Week 11
Wekelijkse selectie van nieuws uit Zimbabwe
Chiefs endorse President, Zanu PF ahead of polls | The Herald (State owned)
CHIEFS yesterday endorsed President Mnangagwa’s candidature and Zanu-PF ahead of the 2023 harmonised elections saying the ruling party’s policies and ideology speak to the aspirations of the majority of people. Addressing delegates who were attending the Annual National Chiefs Council conference which ran for two days in Bulawayo, National Chiefs Council President Chief Fortune Charumbira said there is an inseparable relationship between the traditional leaders’ institution and Zanu-PF.
More than 800 traditional leaders- chiefs and headmen- were in Bulawayo.
PWD promise 1, 5 million votes to President Mnangagwa | The Herald (State owned)
PEOPLE With Disabilities For Economic Development (PWD4ED) have pledged to deliver 1, 5 million votes to President Mnangagwa and the revolutionary party, Zanu PF in this year’s harmonised elections.
The affiliate believes President Mnangagwa, who signed the Disability Policy in 2019, was the only leader who was capable of addressing their plight.
People with disabilities constitute at least 15 percent of the nation’s population.
Former Zimbabwean Commercial Farmers Thriving in Zambia
Some of the Zimbabwean farmers whose land the government seized for redistribution two decades ago moved to Zambia and have prospered. In the past year, those farmers started exporting food to Zimbabwe, which has been struggling with food insecurity, partly because of those land seizures.
Zanu PF tightens grip on rural strongholds
ZANU PF has reportedly tightened its grip on its rural strongholds by using traditional leaders and the military as barriers against the opposition seeking to penetrate rural areas, a latest study has shown.
Research by the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute (ZDI) shows that 76% of the respondents viewed rural constituencies as inaccessible to the opposition and other civil society organisations (CSOs) to conduct electoral-related programmes.
Traditional leaders receive 20 cars | The Herald (State owned)
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa yesterday handed over 20 of the 28 vehicles to traditional leaders, among them the inaugural Chief Goledema of the San community in Tsholotsho District, Mr Christopher Dube, as part of Government’s ongoing programme to ensure chiefs are mobile.
The San community chose Mr Christopher Dube as the inaugural chief, in 2021. Chief Goledema is named after his grandfather, a respected rainmaker and senior traditionalist who reportedly resisted white rule in Tsholotsho during the colonial era.
Zimbabwe Implements the International Monetary Fund’s Enhanced General Data Dissemination System
With the successful launch of a new data portal, Zimbabwe has implemented a key recommendation of the IMF’s Enhanced General Data Dissemination System (e-GDDS) to publish essential macroeconomic and financial data. The e-GDDS is the first tier of the IMF Data Standards Initiatives that promote transparency as a global public good and encourage countries to voluntarily publish timely data that is essential for monitoring and analyzing economic performance.
ECHO Factsheet – Zimbabwe
1.63 million people in urban areas and 3.82 million people population are estimated to be acutely food insecure. The decreasing availability of safe water, sanitation and hygiene has heightened the risk of infectious disease outbreaks, notably in urban areas.
Over 41,000 people remain displaced in camps and host communities (IOM)
With an escalating malaria outbreak and over 1.3 million people living with HIV, COVID-19 has put additional pressure on an already strained health system.
64% Zim girls, women malnourished: Unicef
THE United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) says a average of 64% of women and adolescent girls in Zimbabwe are undernourished and overlooked.
Unicef’s latest report indicates that 15% of the women and girls are underweight, 12% have short height and at least 40% have anaemia.
Many adolescent girls and women, especially those from poorer households and living in rural areas, are not consuming nutritious food, Unicef has noted.
AT least 60% of women in urban areas are undernourished, while 68% in rural areas were malnourished.
‘We’ll revive chieftainships abolished by colonisers’ | The Herald (State owned)
President Mnangagwa has said Government will continue resuscitating chieftainships that were abolished by the Rhodesian settler regime and implored chiefs to foster peace and unity as the country heads towards the harmonised elections.
In 2019, Government under the Second Republic resuscitated the Bere chieftainship in Mashava, which was abolished almost a century ago by the Rhodesian settler regime. The President also urged traditional leaders to be at the forefront of preserving culture and identity to help fight drug and substance abuse, and child marriages.
Goats are a critical means of support for Zimbabwe orphans
Christian World Outreach helps orphaned kids and their caretakers with an interesting means of support — goats! CWO’s Greg Yoder says, “We don’t have an orphanage per se. We try to find what we would call here in the States ‘foster families.’ A lot of times that’s grandparents and uncles and aunts that bring the kids in. What difference do goats make for Zimbabwe families? Yoder explains, “If we can get them a pair of goats, they can get the milk but they can also have baby goats to raise some money for the family.”
CWO has given goats to 60 households so far. The ministry hopes to fund 100 more goats in the next two months for Zimbabwe families.
Govt falling short on infrastructure funding
GOVERNMENT has spent US$2,5 billion on infrastructural projects, a mere 12,7% of a five-year requirement, prompting the sector to consider building a bank to support projects, it has been revealed.
According to Treasury, the infrastructure and utilities total investment requirement between 2021 and 2025 (the National Development Strategy 1 period) is US$19,68 billion.
For 2023, the infrastructure and utilities sector requires US$5,07 billion worth of investment.
The revelation that only 12,7% has so far gone into infrastructure development since 2021 shows that the country is far from achieving its upper-middle-income status by 2030 goal.
Women’s Bank to finance 10 000 projects this year | The Sunday Mail (State owned)
AT least 10 000 projects are set to receive financial support from the Zimbabwe Women’s Microfinance Bank (ZWMB) this year as part of the institution’s women empowerment initiative.
Since its inception, the women’s bank has provided loans for over 114 000 projects predominantly fronted by women across the country, as it continues to economically and socially empower females.
