Lazarus Sauti

Lazarus Sauti Most families in Ngwazani, a remote village in Buhera North District, cannot afford a decent meal per day, thanks to gripping poverty and drought induced by the El Nino phenomenon. The Zimbabwe Poverty Atlas (2015) testifies that poverty in the country is mainly a rural phenomenon and the overall poverty prevalence in Buhera was 78 percent. Buhera generally receives low amounts of rainfall, hence all districts in Buhera grapple with high poverty prevalence exceeding 65 percent. To development partners, people living in Buhera need assistance as soon as possible, but to human traffickers, Buhera is a good example of a lucrative source of cheap labour. Bu hera represents the type of areas likely to be gripped by the problem of human trafficking. Poverty and the general economic crisis in the country have made Zimbabweans more vulnerable to Trafficking in Persons (TiPs). Article 3, paragraph (a) of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons ...

Lazarus Sauti The Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe (ACCZ) is organising a youth and women conference to be held in October at Masuka Christian High School in Tynwald, Harare in a bid to curb early marriages as well as gender-based violence. The event, under the theme “ The Role of The Church in Shifting the Paradigm on Youth and Women Engagement in Peace Building and Development ”, is expected to attract over 5 000 apostolic youth and women drawn from all provinces. Addressing journalist at the New Ambassador Hotel in Harare on Friday, ACCZ Gender and Child Care chairperson, Bishop Busani Sibanda, said the purpose-in-life of the youths and women conference is to teach apostolic members to guard against child marriages and gender-based violence. He also said the youth and women constitute the majority of people in ACCZ and as such, the Gender and Childcare Unit is mandated with the task of creating a conducive environment that champions their development. “B...

Lazarus Sauti Most Africans are dependent on solid fuels such as wood, coal, crop residue/waste and cattle dung to prepare daily meals on traditional mud stoves or open fires due to lack of electricity. This lack of access to electricity is holding back economic expansion on the continent. “Only about a third of the population have access to electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa, and in some countries, like Zambia, only 5 percent of rural and 26 percent of the urban population have electricity,” says expert in distributed renewable energy and Sierra Leone Power for All campaign director, Aminata Dumbuya. She adds that in Sierra Leone, less than 12 percent of people in the country’s cities have access to electricity, while in rural areas, where most people live, the figure is less than 1 percent. The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MISC) 2014 also notes that more than 70 percent of households in Zimbabwe still rely on solid fuels as their primary cooking and heating ...

Lazarus Sauti A local private voluntary organisation in Harare, Justice Mish Humanitarian Aid (JMHA), is taking bold steps in helping street kids as well as orphans in Harare, Shamva and Chinhoyi. The organisation, founded by Prophet Justice Mish of the House of All Nations (HOAN) Christ Church, has embarked on a humanitarian assistance scheme meant to empower street kids and orphans. In an interview with 263chat , JMHA spokesperson, Abel Mavura, says his organisation had researched and identified the needs of beneficiaries before providing them with food and clothing materials. “We carried our research and identified that some street kids and OVCs in Harare, Chinhoyi and Shamva are living in abject poverty due to circumstances beyond their control,” he says. “This triggered JMHA not to hide its head in the sand, but to help the needy, especially street children and orphans to lift them from abject poverty.” Mavura adds that the aim is not only to empower stree...

Lazarus Sauti More than 60 percent of households in Zimbabwe do not have access to electricity, says Partson Mbiriri, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Energy, Power and Development. Opening the National Dialogue for a consumer driven renewable energy policy hosted by Ruzivo Trust at Holiday Inn, Harare recently, Mbiriri added that these people use candles, kerosene, maize cobs and wood for heating and lighting. “60 percent of households in Zimbabwe do not have access to electricity and they depend on wood, kerosene and diesel-powered system for heating, lighting and essential food processing tasks such as milling grain,” he said. Mbiriri, however, said the country is in the process of crafting a renewable energy policy to close the gap. He added that the policy will provide the sector with guidelines as well as an avenue for creating a more conducive environment for attracting investment. He also said the policy will facilitate the adoption of a green...

Lazarus Sauti Zimbabwe, as per estimates, is home to over one million orphans and other vulnerable children (OVCs), most of whom are being looked after by their relatives. Conversely, due to the increase in OVCs, the challenging socio-economic situation and limited support from the state, the kinship system is under severe strain, says social worker, Munyaradzi Muchacha. The number of OVCs in the country is on the increase due to the impact of economic demise, high prevalence of extreme poverty, unemployment and HIV and AIDS. These challenges increase the vulnerability of OVCs, in the process affecting their care as well as access to social services such as health care, social assistance and education. Fourteen year old Zvisi Matara from Murewa in Mashonaland East Province was forced to leave primary school in order to help her grandparents following the death of her parents. “My grandmother struggled to provide me and other nine children with basic needs such ...

Lazarus Sauti Media in Zimbabwe and other southern Africa is awash with big stories about road carnages involving multiple casualties. The Herald, a daily newspaper in Zimbabwe, recently reported that 13 people were killed, while 67 others were injured in 101 road traffic accidents that were recorded countrywide during the just-ended Heroes Day and Defence Forces holidays. Eight of the accidents were fatal. In June, the Lusaka Times of Zambia reported that six people died, while 10 sustained serious injuries in a traffic accident that occurred on Great North Road, near Kozo Lodge, 5 kilometres South of Choma. Media in South Africa also reported that road accidents in the country are on the rise and claiming lives of citizens, stalling political, economic, social and technological expansion. Statistics about road casualties in these countries also show that the road has become the greatest loud silent killer of our time. From the year 2009 to 2014, notes the...

Lazarus Sauti Harare lawyer, Emmanuel Samundombe, was recently slapped with a four-year jail sentence after he bashed his pregnant girlfriend until he suffered a miscarriage. Samundombe appeared before Harare magistrate, Bianca Makwande, who convicted him of physical abuse and sentenced him to 48 months. In another case of gender based violence (GBV), High Court judge, Justice Tawanda Herbert Chitapi, slapped a Kuwadzana woman, Mitchel Chiteure, with a two-year jail term for killing her husband, Denver Chitsungo, in a poverty-induced brawl. The judge also said cases of GBV were on the increase and they are being committed not only by men on women, but vice-versa as well. Statistics from the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) reveal that cases of domestic violence have increased by a whopping 34 percent in 2015 compared with figures recorded the previous year. “In 2015, more than 20 500 cases of domestic violence were received by the police,” the figures show. “The ...