harare news

Our city, our liveswww.hararenews.co.zwIssue 19 March 2015

Page 205Page 14Page 6

Zimbabwe’s own motorsport talent

Axcil Jefferies ready for Bahrain

New Director at Alliance

FrançaiseFranck Chabbasseur’s four-year plans

Green ShootsThe students of the NGZ exhibit

Brightening up the bogsOne man’s selfless work in Avondale

Farai Dauramanzi

Since its swearing-in nearly two years ago council has been holding strategic plan-

ning workshops that are aimed at equipping councillors with the requisite knowledge of council procedures.

However, some residents have alleged that councillors are now abusing the workshops for the monetary benefits that are involved. The strategic workshops are usually organ-ised for single committees and are usually held in out-of-town hotels in Kadoma, Kariba and Nyanga.

Sharon Magodyo, the community coordi-nator for the Harare Residents Trust (HRT), said that residents have not experienced any change in the supply of services by city coun-cil despite the number of workshops held by councillors. “As the HRT we see this as an abuse of funds because Councillors award themselves with transport and accommoda-tion allowances for the workshops and at the end they fail to implement their resolutions. There is a need for strategies to make sure that what is put on paper tallies with what is on the ground,” said Magodyo.

Council has a total of seven committees, and each one of them has reportedly gone for an average of three workshops. This means that council has held about 21 workshops. Accord-ing to research by Harare News, the workshops are attended by about 20 people each time, in-cluding councillors and council workers.

Kadoma Ranche Hotel, one of the popular destinations for the workshops, charges $150 for bed and breakfast and $22 for lunch and dinner per person. Council workshops are usually held from Friday to Sunday which means each individual will consume $344, which will translate to a bill of $6,880 for ac-commodation and food for each workshop held at the hotel.

Using this calculation, it means that coun-cil has used more than $144,480 for the 21 workshops excluding transport and daily al-lowances. Other common venues for council workshops are Troutbeck Inn (Nyanga) and Carribea Bay Hotel (Kariba) whose charges are even higher than Kadoma Ranche Hotel.

One councillor in the Business Committee – who spoke to Harare News on condition of anonymity – said that the Human Resources Committee regularly hold strategic planning workshops while other committees only go for special workshops. “I think so far the Hu-man Resources Committee have attended more than seven workshops while the other committees have gone for an average of three. We used to get $50 allowances per day but the HR committee recently pushed for an in-crease of allowances to $150 per day,” said the councillor.

However, Councillor Wellington Chikombo (Ward 28), chairman of the HR Committee, re-futed claims that councillors were now abus-ing the workshops, saying that the workshops were critical in equipping elected officials

Outcry over council workshops

with council procedures. “Most of the work-shops are not burdening the residents. Re-member we were elected by the people and we are fully representing the fundamental rights of the residents who put us into office. We cannot come here to start or embark on extravagance,” explained Chikombo. He said that it is unfortunate that people claim that councillors are squandering council funds through strategic planning workshops. “It is

important to make sure that councillors are taken through induction and are imparted with knowledge, so that they are in a position to execute their mandate in a fair manner.”

However, Chikombo’s assertion that most of council’s workshops are held at no cost to council was shot down by a senior council worker at Townhouse, who commented on condition of anonymity due to the “sensitivity

Continued on page 2

ELECTRIFYING!

Lightning bolts race to ground near downtown Harare. The city has seen several big storms this season, with some parts already approaching the 1,000 mm mark to make this a good year for rain. This photograph was taken from a balcony in the Avenues.

Photo: Alan Hageman

2 Harare News Issue 19 March 2015

General news

Stephen Tsoroti

Harare City councillors are ap-prehensive about the lack of

adequate information regarding the 10% retention system, whereby each council district is set to retain 10% of revenue paid by its residents to promote ward development. The retention system, passed in the 2015 budget, was supposed to start from January. However, councillors say lack of clarity about how the planned system will be implement-ed will render the scheme ineffec-tive, since there will not be enough time to implement projects within the current financial year.

“It is still a grey area for most councillors. We are yet to get the finer details of how the funds are going to be accessed. There is a need for council to fully explain how the scheme is going to operate, how the funds will be used, and the role that residents will play to determine priority projects,” said Sunningdale Councillor Gary Madzingira.

Councillor Markham, of Ward 18 Borrowdale, shared his concerns, saying that mechanisms need to

be put in place to curb corrup-tion and ensure that the system works. “We welcome this develop-ment. Imagine what I can do with $30,000? This is huge money that will help me to repair roads and street lights,” he said, referring to the funds his ward can make use of if 10% is retained. He added, “If the retention system is going to be effective, it should get rid of coun-cil bureaucracy so that councillors can access the money easily.”

Marlborough councillor Char-ity Bango echoed Markham’s sen-timents, saying that “The current municipal system has lacked trans-parency and accountability for years.” I believe the 10% retention system will address that since it

will involve residents in its admin-istration. For Wards that have de-velopment committees it is going to be easy to implement,” said Bango.

Highfield Ward 26 Councillor Special Zuze told Harare News that the retention system was long over-due, but needs councillors to work hard to mobilise community par-ticipation. “It should be all inclusive so as not to derail programmes, as disputes erupt over the administra-tion of the projects,” said Zuze.

