Lazarus Sauti

Lazarus Sauti The rapid growth of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has had a significant impact on the region, but the ICT sector is not without its challenges. ICTs are a diverse set of technological tools and resources used to communicate and create, disseminate, store and manage information. Derek Wilcox, Africa chief executive officer (CEO) at Dimension Data – a South African company specialising in information technology services, with operations on every inhabited continent, believes the high costs of telecommunication technologies (telephony, cable, satellite, television and radio, computer mediated and video conferencing) along with digital technologies (computers, information networks – internet, World Wide Web, intranets and extranets – plus software applications) are hindering ICT growth and development not only in the SADC region, but in Africa. “I do not think it is the area th...

Lazarus Sauti “Non-communicable diseases kill 38 million people each year, and almost three quarters of NCD deaths – 28 million occur in Africa and other low- and middle-income countries,” notes the World Health Organisation (WHO) 2015 Fact sheet. The fact sheet goes on to say: “Sixteen million NCD deaths occur before the age of 70; 82 per cent of these ‘premature’ deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries. “Cardiovascular diseases account for most non-communicable disease deaths, or 17.5 million people annually, followed by cancers (8.2 million), respiratory diseases (4 million), and diabetes (1.5 million).” According to the fact sheet, these four groups of diseases account for 82 per cent of all NCD deaths, and tobacco use, physical inactivity, the harmful use of alcohol as well as unhealthy diets all increase the risk of dying from a non-communicable disease. Without doubt, non-communicable diseases are halting socio-economic growth in Africa as they threa...

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...