Tuesday, August 31, 2010

‘Agriculture key to economic success’

By Thupeyo Muleya

Government is committed to developing irrigation schemes in communal lands with underutilised dams and perennial rivers to ensure food security at household level, a Cabinet Minister said last Friday.

Beitbridge East Member of the House of Assembly Cde Kembo Mohadi made the remarks at a field day at River Ranch irrigation scheme in Beitbridge.

He said: "Agriculture has been observed as the vehicle for turning around the economy, besides addressing national food self-sufficiency thereby reducing food imports.

"A lot of money can be generated through the export of agricultural products.

"Government acknowledges the role irrigation plays in drought mitigation as well as its immense contribution to the national agricultural productivity.

"With irrigation, agricultural production has been increased and stabilised in the high-risk areas and has permitted an expansion of the cropping period to two or three crops per year thereby raising incomes of beneficiaries," said Cde Mohadi.

River Ranch irrigation scheme has 40 plot holders and is still undergoing expansion from the current 20 hectares to 41,5 through the Smallholder Micro-irrigation Development Support programme.

The scheme is a bilateral agreement between Government and the European Commission.

The EC has released 125 000 euro for the project, which started last year and will see 1 800ha put under irrigation by the end of 2011.

Government and farmers will contribute 25 percent of the money needed to capacitate the irrigation scheme.

"This programme is focusing on small-holder irrigation development and food security in supporting poor farmers, undeveloped and disadvantaged communities particularly smallholder farmers in dry regions of Matabeleland South Province," Cde Mohadi said.

He said so far the programme had funded and developed River Ranch (Beitbridge) and Moza extension in Bulilima, while other projects had been lined up.

The MP said, "As farmers, you must strive for self-sufficiency. You must get linked to output and input markets.

"It is not wise for you to wait for Government inputs every season or start blaming Government for delayed distribution of inputs."

To date, the project has seen 900ha of land put under irrigation countrywide.

published by The Herald 30 August 2010

Monday, August 30, 2010

Fault plunges Beitbridge into darkness

By Thupeyo Muleya

Beitbridge town was plunged into darkness for five days last week following a major technical fault at Triangle feeder that affected power supply to the area.

Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority spokesman Mr Fullard Gwasira said engineers from the power utility worked round the clock to rectify the problem.

Normal power supply only resumed on Saturday after Tuesday’s blackout.

The power outage also triggered an acute water shortage in Beitbridge town as alternative power sources failed to cope with demand.

The only Zimbabwe National Water Authority treatment plant in Beitbridge relies on electricity to pump water to consumers.

The local authority has also been failing to meet the daily water demands for one of the busiest ports of entry in Southern Africa.

Zinwa has been operating on an emergency system basis and has been pumping a third of the 15 000 cubic metres of water needed per day.

Many tapes ran dry last Tuesday night forcing people to make use of the 32 boreholes drilled at strategic points around the town by the town council at the height of the cholera outbreak in 2008.

The town last had power supplies on Tuesday afternoon and since then most businesses and households had been relying on generators for electricity.

The border post and the district hospital and other essential service providers had also to run on generators.

"There is a fault along the Triangle feeder, which supplies Beitbridge with power and our engineers are working round the clock to restore power to the town.

"You will realise that the feeder has continuously been having problems on joins on the electricity supply cables. The feeder was struck by lighting some time last year and we have been battling to replace the damaged joins and since then, we have been making use of temporary cable joiners. Thus the joins would burn if put to severe strain because of the workload.

"However, we are in the midst of acquiring the permanent joiners as a lasting solution to the problem. Our consumers should bear with us as the engineers have assured us that by the end of the day power supplies would have been restored to the town," said Mr Gwasira last week.

He said Zesa engineers were in the midst of repairing and installing several electricity cables, which had been vandalised.

"We, however, do not do three day load shedding programmes. This happens if there is a fault along the cables or feeders and is not reported to our deports. Currently, we are repairing and replacing some of the cables, which were vandalised by copper cable thieves in most areas where there are constant power supply problems," he said.