A precondition of the system is that each ward should have a Ward Development Committee headed by the Ward Councillor, to ensure transparency and accountability. According to Harare City Council Environmental Committee Chair-man Chris Mbanga, if the system works as intended it will see a lot of improvements in most of the city.

“This plan will help to hold coun-cillors accountable to residents for service delivery in the city,” said The Harare Residents Trust (HRT) director Precious Shumba, adding that if councillors work hand in hand with their community the re-tention system will succeed.

Harare councillors ponder city’s 10% retention system

Local, Regional &International Recruitment

[email protected]

Stephen Tsoroti

Bulk water delivery business LS Waters was last month restored

the right to operate by the High Court in Harare, and are running once more. Parent company Laub-scher Services took the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) Upper Manyame Sub-Catchment Council (UMSCC) to court after be-ing ordered to cease extracting wa-ter from their Greendale premises.

The case will have a negative bearing on a 1 October 2014 direc-tive from the Ministry of Environ-ment Water and Climate, that bulk water suppliers were to stop extrac-tions from within Harare’s suburbs, and move to ZINWA-designated spots outside the city.

LS Waters claimed that there had been an inconsistent application of the law, and that having been issued with a license by ZINWA the subse-quent order to stop operations was illegal and unfair. The judge agreed.

Represented by Obert Mawadze of Messrs Manase and Manase Le-gal Practitioners, LS Waters con-tended their suspension, which was based on an accusation of exceeding their extraction allowance, unlaw-fully and intentionally abstracting underground water with suspended permits knowing that there is a real risk or possibility that his permits were suspended, and threatening ZINWA official Wensley Muchineri.

The lawyer said the state found that his client had complied with ZINWA regulations, and not done anything wrong; in fact the case has exposed double standards going on at UMSCC.

“There are ZINWA officials who are owning bulk water businesses in the area, with the likes of Wens-ley Muchineri who is employed by UMCC as compliance manger for monitoring of water levels, being involved in shady deals. This a sheer breach of ethical standards,” said Mawadze.

“We have since established that the case against my client was to push him out of business, while ZINWA has allowed illegal bulk wa-ter suppliers to operate 200 me-tres from my client’s place,” said Mawadze in interview with Harare News.

“ZINWA did not act according to laws that it purports to serve. The law provides that in the event that there any changes to the rules, stakeholders in the business should be consulted. They never did that,” he said.

Another water business owner, Fanuel Tembo agrees. “We entered into a business contract with ZINWA and as such they cannot just change the rules when they like. Imagine what happens to the equipment we have invested in, the labour force we have hired?” said Tembo, a di-rector of Highmel Services bulk wa-ter supplier.

The LS Waters case has exposed inconsistencies in the UMSCC’s

licensing practice. Evidence reveals that shortly after the cancellation of the LS Waters operations, an-other bulk water supplier, Water At Home, was granted a licence and permit to extract water in the same area. The site operated by Water at Home was not recognised by the city of Harare’s planning depart-ment.

Documents in the hands of Harare News suggest that there were gross applications of rules by the sub-catchment council. For instance, bulk companies were issued with permits to abstract water and paid the inspections and permit fees, but were then being denied licenses to operate their water businesses.

All this shows the continued con-fusion and chaos in the City’s water management authorities. The prob-lems are seemingly old ones since a damning 2008 report by the current UMSCC manager Donald Rwasoka, which described the water man-agement terrain as “more or less

an embodiment of rigged rules and double standards exacerbated by water sector policy misfiring,” and that there was no effective stake-holder engagement whatsoever.

Rwasoka, a respondent in the LS waters case, when asked in court if his 2008 report still rang true in 2015, chose silence.

It seems as though the 1 October directive from the Ministry of En-vironment is effectively a thing of the past. The upsurge of bulk water sales is back on track, with mas-sive extractions taking place from countless city boreholes. Delivery trucks continue to move to and fro, as businesses profit from the appall-ing state of affairs created by City of Harare’s failure to deliver munici-pal water, a situation compounded by the inability and unwillingness of ZINWA to conduct effective stake-holder and resource management. With many city boreholes drying up, more and more residents will be up in arms in the coming year.

ZINWA’s competence questioned in court as water wars wage on

of the matter.” “Why are they try-ing to mislead you like that? All council workshops are council’s business and they cannot be fund-ed by a donor. But the best person to talk to on that matter is the Mayor because he is the one who has been talking about the costs of the workshops,” said the council source.

Efforts to get a comment from the City’s Town Clerk Dr Tendai

Mahachi on the actual costs of the workshops were fruitless as he was said to be of the strong belief that Harare News was trying to cause a fight among the councillors and hence he was not prepared to re-spond. Contacted for a comment, Mayor Bernard Manyenyeni said that he could not respond in time for publication. “Sounds tight. The management team takes forever to respond.”

Outcry over council workshops

Continued from page 1

It should get rid of council bureaucracy so that councillors can access the money easily.The Troutbeck Inn Hotel in Nyanga offers luxurious accommodation.

Photo: Jules Parsons

Harare News 3www.hararenews.co.zw

General news

Farai Dauramanzi

Ward 19 councillor Munyaradzi Kufahakutizwi, who is in his

second term in office, after being elected for the first time in 2008, is one of the most experienced coun-cillors in the current council. He was born in Mutasa District, Mani-caland Province and after complet-ing his A-level studies he worked as a sales clerk for the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) for three years. He was relieved of his duties at GMB around 2006 because of his political activ-ism (in the MDC). He later engaged in cross border trading until his election as councillor in 2008. “My desire to work for the community and my passion to serve the people made me decide to run for coun-cil,” explained Kufahakutizwi.

