterated, homes swept away and livestock killed. Heavy rains in Mozambique also af...

Lazarus Sauti The prevalence of corruption, which ranges from high political graft on the scale of millions of dollars to low-level bribes to police officers or custom officials, in Africa is unacceptable. In a 2009 report for the Council on Foreign Relations on Corruption in Africa, it was noted that the continent is widely considered among the world’s most corrupt places, a factor seen as contributing to the stunted development and impoverishment of many states. More so, a 2002 African Union (AU) study estimated that corruption cost the continent roughly USD $150 billion a year. Corruption is, therefore, bleeding African states. Recently, the government of Malawi estimated that corruption had cost it about 13billion kwacha. The country’s “Cashgate corruption scandal” may have cost the public 24bn kwacha (£35m) – almost double the official estimate – with some of the money siphoned off for politicians’ election campaigns, according to a British-funded audit. An invest...

Lazarus Sauti Language is the key to inclusion. It is at the center of human activity, self-expression and identity. Recognising the primary importance that people place on their own language fosters the kind of true participation in development that achieves lasting results, according to the United Nations, Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. The UN specialised agency goes on to say: “People’s languages are vitally important to them. Through language, people communicate, share meaning and experience their sense of individual and community identity. Loss of language and culture is frequently accompanied by large human and social costs, including poverty, poor health, drug and alcohol abuse, family violence and suicide. “Recognising the profound importance that people place on their languages is, therefore, a core insight for tackling poverty and hunger. It is an important part of the move away from “top down” models of development that have been shown not to wor...

Lazarus Sauti Cancer in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), like in other low- and medium-income countries is worse than Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), Malaria and Tuberculosis (TB). This means that the region is at crossroads in the face of rising cancer cases. “Cancer kills more people in poor countries than AIDS, malaria and TB combined,” agrees the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) – the specialised cancer agency of the World Health Organisation (WHO). In Zimbabwe, for example, an estimated 6 000 cancer cases and approximately 1 700 deaths were recorded in 2012, indicating a notable rise from the previous year, according to the latest cancer registry. Despite the fact that cancer is preventable and can be treated when detected early, current national cancer statistics in Namibia indicate that the number of cancer patients are alarming. According to cancer statistics from IARC GlobalCan (2012), 1 300 people in Namibia are ne...