Last year, the Government spent US$58 million in replacing electricity supply cables throughout the country with most of them having been vandalised by copper cable thieves.

Published by The Herald 30 August 2010

Monday, August 23, 2010

Foot and mouth hits Beitbridge

By Thupeyo Muleya in BEITBRIDGE

Beitbridge District has been hit by a foot-and-mouth outbreak that is suspected to have originated from 25 buffaloes that strayed into Zimbabwe from South Africa’s Kruger National Park.

The outbreak has been noted in the eastern part of the border town in Tshikwalakwala.

The Veterinary Services Department is said to be on high alert following the detection of cases in Tshikwala-kwala, Malungudzi and the Malipati areas of Chiredzi.

It is believed the buffaloes strayed into Zimbabwe earlier this year and had contact with cattle in Tshikwala-kwala.

The disease then spread through movements of livestock for sale.

A senior veterinary officer in Matabeleland South said they started dealing with the problem a fortnight ago at a cattle auction in Lutumba in ward five.

Isolated cases have been recorded in Chamnanga and Jopembe in Beitbridge West.

"Preliminary investigations reveal that the disease spread across Beitbridge east after stray buffaloes from South Africa mixed with herds of cattle. It then spread to other areas during cattle sales. We have started vaccinations and we have enough manpower to carry out the task.

"The whole district has now been put under quarantine until the situation gets back to normal," said the official.

He urged people to bring all their livestock for vaccination. Beitbridge district falls under agricultural natural region five where animal husbandry is paramount.

Deputy field director in the Vet Department, Dr Chenjerai Njagu, could neither confirm nor deny the outbreak and referred all questions to the principal veterinary services director, who was not reachable for comment.

In 2007, there was a stand-off between Zimbabwean villagers and those in South Africa in the Madimbo corridor near the Limpopo River when the latter teamed up with a white veterinary officer and shot scores of cattle belonging to the former.

They argued that the cattle were spreading foot and mouth into South Africa.

Villagers from both sides of the river also accuse each other of stock theft.
source, The Herald 23 August 2010
www.herald.co.zw

Friday, August 13, 2010

Preserve natural resources: Nhema

By Thupeyo Muleya

Minister of Natural Resources Management Francis Nhema has urged communities living within transfrontier conservation areas to take an active role in preserving their natural and cultural resources.

He said a well-managed natural environment was beneficial to communities and the nation.

Minister Nhema made the remarks while addressing delegates and 600 cyclists and journalists from 19 countries at one of their rest camps at Sentinel Ranch last Friday night.

The tourists were here for the second edition of the Tour De Tuli cycling/mountain bike expedition that encompasses Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa.

This year’s theme was "Using Adventure to Build a Better World".

The minister commended the tourists for taking an interest in Zimbabwe and challenged them to be ambassadors of the country when they returned home.

The expedition was previously the preserve of Botswana, Mozambique and South Africa under the banner Tour de Kruger.

Minister Nhema reiterated that Government was committed to see Tour de Tuli growing from strength to strength.

"I am, therefore, convinced that your chosen routes offered you excellent opportunities for game viewing and learning about a rich ancestral and colonial history as well as a vibrant cultural heritage.

"I am quite certain that you came face to face with our history, nature and culture and interact with our communities living in and around the TFCA.

"With all the experience you have had here I hope you will be our ambassadors and share the good messages when you get back to your countries."

Minister Nhema also received a donation of 40 lap desks for rural schools.

"This donation comes in the wake of efforts by stakeholders to try and assist in the rehabilitation of Shashe Irrigation Scheme for the Maramani community. Our cultural and biological diversity heritage will be the ultimate winner," he said.

NGO the Children in the Wilderness donated the desks.

The Tourism Ministry through the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority and the National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority organised the expedition.

The tourists paid R12 000 registration fees to participate and the money will be shared between Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa.