He was re-elected in 2013 due to the work he did on sewer and water provisions during his first term in office. “My strength lies

Stephen Tsoroti

City of Harare together with the National Museums and Monu-

ments of Zimbabwe (NMMZ), have embarked on the “Historical Build-ing Plaque Project” that will see plaques and information frames placed on buildings and the crea-tion of a street map to be used for guided tours to historical building in the capital.

Louise Bragge, director of Urban Space – an organisation seeking to improve our city’s aesthetic and cul-tural landscape – says that “History and the Arts drive a city’s appeal. The character of most cities in the world is influenced by their histori-cal backgrounds, and Harare is no exception.” A giant street map de-tailing a walking route through the city that visits the historical build-ings will be erected at Speke Avenue, where Urban Space have recently completed a painting project to add interest and colour to the area.

Godfrey Nyaruwanga, researcher and curator with NMMZ, said, “The move is aimed at preserving the buildings and generating tourism. World wide, historical buildings have attracted tourists, research-ers and scholars.” He explained that

countries like Singapore have taken note of the local conservationists’ campaigns for a cultural city and are now promoting historic areas as

tourist attractions. Other examples include Bhaktapur, one of the most traditional cities in Nepal, as well as the Medina of Tunis and the historic

city of Quito in Ecuador.There are a number of protected

buildings in Harare, with a host of them located along Robert Mugabe

Way, and others scattered within the CBD. These include: The Harare City Library, the Anglican Cathe-dral, and the Parliament Building. Nyaruwanga made it clear that these examples only include pro-tected buildings that have been well maintained and well utilised. “But however as we go to downtown there are a number of protected buildings that are in a dilapidated state and are a threat to occupants and users. These building include, for example, the White House Building along Mbuya Nehanda, which has been subjected to uses not compatible with the age of the building leading to structural dam-age and decay.”

The move by the City and its part-ners comes against the backdrop of the recent demolition and alteration of historical buildings in the capital without the consent of the authori-ties. Buildings older than 50 years are considered for their historical status with all structures built as early as 1910 automatically protect-ed by the NMMZ. So far earmarked buildings include The Ranch House College, Queens Hotel, Market Square Hall, Arnold Building, The Parliament of Zimbabwe, Mashon-ganyika Building and Cecil House.

Historical buildings to be recognised and preserved

Meet your councillor: Ward 19, Mabvukuin my ability to relate to the com-munity as well as my commitment to community participation. In fact my interaction with the community makes my job easier as residents feel free to approach me with their problems.”

In terms of projects, Kufahaku-tizwi said that he has not been able to do as much as he wanted to due to financial constraints, although the ward has benefitted from the sinking of six boreholes. “One borehole was sunk this year by the Harare Rotary Club at the open space near Area D community Hall. The other five were sunk last year by the Church of the Latter Days Saints but one has since collapsed. Another project is the expansion

of Mabvuku Poly Clinic which is already in progress,” said Kufa-hakutizwi.

Kufahakutizwi also revealed that he was in the process of sourcing resources to fund

youth projects, as well as a women’s soccer team which needs to register for the women’s league this month. “I am planning to also do a number of clean-ups that will be targeted at clearing blocked storm water drains and right now I am in the process of engaging residents and corporates for help.”

The councillor said that his ward was still facing water problems despite a slight improvement in supply over the past two months. Other challenges faced in the ward include electricity shortages, pot-holed roads, and poor refuse collec-tion by council.

“We still have a big challenge in terms of refuse collection, which is leading to the creation of dump-sites near shops, schools and clin-ics. Our roads are also in a bad state and the storm water drains are choked up (with litter),” said Kufahakutizwi. “We also need to refurbish street lights because we

always experience an increase in the number of muggings at night during the rainy season when there is tall grass and maize. We are also considering awarding open spaces to co-operatives so that they can de-velop housing units to address the housing shortages among the poor.”

Kufahakutizwi revealed that he was facing other challenges in the discharge of his duties such as that of residents in his ward who are in the habit of politicising service de-livery issues. “People should realise that as a councillor I am now play-ing a civic role. People should sepa-rate political and civic roles.”

Residents who wish to contact Kufahakutizwi can visit him at his offices at Area D Community Hall from Tuesday to Thursday from 9am–12pm, or visit him at his house, number 25 Chiruwa Street in New Mabvuku, or call him on 0772 638 030, or email him at [email protected].

JUST SWIFT IT

People should separate political and civic roles.

The Harare City Library is one of many buildings that will be noted on the historical map of Harare.


Council talk

Staff Writer

A new online platform called Harare Mu-nicipality Services (HMS) that promotes

better service delivery through transparency, crowd-sourced data, and reporting efficiency has been developed by concerned Harare resi-dents. See the infographic, opposite, for infor-mation on what is, developers want to empha-sise, a first version, one which will evolve and get polished as users give feedback.

So what is it? What does it do? HMS is a website which anyone can access. It offers residents a simple way to log a report on serv-ice delivery and water supply issues, each of which is categorised and allocated a colour. Critical to the functionality is that each report is geo-tagged, and visible on a map of Harare. The result is a real-time, accurate, resident-driven and highly visual representation of service issues, and, hopefully, council’s re-sponses to them.

