Lazarus Sauti

Lazarus Sauti Ageism, discrimination and denial of rights in older age continue to be tolerated across the African continent as existing human rights mechanisms fail to adequately protect and promote the rights of older people. As such, older men and women of Africa continue to live miserable lives of poverty and lack basic human rights needs including access to a secure income, shelter and food. Yinka Olaito, a communications specialist passionate about African development, says c urrently Africa has approximately 60 million people aged 60 years and above and by 2030, there will be 103 million older women and men in Africa. “The rights related to these people are ignored in most, if not all, African countries. “Older people, especially the uneducated ones, are forced to either depend on their children or to beg on the public roads and streets,” he said. Oftenly, older people are disrespected and isolated because of negative stereotypes, a fact supported by research...

Lazarus Sauti Zimbabwe is struggling to involve men in family planning and other health related issues. And this is widening the gap in the country’s contraceptive uptake rate. According to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (2014), Zimbabwe’s contraceptive prevalence for women stands at 67% while the unmet need is at 10.4 %. Although male involvement in family planning is vital, it is often overlooked as a means of outreach in Zimbabwe.  Stanzia Moyo, cites the 2005-6 Zimbabwe Demographic Health Survey (ZDHS) in a journal paper which states that only 26% of Zimbabwean men make use of contraceptives yet 56% of the male population is recorded to have knowledge on their use. In my quest to understand why men shun family planning programmes, I realised that cultural practices, caused by gender inequality, often act as a barrier. In most, if not all, societies in Zimbabwe men view family planning issues  sezvinhu zvevakadzi . Some men I interacted with stated plainly th...

Lazarus Sauti Shalom Marume* is a 17-year old girl who stays with her mother and step father in Tafara, a high density suburb in Harare, Zimbabwe. She is deaf and suffered sexual violence as she was raped by her step father several times. “My step father forced me to look at sexual scenes in magazines, photographs, videos and the internet before raping me whenever my mother is not around. He took advantage of me since I cannot cry out for help,” she said. Shalom added that she is not only an object of abuse by his step father, but of shame, pity, discrimination and stigmatisation from the society. Forlornly, Shalom is not alone in her predicament as recent studies have estimated that up to 70 per cent of children with disabilities in the developing world have been victims of violence in some way. Star Tarumbiswa, a social worker, says disabled children are three times as likely as other kids to experience sexual, psychological as well as emotional violence. “In m...

Lazarus Sauti The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) – a multilateral development finance institution established to contribute to the economic development and social progress of African countries , believes at least 750 million Africans rely on biomass for their daily energy needs. “Over half of Africa’s population lacks access to basic electricity and clean cooking facilities – and the numbers are rising. As a result, most of them rely on biomass for their daily energy needs,” notes the AfDB. This energy deficit and reliance on carbon-intensive energy systems is setting African economies on collision courses with planetary boundaries. However, Africa can avoid these collisions, and it simply needs to come up with strategies that can help the continent solve its acute energy problems. “One of such suggestions is to avoid the traditional slow energy generation and distribution model to technology-driven smart options capable of transforming Africa’s energy sector i...

Lazarus Sauti Cancer has overtaken HIV and Aids as the leading killer in Zimbabwe. This disease that is plaguing people in the country comes in various forms: throat cancer, brain tumours, breast cancer, cervical cancer, colon cancer, eye cancer, heart cancer, leukemia, oral cancer, ovarian cancers, urethral cancer, liver cancer as well as melanoma. Unfortunately, for most citizens, the detection and treatment of cancer is incredibly hi-tech and expensive. More so, what makes it more dangerous than HIV and Aids is the fact that it comes so unexpectedly and with a certain amount of sophistication. The World Health Organisation (WHO) Zimbabwe Report 2014 says cancer is the new killer. According to the report, cancers topped the list with 10 percent of deaths in the country followed by cardio-vascular diseases (nine percent), chronic lung diseases (three percent), and diabetes (one percent). The WHO report also notes that cancer seriously affects children and most c...

Lazarus Sauti The MacKinsey Global Institute (MGI), the business and economics research arm of McKinsey & Company, established in 1990 to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving global economy, says Africa will add 122 million people to its labour force by 2020. This means the continent’s labour force is growing strongly, and the number of new jobs that must be created to accommodate this demographic explosion is massive. Africa’s opportunity, says the MGI, is to create sufficient stable employment to absorb this growing potential labour force. This, therefore, calls for African states to look for avenues to create employment for this demographic boom, currently unemployed as well as underemployed citizens, as aid cannot provide adequate employment for most young Africans entering the job market every year. Nigerian Tony O. Elumelu, an economist by training, a visionary entrepreneur and a philanthropist, believes entrepreneur-led job creation is the part of th...

Lazarus Sauti Food security issues in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) require attention of regional leaders, stakeholders in the agriculture sector as well as development practitioners. This is so because most people in the regional bloc are in need of food and other non-food resistance. “Southern Africa currently lags behind all other regions in terms of farm productivity levels, with depressed crop and livestock yields and limited use of irrigation and other inputs,” says Dr Gift Mugano, an economic advisor, author and expert in trade and competitiveness. The Director in charge of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources at the SADC Secretariat, Margaret Nyirenda recently told journalists ahead of the 35 th SADC Summit in Botswana that the number of people in need of food and other non-food assistance has risen from 24 million last year to 27.4 million this year. This is largely because of the drought and floods that have affected the region heighte...