A third of the proceeds will be chanelled towards self-sustenance programmers for communities and disadvantaged children living within the Greater Mapungubwe TFCA.

The cycling showpiece started in the Tuli Circle between Botswana and Zimbabwe on August 5 and ended three days later between Zimbabwe and South Africa in the area once occupied by the Mapungubwe Kingdom.

Children in the Wilderness organiser Mr Blessing Munyanyiwa described the show as a great success adding that their target for next year was 700 participants.

The 2009 edition attracted 250 tourists.
source The Herald 13 August 2010

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Tuku serenades Beitbridge fans

By Thupeyo Muleya

Beitbridge hosted Oliver Mtukudzi, Sulumani Chimbetu and Progress Chipfumo at a special show attended by around 500 people at Terry’s Hall on Monday night.

While the hall was almost filled with those who paid R100/US$15 for entry, two to three times the normal price, there was some disappointment from those who could not afford to go in.

The artists were in the border town courtesy of Pagomo Heights and Leisure Centre.

First to take to the stage at around 10 pm was Progress Chipfumo and The Sounds of the Motherland who shook the cold off the entertainment-starved revellers when he belted out his yesteryear songs such as Amai, Nyara Muroyi, Nyasha and Vanondi-chengeta.

After one and half hours, the superstar, Tuku and his Black spirits band took to the stage and put up a well choreographed act as they churned out the crowd’s favourite tracks including, Neria, Tozeza Baba, Kupokana, Dzandi-momotera, Ndakuvara, Hear me Lord and Munendipasa Manyemwe.

The house was moved into a frenzy when he played hit songs Dzandi-momotera and Tozeza Baba.

The superstar’s legions of funs were taken down memory lane when he belted out the song Muchatuta waramba kugarwa nhaka.

Tuku kept the funs dancing and singing along for 3 hours before making way for Sulumani and his Dendera Kings who also put up a flawless performance.

Sulu, as Chimbetu is commonly known by his funs made the revellers dance their feet lame until the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The king of Dendera put up an electric performance non-stop for about four hours, a feat which could only be matched by his late father Simon.

He blended dancing routines and music well that the funs had a request for a repeat of the song Chauta, a copyright of Chopper’s yester year hits.

Songs such as Karumba, Mwoyo Wangu, Mwana Wedangwe and Nguva Yakaoma were among the house’s favourites.

It was the first time the trio performed together in the border town.

source The Herald 12 August 2010

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

ILO embarks on empowerment drive

By Thupeyo Muleya

The International Labour Organisation is mobilising funds to empower communities living within the Beitbridge-Chirundu corridor, an official has said.

In an interview during an ILO workshop in Beitbridge yesterday, the body’s Zimbabwe national project co-ordinator, Mr Colly Masuku, said they were training people to come up with viable businesses and they would provide seed money for the projects early next year.

He said this was part of the second phase of their programme on HIV prevention and economic empowerment along Southern African transport corridors.

Mr Masuku said they were yet to come up with the exact amount that would be channelled into the scheme.

"We have realised that most of the push factors leading to the rapid spread of the disease are economic hardships and hence we need to address some of the challenges by empowering communities living within international corridors.

"From experience, we learnt that prevention of the disease alone is not enough without economically empowering communities. With that in mind, we are working with several stakeholders, among them, the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises, the Department of Immigration, the Ministry of Health, the police, local authorities and the Beitbridge Business Association.

"Through the implementation of some inventions we developed during our first phase of the programme, a lot of projects have come to fruition in Beitbridge, Ngundu and Chirundu.

"We have, with assistance from our partners, managed to have more clinics for opportunistic infections along the corridor" he said.

Mr Masuku said they ultimately wanted to reduce the impact of HIV and Aids in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Acting Beitbridge district administrator Mr Peter Moyo challenged workshop participants to effectively make use of the ILO initiative and bring about positive change in their areas.

Published by; The Herald 3 August 2010