Richard Owen, a groundwater professional who was worried about the rapid depletion of groundwater, which he attributes to the fail-ure of council to pipe water to residents, took the lead in developing the back end of the site with help from his son. He was initially spurred to create a user-generated map that reflected the state of the city’s water supply. In a recent demonstration of the tool to Harare News, he drew attention to the “Borehole Dried Up”, “Bulk Water Seller”, “Water Leak” and “Verge Watering” categories of report. “If enough users come online and report, we can draw correlations between things – it closes the gap between supposition and fact,” said Owen. “If for instance, users post numerous reports of water leaks along a section of pipe, we know that rather than repairing, that pipe needs replacing,” he explained.

Former Chair of City of Harare Residents’ Association (CHRA) Mike Davies has had a key role to play in the final vision of HMS in that it encompasses numerous other service deliv-ery categories to paint a complete picture of where we stand in areas such as roads, waste, and sewerage.

“In an ideal world, council would use this system to inform their work. It should help them understand and prioritise service de-livery issues in a fair manner,” said Davies, highlighting the fact that a lot of service de-livery such as road repairs are biased towards residents who shout the loudest, or have some strings to pull in council. “If we can get a critical mass to log reports and get council to engage, the applications for the subsequent database are fantastic” added Davies.

Whilst the tool is undeniably a good one with huge potential, the developers are not expecting it to result in a clean and orderly city overnight, but rather that it forms part of the eventual solution to the City’s woes. “We don’t expect this to result in everything being fixed,” said Davies, “but it will help towards more informed decision making – data-driv-en solutions rather than anecdotal stuff.”

Member of Parliament for Harare West, Jessie Majome, has taken some time to ex-plore the tool and is very positive about its po-tential. “It’s brilliant and could help bridge the yawning gap between council and residents – a gap which I find occupies much of my time as an MP when I should be working on par-liamentary issues,” she said. “As MP, I want an alerts function to help keep me abreast of the constituency’s issues,” added Majome.

On whether or not council will adopt this, Majome believes that they could be per-suaded since modern tools are making their way into City Hall, as indicated by the Mayor

Stephen Tsoroti

Residents of the populous township of Mbare, Ward 4, have brought forward

complaints to Harare News about the mis-management of affairs by Councillor Martin Matinyanya. Speaking to this paper recently, residents said that the councillor has done nothing to improve their living conditions. Most of the flats have not been repainted for years, many still have no running water and the sewerage system has collapsed. They ac-cuse him of hampering development and politicising his office making it difficult for residents to express their grievances.

“The state of our flats is appalling. Our councillor has not been addressing the per-tinent issues and instead there is haphazard allocating of business space,” said a resident who refused to be named for fear of vic-timization. Another resident, Linford Musi-wacho, a vendor who operates at Mbare grounds, said there are no consultations and few feedback meetings. Tapera, a resident of Nenyere flats close to Mukuvisi Business Complex, said, “Our hostels have been en-croached on by shacks erected by business people making the living conditions difficult for us.” Another resident, who operates a motor spares business, said council matters are being run chaotically in the ward. “Only those with links to the councillor are heard. Councillors should be accountable to people by listening to their grievances rather than being a boss figure,” he lamented.

Peter Murwira of Best Multiple Coopera-tive, castigated the councillor saying that instead of concentrating on repairing the roads, which are in appalling state, and the water and sewer reticulation problems, the councillor is perpetuating the deterioration of infrastructure in the area by allocating

every space available to people from outside the ward. Best Multiple Cooperative, which is made up of 56 members who are formally employed at Magaba, was recently stopped by the Councillor from constructing a mul-ti-storey building in unclear circumstances despite approval from both the city plan-ning and inspectorate departments.

Another sore issue is that the health situa-tion in the area is severely neglected. “There is no clinic at the Siyaso market or close by despite the hazardous work done in the in-dustrial market,” complained Muriwa.

Contacted by Harare News about com-plaints by residents in his ward, Councillor Matinyanya said that he was not aware of any grievances. He went on to say that reno-vations of the flats have been in the pipeline for a while. “We have approached the city engineering department to provide us with their engineers to rehabilitate the water and sewer systems at the flats but it is a process that takes time,” said Matinyanya.

The councillor has been fingered in or-ganising youths who were at the centre of fights in the area where they recently chased away United Arab Emirates (UAE) investors who wanted to pour in more than $45 mil-lion towards construction of the state-of-the-art Shawasha Business Complex close to Mupedzanhamo market. As if that was not enough, the local authority has also shelved another mega project that could have seen Mbare bus terminus getting a facelift by fit-ting it with modern electronic systems to monitor movement of buses from all over the country and region.

Ward 4 encompasses one of the coun-try’s largest produce markets as well as the Mukuvisi Industrial Park (Siyaso) which together provides a livelihood for a substan-tial portion of the population of the suburb.

Data-driven service delivery with Harare Municipality Services online

Mbare Residents take councillor to task

taking to social media recently. “One obstacle is council’s infuriating bureaucracy,” warned Majome, “I have waited four years for con-firmation of a site on which I want to build a community hall to donate to council! Getting this moved into the mainstream will require lobbying to and with critical stakeholders. Adding Shona access would also help,” Ma-jome advised.

