Lazarus Sauti

Lazarus Sauti Zimbabwe is endowed with a rich diversity of life form, and the biodiversity of the country provides ecosystem services such as food, medicine, energy sources, building and craft materials as well as spiritual, cultural and aesthetic services. Further, the country’s biodiversity also regulates climate, soil fertility, outbreaks of pests as well as diseases and maintains functional ecosystems. This country’s rich biodiversity, however, is attracting outside interest, a new kind of overseas visitors who are smuggling out local flora and fauna. Foreigners, masquerading as tourists, are on the prowl along the country’s borders, particularly around major national parks, smuggling the country indigenous resources. Recently, a group of men and women was accosted by officials from the Parks and Wildlife Authority just outside Gonarezhou National Park after a timely tip-off by villagers. Neatly stashed away in their luggage were four live pangolins, toads,...

Lazarus Sauti Villagers in Gwanda, Matabeleland South Province, like most rural parts in Zimbabwe, are food-insecure, and as such, they frequently survive on less than US$1 per person per day. To complicate their lives, families rely on rain-fed agriculture for production of crops, which is limited to a three to six months rainy season. Due to El Nino, combined with barren land and dry vegetation, crop production in Gwanda is low this year and poverty sticks out like a sour numb. As a result, villagers depend on food handouts from both Government and civil society. The promotion of irrigation, particularly smallholder irrigation, is therefore the only viable strategy for poverty reduction, climate adaptation, and promotion of food security in such areas. Practical Action, supported by the Jersey Overseas Aid Commission (Joac), is utilising simple technology, a solar-powered horticulture system in some parts of Gwanda, to alleviate hunger as well as increase food sec...

Lazarus Sauti Nothing good can come out of Gwanda it seems.  The place is dangerously hot, lifeless and is characterised by low rainfall patterns. In fact, it resembles a desert. Little can be grown, and malnutrition is the order of the day. Many children in the area walk around with inflated bellies, a sign of kwashiorkor, a condition caused largely by a lack of protein and micronutrients in a person’s diet. Matshokodo village which is in ward 8, Gwanda North, for instance, is surrounded by Mopane and different thorny trees – bushes that tell a sad water shortage story. Even dogs in the village testify the hunger that engulfs Gwanda and its environs. But thanks to a programme code named “ Increasing food security for poor vulnerable households in Gwanda District of Zimbabwe ”, implemented by Practical Action and supported by the Jersey Overseas Aid Commission (Joac), something good, too good is coming out of Gwanda. The programme which saw the impl...

Lazarus Sauti Tim Marufu uses Congo dust, a sex enhancing drug from the Democratic Republic of Congo, to prolong his erection. He said the aphrodisiac, which is rubbed on the male organ, results in lengthy sex rounds. “ NeCongo dust unoanchor mudhara, unochimhanya (With Congo dust you can enjoy length sex sessions). “ Uyu mushonga wechikwapuro; ukangozora chete simbi yako inozhamba (This drug is powerful. If you properly apply it, your partner will cry in bed),” said Marufu, adding that “the powder prolongs an erection for up to an hour if applied correctly.” Explaining how Congo dust works, he says, “You just take a pinch and rub it at the tip of your organ at least three hours before being intimate.” During the process of an erection, he added, the penis enlarges and stiffens as a result of changes within muscles, nerves and blood vessels of the organ . Marabha, a vendor who sells Congo dust at Cnr. 7 th and Samora Ave in Harare, says Congo dust comes i...

Lazarus Sauti Large posteriors are beautiful marks for most African women and despite health hazards and side effects such as kidney failure, blurred vision, sedation, dry mouth and gastrointestinal, women jostle to get them. In Zimbabwe, most women use Apetito tablets, illegal injections as well as chicken-fattening pills to acquire fake behinds. These illegal tablets as well as chicken-fattening pills are smuggled into the country from countries like India, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa and Zambia. The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority asserts that an increase in seized contraband of butt-fattening pills shows amplified circulation of such drugs in the country. Recently, alert Zimra officers stationed at Chirundu One-Stop Border Post confiscated a huge consignment of skin lightening creams as well as butt-enhancing tablets which were carefully stashed in a well-carved opening on the trailer of a haulage truck destined for Harare. “Skin lightening creams and “bod...

Lazarus Sauti Zimbabwe - Afro-soul artist, Best Masinire says innovation is the way forward for African countries to achieve sustainable development and transform economies. In a song titled Innovation , off his debut album titled, Nakusasa Futhi , a name derived from a Zulu phrase that means “tomorrow again”, released recently, the artist says innovation is the tonic to development and as such, he urged Africa leaders to embrace it and change the political, economic, social and technological face of the continent. “Innovation is critical to the expansion of African economies, but sadly it is still the missing link in the development matrix of most, if not all, African countries. “There is therefore a serious need for both political and business leaders as well as economists and development players in the continent to put heads together and embrace innovation as the solution to many challenges bedeveling African countries.” Borrowing from scholar Harriet Tubman, th...

Lazarus Sauti Manyame – Violence against women is one of the most blatant violations of human rights in Zimbabwe. Women from all backgrounds, ages and socio-economic status have experienced violence perpetrated by men in both their private and public lives, especially in rural areas. This violence against women takes many forms such as physical and emotional as well as the violence of poverty, starvation, humiliation and degradation. Poverty, inequality and unemployment are also conditions under which violence against women thrives. Nomatter Munyukwi, 32, from Tsunga Ward 17 in Manyame, Beatrice has a sad story as she experienced all forms of violence: physical, economic and emotional, from her step mother, husband and the society at large. Narrating her ordeal during the 1 6 days Commemorations held at Mupfure Centre in Manyame, Beatrice recently, Munyukwi said the abuse she received from her step mother forced her into an early marriage. “Living with my...