Lazarus Sauti

Lazarus Sauti EVERY beautiful morning, husband and wife, Samuel and Natalie take turns jogging around an open field near their home in Kuwadzana Extension, a high density suburb in Harare. They also take turns to watch Chiratidzo, their 12-month-old daughter, who is always a spectator to her parents’ daily practise. “We take turns to jog as well as watch Chichi. Then we exercise together to stay fit,” said Natalie. She added: “We are both HIV-positive and we practice together to stay fit and healthy. Exercising as well as eating a balanced diet is an important part of our lives as we are living positively with HIV.” Natalie met Samuel two years ago when she went to Kuwadzana Council Clinic to take a pregnancy test. “After discovering that I was expecting, two nurses urged me to take an HIV test. Before the test, I was counselled by Samuel, who is an HIV/Aids activist, and in the process, we struck up a relationship that changed our lives,” she said. Samuel chipped...

Title: Positive Thinking, Tonic to Happiness Author: Lazarus Sauti Publisher: Diaspora Pages: 36 Year of Publication: 2015 Resonating from the biblical Philippians 4 vs 8, Lazarus Sauti’s 36 paged book is a motivational piece, however, not an in-depth exposition on the highly publicised subject of the power of positive thinking. Reads Philippians 4 vs 8: “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Moderately, the book is evocative and plainly motivates readers to the sighting of the fact that since the mind is the most valuable asset to any living person, it needs to be used and sharpened so that it does not lose its value. The book also points to the assertion that positive...

Lazarus Sauti Corporate tax avoidance – the practice of using legal means to pay the least amount of tax possible – and tax evasion – the general term for efforts by individuals, firms, trusts and other entities to evade the payment of taxes by illegal means – are Africa’s biggest financial drain depriving governments of essential revenues that they need to deliver on basic development needs: health, education, housing as well as access to water. Dubbed “the ugliest chapter in global economic affairs since slavery” by Raymond Baker – an authority in financial crime, these schemes are crippling Africa’s critical services, denying citizens access to human rights services and stalling socio-economic transformation. Thabo Mbeki, the second president in post-apartheid South Africa, says: “Due to tax avoidance and evasion schemes, African countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) lack the public resources that would provide the nutrition, healthcare and education to l...

Lazarus Sauti The continent of Africa loses from poor management of raw possessions as most countries lack adequate strategies as well as focus on the administration of natural resources. Extractive industry researcher, Solomon Mungure, says Africa lacks prudence in natural resources management which makes it easy for foreign mining companies to plunder its resources. Addressing a provincial Alternative Mining Indaba organised by Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (Zela) and its partners in Mutare, Zimbabwe recently, Mungure said companies such as South Africa-based De Beers – which has been accused of shipping out diamonds in Marange by the government of Zimbabwe under the guise of prospecting – was just one of many companies that “were making profits from understanding the country’s ignorance.” “(Cecil John) Rhodes’ businesses grew from creating companies…which stole our natural resources. “They did not loot only here, but even in Angola and Sierra Leone. “The...

Lazarus Sauti Small-scale forest farming can help farmers to control and own forest ventures, which can help improve rural livelihoods in Africa. Analysts say it is time African farmers adopted forest farming both as a way of generating income, preserving the environment and providing pastures for livestock. “Small-scale forest farming enables rural dwellers to have ownership of forest ventures which allows them to effectively manage forest products,” says immediate past Minister of Environment, Water and Climate in Zimbabwe, Saviour Kasukuwere. Peter Makwanya, a climate change communicator, concurs: “The significance of engaging in small-scale forest farming is that it can be at a family scale, local, community and commercial scale; thus, can effectively help to reduce desertification that is threatening to swallow everybody and improve forest cover for the benefit of livestock too.” He added that at a local level, small-scale forest farmers can grow, sustainably mana...

Lazarus Sauti After so many years of independence, citizens in Southern Africa still struggle to access economic resources as well as opportunities, real or perceived. As a result and like most African countries, Southern African Development Community (SADC) member-states suffer from diseases, chronic poverty, lack of advanced agricultural technology, minimal governmental regulations, weak distribution channels and the fragmentation of agricultural land, which is split between several families or communities because of a lack of effective regulation or legislation. Wilbert Zvemoyo, a Harare based civil engineer, also says unplanned growth of shanty settlements, pushed by rapid urbunisation is an additional challenge for some, if not all, SADC states. “While urbanisation is a main driver for development and economic growth, unplanned growth of shanty settlements around towns and cities in Southern Africa is a threat to SADC’s main cities,” he said. Another headache for ...

Lazarus Sauti The United Nations (UN) predicts that most African citizens will live in cities by 2050. “Two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050, posing unique infrastructural challenges for African and Asian countries, where 90 per cent of the growth is predicted to take place,” notes the UN. Rural-urban migration and natural population growth rates in cities, asserts the UN, are the major causes of the increasing rate of urban growth as well as slum proliferation in Africa. The United Nations Habitat says with most people migrating from rural areas to urban centres to look for economic opportunities, the pressure of service delivery on urban infrastructure is mounting on municipalities in Southern Africa, as well as other developing nations. “While urbanisation has the potential to act as an engine of economic growth and human development – when properly planned for – it also brings with it enormous challenges. “Not least among these is the...

Lazarus Sauti A recent report released at the World Economic Forum on Africa (WEF on Africa) by the Africa Progress Panel (APP) says Africans are dying every day because 621 million citizens do not have access to reliable and clean energy. The report, titled “Power, People, Planet: Seizing Africa’s Energy and Climate Opportunities”, shows that an estimated 600 000 Africans die each year as a result of household air pollution, half of them children under the age of five, with acute respiratory tract infection the primary cause of fatality, a notion strongly supported by the World Health Organisation (WHO). “Indoor air pollution is the environmental problem that kills many people in Africa, and these deaths are attributable to the following diseases: 12 per cent are due to pneumonia, 34 per cent from stroke, 26 per cent from ischaemic heart disease, 22 per cent from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and 6 per cent from lung cancer,” adds the WHO. The Africa Prog...