HMS uses the Ushahidi platform which was developed in Kenya after the 2007 election violence. Ushahidi means ‘witness’ in Swahili, and the open source platform has been used

to great effect in countless situations such as after the Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand, a severe snow storm in Washington DC, a wifi-signal map in India, and a map of blood donation points after the brutal mall attacks in Nairobi last year.”Building Harare Municipality Services was pretty straightfor-ward,” says Owen, “but it will only be useful if residents participate.” With internet penetra-tion in Zimbabwe approaching 50% as driven by the affordability of smart phones, this is not hard to imagine.

Photo: Luckie AaroniMbare residents face a host of ever worsening challenges.


Infographic

City of Harare Responses

Illegal structures

Water Leak

Bulk Water Seller

Street Lighting

Potholes severe

Waste Collection

Borehole Dried Up or significant (>50%) yield reduction

Sewage discharge to street

Verge Watering

No Municipal Water

https://hararemunicipalityservices.crowdmap.com

https://hararemunicipalityservices.crowdmap.com

Harare Municipality Services×

A new website for reporting and viewing service delivery issues has been built by concerned

residents. This month’s infographic takes a look at how the site works, and what it means for the City. Over time, tools like this will be important in understanding the problems in Harare via excellent databases generated by the public. To make it work, residents need to file reports. It’s very easy, so go online and report an issue in your neighbourhood. See the article on page 4 for more information.

1. Something in your area that needs attention?

2. Visit the website and click on “SUBMIT A REPORT”

3. Councillors and other residents can see your report…

4. …and act on it. They can report back on the website.

@HarareServices

Find them on Facebook

Categories

When you submit a report, you’ll need to choose from one of the categories. The location is saved together with a title and description, and you can also upload photos and link to videos.

When viewing the map, you can enable the WARD BOUNDARIES layer to see which ward your report falls in. Visit www.hararenews.co.zw/councillor-contacts/ to get contact details for councillors in all wards in Harare.

Reports are visible to anyone visiting the site. Have a look and see if other residents are experiencing the same issues that you are.

Uses/Applications• Easy filing of reports• Real-time database

for municipality• Tool for media• Comparison of service

delivery by ward• Diverse extensions as

database growsGraphic: Graham van de Ruit


Community

Jan Raath

There is nothing nicer in these times of greed and want to find

someone who does something re-ally good and useful for no reward, but only because it had to be done.

And it’s verging on saintliness when the person doing it can barely afford his next meal but lays out his own hard-earned cash to do it.

Meet Munyaradzi Zowa, the pa-tron saint of clean public toilets.

He has a small locksmith busi-ness in a little blue trolley in the dead-end lane in Avondale shopping centre, between a clothing shop and an estate agent on the west side of King George Rd.

In 2008, when all services in Zim-babwe went to hell in the billion percent inflation, the public toilet behind the trolley was vandalised. The water pipes were stolen and the toilets blocked. No-one came to fix them. People relieved themselves against the wall and dumped their rubbish there.

The filth of urine and excre-ment was overwhelming, but still nobody did anything, not even the

well-heeled shop owners and bank-ers. Two years ago, Zowa had had enough. “It was terrible. The place was a health hazard.”

“I wrote a letter to the city coun-cil’s waste management department and asked them to fix the toilet,” he said. The department said it had no money, but sent plumbers to do the

job. But first, he said, “I had to buy everything. Sometimes I even had to fetch them when they didn’t have transport.”

The filth was removed and the concrete floor inside and outside the toilets were washed clean, the building had gleaming new water pipes, new plastic flushing water

cisterns for the open-pit toilets in the gents, and new seats in the la-dies.

The council provided a perma-nent woman cleaner. Then Zowa welded a bright-blue painted steel fence with a gate that he locks at night to prevent another round of vandalisation. It all cost him $300

from his own pocket. The little stretch of gravel around his trolley is kept swept and tidy. If the toilet blocks, he calls the council. If they haven’t come in three days, he fetches them.

“The only way was to fix it,” he says matter–of-factly. “Where you are working, you are supposed to be clean. You see people in town do-ing vending, they see rubbish lying around, and they just leave it.”

When he started his project, the council asked him if wanted to make it a pay toilet or free. “I said I don’t want a pay toilet. If I was after money, people would have to pay. I did it for the community.”

The Avondale public toilet is a unisex affair for now. The only place the cleaning woman has to store her cleaning materials is in the ladies, which has to be kept locked to de-ter theft. So if a woman needs re-lief, she has to use the gents. Zowa checks first to see no men are there.

His next project is to build a steel-plated cupboard to store the clean-ing material, and open the ladies again, and give women their dignity back.

Lovemore Lubinda

Rapid population growth includ-ing rural to urban migration

has choked Harare, a city unable to absorb the rapid influx of new resi-dents. At the heart of the issue is an affordable housing backlog of about half a million homes. The result has been a proliferation of bogus land dealers and illegal housing struc-tures all across the city.

Unregistered and often fraudu-lent housing cooperatives are of real concern. They offer a way out for so many people desperate to own and develop a small plot to call home in the capital, but as so many victims have discovered, end up causing confusion, anger, financial strife, and heartbreak. So how should resi-dents and would-be home owners ensure their safety from unscrupu-lous dealers taking advantage of a demand-driven marketplace?

