Week 36
Een wekelijkse selectie artikelen uit Zimbabwaanse kranten
Mnangagwa vows to improve lives of Zimbabweans as he is sworn in for second term | Zimbabwe | The Guardian
Emmerson Mnangagwa has promised to give Zimbabweans a better life after he was sworn in as the country’s president for a second term following a vote that the opposition has claimed was stolen.
“The lives of our people should be improved, nothing less,” Mnangagwa told thousands of supporters at the National Sports stadium in Harare, and called for peace and tolerance from political opponents.
Only three sitting presidents from the southern African region attended the ceremony: Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s president, Felix Tshisekedi, president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Filipe Nyusi, president of Mozambique. Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia chose to stay away.
‘We’ll accelerate transformation The Herald (state owned)
Address by President Mnangagwa on the occasion of his inauguration for the second term as President of Zimbabwe in Harare yesterday
It is my distinguished honour and privilege to be addressing you my fellow countrymen and women as well as friends of our beloved motherland, Zimbabwe at this auspicious occasion.
Allow me, on behalf of the people of Zimbabwe, my party ZANU PF, and indeed on my own behalf and that of my family, to express my deep gratitude for the kind messages of congratulations we have received following our elections.
Climate change will force up to 113m people to relocate within Africa by 2050
Adapting to a world that is warmer than today is a huge undertaking, even if the most ambitious temperature ceiling is met. Increasing climate risks mean that millions of Africans could be uprooted or trapped where they are due to climate change.
Unfortunately, the world has made little progress on what it takes to adapt safely to life on a warmer planet. We still lack the scale and urgency of both collective and transformative action necessary to cut greenhouse gases as per the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
ANC says engaged in ‘delicate’ talks with Zanu PF after disputed poll
South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), is engaged in “delicate” talks with Zanu PF in Zimbabwe following disputed elections, secretary general Fikile Mbalula has said.
Publicly, the ANC has endorsed President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s disputed victory while dismissing his Citizens Coalition for Change rival Nelson Chamisa as a “puppet” of western countries.
Now it appears the ANC has been employing a strategy to soften Zanu PF and buy leverage in closed-door discussions.
Hundreds of white farmers return to Zimbabwe in boost for agriculture
Two decades after thousands of white farmers were forced from their land without compensation, a new generation is back to start again
Family after family fled along this dirt road towards Harare as they were evicted from their farms by Zimbabwean war veterans.
The road through the country’s prime, red-soiled land was a front line in Robert Mugabe’s policy of seizing white-owned farms, first implemented more than 20 years ago.
The luckiest farmers were given enough time to collect up their belongings and stack them in the back of vehicles. Others fled empty-handed, chased, often violently, from their farmhouses.
Thousands of white farmers were forced from their land without compensation in areas like this between 2000 and 2005 in a policy Mugabe said was to redress colonial-era land grabs.
Mnangagwa issues stern warning to SADC
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has shot back at the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC)’s decision to seek the intervention of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) in Zimbabwe’s August 23 and 24 poll dispute.
This week CCC said it decided not to challenge Mnangagwa’s re-election through the country’s courts because the crisis in Zimbabwe was not a legal issue, but a political one. The crisis has escalated tension between the opposition party and Mnangagwa’s government.
Speaking at his inauguration for a second term at the National Sports Stadium yesterday, Mnangagwa said: “The undermining of our national institutions and laws will not be condoned, under whatever guise. No country or group of persons should disregard the sovereign decisions and views of the people of our motherland, Zimbabwe.”
Power generation reaches 1564 megawatts The Chronicle (state owned)
A TOTAL of 1565 megawatts was generated on Monday with Kariba Power Station contributing 900MW.
According to daily production figures from the Zimbabwe Power Company X handle (formerly Twitter), Hwange Power Station generated 665MW while all small thermal station had no production.
“During the last five-year term, my Administration delivered energy self-sufficiency to our country. Courtesy of our comprehensive, strategic partnership with the People’s Republic of China, Hwange Unit 7 and Unit 8 are now on stream,” he said.
Nelson Chamisa’s CCC abandons legal challenge of Zimbabwe poll results
Zimbabwe’s main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change party, led by Nelson Chamisa, will not lodge a court challenge against President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s controversial re-election on 23 August, arguing that the country’s courts are ‘captured’. This paves the way for a subdued inauguration of the veteran Zanu-PF leader on Monday.
Zimbabwean Dollar Weakened Against USD At Reserve Bank Auction On 6 September 2023
The Zimbabwean dollar has weakened against the United States dollar (USD) at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s wholesale foreign exchange auction held on September 6, 2023. The USD was sold at a rate of ZW$4,647.9681, compared to ZWL$4,604.62 on August 29, 2023.
While the Zimbabwean dollar has been strengthening against the USD in recent months, this latest development indicates a shift in the trend.
There are predictions that the local currency may further devalue after the recent harmonized elections held on August 23-24, 2023, which saw the ruling ZANU PF party secure victory. The future role of the United States dollar in Zimbabwe’s currency system also remains unclear.
Zimbabwe’s climate action plan: a win for the environment, health and energy
The dumping of billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere yearly is already having a devastating impact around the world. This includes widespread flooding and droughts, raging wildfires, heatwaves and record temperatures.
Africa is particularly hard hit, with temperatures and sea levels rising faster across the continent than the global average.
In Zimbabwe, unreliable rainfalls and extended droughts are affecting hydro electricity generation, resulting in rolling blackouts. Food production is also affected. A large fraction of Zimbabwe’s population is at risk of severe hunger.
Rights lawyers released on US$100 bail each, insist arrest was unlawful
TOP rights lawyers, Douglas Coltart and Tapiwa Muchineripi arrested Monday on allegations of obstructing the course of justice have been granted US$100 bail each.
Coltart and Muchineripi were arrested while attending to their clients, Womberaishe Nhende and Soneni Mukhulane who are abduction and torture victims currently admitted at Parktown Hospital in Harare.
They had denied a police detective, only identified as Chafa, access to their clients because of their current mental and physical state.
The two also told the cop that no police report had been made regarding their client’s abduction as such there was no need to interview them.
Coltart and his colleague appeared before Harare magistrate, Dennis Mangosi raising a number of complaints including that their arrest was unlawful.
Elephant numbers in steady growth
THE elephant population in the region is growing steadily according to the recently released KAZA Elephant Survey Report.
The KAZA Trans-Frontier Conservation Area includes Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe which have common international borders along the Okavango and Zambezi River basins.
According to the report the estimated population of elephants in the region stands at 227 900, indicating that the numbers are stable.
Botswana hosts the largest elephant population of 131 909 followed by Zimbabwe which has 65 028.
The report also showed that Namibia has 21 090, Angola has 5 983 and Zambia 3 840.
An international organisation which helps people and animals to thrive together, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has commended the region for preserving the elephant population.