Alec Muchadehama, a renowned Harare lawyer, told Harare News that the cases of people being duped by unscrupulous groups and/or land barons masquerading as hous-ing cooperatives is a growing cause for concern in the city. He added that whenever there is some form of circumvention of the law in set-ting up such organisations, there will always be a legal problem down the line.

Muchadehama, of Mbidzo, Muchadehama and Makoni Legal Practitioners, said cooperatives, if well set up and in accordance with the law, offer a number of advan-tages to members, chief among them being that members share the costs of land purchase and develop-ment as a group rather than as in-dividuals. He warned that residents should watch out for fraudsters who hold some formal-looking sheets of paper, but who have no

actual properties behind them – a relatively easy scam to set up.

A typical example is that of Taurai Hoko of Chitungwiza, who said his

hope for having a house of his own turned bleak after paying subscrip-tion for months, only to discover that the money was not being used as promised. “Quite a number of us joined a housing cooperative. After months of no action on the ground

we approached a lawyer, only to find out that the cooperative was a no show,” he said.

He said the matter is yet to be fi-nalised and urged members of the public to be wary of these bogus ele-ments among us.“These things are really happening,” he lamented.

Muchadehama urged the would-be members of such entities to al-ways check with the relevant min-istry if the cooperative they want to join is registered before they be-come members. “After verifying the registration, it is important for one to visit the cooperative in person and see if it exists on the ground, not on paper alone, and establish whether it has the proper struc-tures as prescribed by the Act,” he added. “Where it claims to have acquired land from either the City Council or Government, it is wise to verify such claims with the said authorities before committing to

the organisation. By doing so one is sure that the land the cooperative say is its own is indeed legitimately theirs.”

Muchadehama explained how the Act governing cooperatives re-quires them to have a constitution, to carry out elections, audits and meetings. “In this regard the would-be members should go as far as at-tending those meetings so that they know if what they want to join is indeed a bona fide housing coopera-tive,” he said.Residents are urged to check with the Ministry of Small and Me-dium Enterprises and Cooperative Development if a Co-op is registered or not. Call 731002/3/6/8 and ask for The Registrar of Co-ops or call Mr S Hlatywayo The Director of Co-ops on 758378/0712 874 851. They can also call Mr C Tumbare who is Acting Deputy Director of Co-ops on 792680/0772 927 102.

What to do when joining a housing cooperative

Let’s hear it for the Avondale Toilet Angel

I said I don’t want a pay toilet. If I was after money, people would have to pay. I did it for the community.

The only community based newspaper in the capital that makes Harare a better place to live, work and play. 20,000 copies every month speak to everyone across the city from the high to the low density areas – and everywhere in between – covering all the news you want to see.

NGOs, embassies, businesses, schools and community based organisations, grab this chance to get a year’s bulk subscription delivered directly to your doorstep.

5 copies a month: $110 per year, 10 copies a month: $165 per year, 20 copies a month: $220 per year

“We are now into the second year of our bulk subscription of Harare News. It gives our staff and visitors to our offices a great view into issues that are relevant to residents of Harare.”

Waltraud Plattner-Freitag, Head of Administration, Delegation of the European Union

To take advantage of this offer contact Sara on 0779 530 748 or email [email protected].

Subscribe to and never miss an issue!

Munyaradzi Zowa at his key cutting stall in an Avondale shops cul de sac.

It is important for one to visit the cooperative in person to see if it exists on the ground.


Community

Lovemore Lubinda

City of Harare’s desperate need for funds to service its creditors and pay retrenched

workers has seen it leasing Rufaro Marketing, which falls under its Business Unit depart-ment, in a move to rehabilitate this loss-mak-ing undertaking.

Residents used to be able to relax and en-joy themselves at these beer halls, which were scattered around in most of the city’s sub-urbs, but over the last few years most of them have become dilapidated, neglected and fallen into disrepair or become totally non function-al, except for a few that are privately run.

According to Daniel Mutiwadirwa, Rufaro Marketing Chief Executive Officer, the total leasing undertaking is at around 96% – mean-ing 82 out of 85 outlets have been leased out so far. However, he said the occupancy rate varies month by month due to voluntary or forced surrender.

Some of the leased beer halls had been ren-ovated for other uses that are not related to selling beer. This means a reduction in recrea-tional venues. Some of the tenants who took up the leased halls include TN Harlequin, Life-style Holdings, Delta, PSMI, Econet, and other individuals.

Mutiwadirwa told Harare News in an inter-view that they were targeting $4.5m annually, but currently they are averaging $1.8m. They have earned $4.4m since the last quarter of 2012, against a target of $7.8m. The failure to reach the forecast was attributed to the sub-dued national economy, resulting in rentals reviews in line with the dictates of the mar-ket, and low occupancy rate. He said council has managed to reduce the $7m debt to $5.4m since last quarter of 2012 with proceeds from the undertaking, adding that the servicing of the legacy debts has been slow owing to the high default rates by tenants.

“The leasing model is far superior in terms of profitability than liquor retailing. In addi-tion leasing is less resource hungry, since it does not require recapitalisation for working capital and capital expenditure,” he said. He added that leasing, like any other business, would require huge capital for expansion as opposed to survival or subsistence.

One of the reasons for leasing was to raise funds to pay retrenched workers. The Rufaro Marketing boss said the majority of the laid-off workers have been paid and that only a few retrenchment payments, representing less than $10,000, are still outstanding.

“Defaulters face the risk of litigation, prop-erty attachment, eviction, or forfeiture of property pledged as security,” he said. CoH has been criticised by residents for not pri-oritising issues to do with service delivery while councillors live luxurious lifestyles and receive obscenely high salaries. It remains to be seen if this improvement in income would translate into better service for the residents.

The demise of Rufaro Marketing: a blessing in disguise?

The leasing model is far superior in terms of profitability than liquor retailing.

A quiet Thursday afternoon at a beerhall for-merly owned by council, but now private.

Blue Bar was handed over to former council workers as part of their retrenchment package.


Environment

Where to get your Harare News

Read-only copies are available in numerous waiting areas, coffee spots, restaurants, all the libraries, schools etc. But for a copy to keep, please visit one of our distribution partners:

Avenues: Athienitis Spar Avondale: 40 Cork Road, Avondale Bookshop Ballantyne Park: Ballantyne Spar, Pemcol Bakery Belgravia: UpMarket, Reps Theatre Borrowdale: Village Spar, Folios Bookshop CBD: Book Café,

Food World Group Outlets, National Gallery, Plan Printing Services (opp Eastgate) Chisipite: Tool Mart (Lewisham), Bon Marché (Chisi Shops) Dzivarasekwa: DZ Extention Chesa Centre, DZ 4 Shops, EcoCash Booths DZ3 Commuter Rank

Greencroft: Civic Pharmacy Greendale: Pick n Pay Kamfinsa, Spar Kamfinsa Kensington: Kenlink Pharmacy, Eskbank Kuwadzana: OK Supermarket (Kuwadzana 5 Shops), Meat Market (Kuwadzana 1 Shops)

Mabvuku/Tafara: Net Fuel Service Station (Acturus Rd), OK Supermarket, Spar Mabvuku Mbare: Vendor Mount Pleasant: Veldemeers, Billy’s Meats, Blackstone Book Shop Highlands: Ranchod’s Hardware Rolf Valley: Sorellas,

Willowmead Westgate: Pick n Pay

For distribution queries or bulk subscriptions, please contact [email protected].

Staff Writer

Sweet, chewy, and bursting with the energy of the sun. This is

how the produce dried using the Zimbabwe Solar Dryer (ZSD) emerg-es after just a few hours. The ZSD is a new-to-market device with posi-tive implications for fruit and leafy vegetable growers and sellers every-where.

The consumption of sundried fruit dates back as far as Mesopota-mia, 6,000 years ago! In those days it was dates, raisins, figs, apricots, and apples that were sun-dried, but the modern market is considerably more diverse, and includes nearly every fruit and lots of vegetables, from bananas to covo, which then becomes mufushwa to be eaten with sadza.

Most modern dryers use electric-ity, often linked to the national grid, to warm up and ventilate the pro-duce. Given our power shortages, our rural population, and luxurious amounts of sunshine, a return to the sun to carry out the dehydration process is a no-brainer in modern Zimbabwe. No doubt South African

fruit drying businesses will also be looking for solutions like this, given the recently erratic Eskom service.

Two years in the making, the ZSD is the work of agricultural engi-neer Raymond Nyazare and agro-ecologist Newton Spicer, who have perfected a simple, cost-effective, and robust design that holds huge

potential for small and large scale producers, entrepreneurs, and households looking to add value to their crops. NGOs and government departments with interests in SMEs, hunger and poverty alleviation and youth empowerment will also be taking notice of this product.

“We initially tested the concept

with chilies, and even though our first creation was less effective than the one we have perfected now, we dried a tonne of chilies very quick-ly,” says Spicer, who was pleased with the concept, even with the ear-ly stages of testing.

Consisting of 2.4 meter frames covered in plastic sheeting to trap heat, the dryers use an electric fan powered by a photovoltaic panel to circulate air over the produce and remove moisture. The 2.4 metre sections can be used individually, or in tandem up to an optimum length of 9.6 metres using a single fan. The fruit or veg is prepared and laid out on sliding trays that fit neatly into the dryer.

“The preparation of the fruit is the hard part, and can take a while depending on the fruit,” says Spic-er,” but it is time well spent. The nu-merous vendors struggling to sell their fruit on the side of the road might find this a more valuable way to spend their time, since the value added is considerable.”

There are several advantages to dried fruit. In terms of nutrition, most dried fruit retains almost all

nutrients, with some benefits such as antioxidants actually increasing during drying. As a rule of thumb, the faster the produce is dehydrat-ed, the better – giving the produce from the ZSD a huge boost.

In terms of economics, the costs associated with storage and trans-portation of produce are reduced drastically, since dried fruit has a very long shelf life, and weighs sub-stantially less. There is no longer any need to discard unsold produce, which has implications for food security whereby harvests can be stored for use during off-season.

“Although we will always be looking for efficiencies, our testing phase is over, and our workshop is now ready for orders,” says Spicer, over a mouthwatering sample of dried apples that were whole ap-ples just the day before. “In terms of spares and repairs, the design is so simple, we expect users to be able to maintain their dryers indefinitely of their own accord,” he added.For more information on the Zimba-bwe Solar Dryer, call 0772 264 486 or email [email protected]

Zimbabwe Solar Dryers – a new product applying ancient knowledge

Just Swift It!This article is sponsored by…

Newton Spicer demonstrates the Zimbabwe Solar Dryer.


Environment

Harry Davies

Controversy that has simmered up over the building of a wedding venue and the sub-

sequent development of Valley Road in Green-dale is the result of poor communication and coordination by city council. Residents have been left guessing and feeling disconnected from events in their ward, while the business owners feel under attack.

Valley Road runs between Cecil Drive and Metcalfe Road. It has been on the map of Harare for many years but was never built. Now development is being carried out by the owners of the Zimbali venue, which hosts weddings and other functions. Talking to Harare News, management outlined their in-tentions to fully pave the public road with a view to ensuring the safety and comfort of their guests.

“This is not a new road, it has always been there on the map,” says Zimbali owner and manageress, Martha Tapfuma. “Somebody grabbed the money that was meant for this road and it was never developed. Council has neglected it. They should be made to pay for the crimes that were committed in the over-grown bushes of this road,” she said, in ref-erence to four murders she said took place in the area. Harare News was unable to confirm this with the ZRP. The councillor and a near-by resident also said that they hadn’t heard about any murders.

One vendor did confirm that there had been some crime, though certainly no murders. “We do need that road. Leander Road is the next one over, but it’s too far,” he said. Air time vendor Taffie also implored the developers to finish the job, since the road is currently in a deplorable state after rain stopped play some time in December.

Asked whether the road was in compli-ance with Environmental Managemet Agency regulations, specifically the carrying out of an Environmental Impact Assessment, Tapfuma was adamant that all her ducks were in a row. She says that any word to the contrary is an act of hostility from corrupt officials or resi-dents whom she feels have singled her out be-cause of her race.

“EMA has been here, we have cleared it with EMA. Same for council. We don’t have prob-lems with any authorities. I made sure that my paperwork was in order. If anybody want-ed a bribe, I told them that I don’t do that. If anybody is angry because I didn’t pay them a bribe, I will deal with them,” she said, visibly emotional.

EMA’s Environmental Impact Assessment Department were unavailable to comment as Harare News went to press. Calls to Town House also proved fruitless, though council-lor for the area, Ward 9’s Stewart Mutizwa, had lots to say – a turnaround since Novem-ber when he claimed ignorance of who was building the road or why.

“I approved the events venue, but nothing came to me about the road,” said Mutizwa, who seemed offended by the disregard that Zimbali ownership showed for him. Unfortu-nately, even by his own account he has made little effort to engage with them himself.

Mutizwa described the development of the road as having Council’s blessing, but because it is about ten meters off the mapped area it has blocked the stream, and is thus an issue. “They have the correct papers and road build-ing can continue,” said Mutizwa, “but they must follow the surveyed area. If they had come to me, I would have advised them on what needed to be done.”

Mutizwa describes himself as having “a very open door policy,” but it seems this has not been enough to win the confidence of business owners and residents in the area. Issues include water provision, illegal water dealers, and dry boreholes; rubbish removal; and of course, Zimbali, who also operate a water business. “We own ten hectares of land and our hydrological surveys have shown that our extractions are not impacting our neighbours. In addition, we are fully licensed

Greendale stink caused by lack of council facilitationand are being monitored by the Upper Man-yame Sub Catchment Council,” said Tapfuma who flashed around UMSCC paperwork when asked to discuss this aspect.

One resident said that she had never been informed of anything that was taking place at Zimbali, and that council communication on issues in the neighbourhood was completely dire: “There might have been one council meeting last year, but there is certainly noth-ing regular like there is in Ward 8.”

Tapfuma joked about the air of rumour that surrounds her: “People think I’m Chi-nese, Russian, a diamond dealer, or even the First Lady,” she said, “but I’m none of these. I have no political power. I am a Zimbabwean who is trying to prosper and bring develop-ment to this area.”

Valley Road construction halted with the rains.


From the web

Talking Twitter with

Sir Nige

The Kalabash Kurb with Anthea

We are constantly told that language is continuously evolving and that if we

don’t keep up we’ll be entirely out of touch with the pulse of a society. I have found this to be true, particularly when it comes to words heard floating around in Harare. These words tend to not be in the dictionary and as such I have decided that an alternative dictionary needs to be started! Let’s look at this week’s key definitions

1. “ssss” Pronounced like an incessant hiss-ing noise. A legitimate way for someone to try to get your attention. I mean legitimate as in it happens often, not as in it isn’t annoying. It’s very annoying. However, ignore it at your own risk. This needless form of spittle shar-ing can be used to indicate anything from “you’ve dropped your wallet” or “you’ve for-gotten your change” to “I’d like to start sexu-ally harassing you now”. A societal favourite.

2. “kombi” Metal death trap on wheels used to get people from point A to B. Occa-sionally referred to as a bus. Most pertinent example used to counter the idea that Zim-babweans are not risk takers or do not like to live on the edge. Safety is not a priority, but running away from the police will often cre-ate a sense of transportation-wide camara-derie that cuts across social class. Talk about working towards national unity.

3. “sister” Outside of church and familial relations, this is a term that refers to an at-tractive woman. If prefaced by “ssss” it is an indicator that one has been deemed worthy of only the highest order of sexual harass-ment. No overt crassness for you, only the finest in sexual innuendo and offers to walk you home. Erm, yay you?

4. “mbudzi” A term of mockery. Re-fers to a phone that does not have internet

capabilities. Attempts to explain this fault away as a product of your wanting to not be “on the grid” will be met with looks of pity and sympathy. No, the fact that you think it’s uber hipster will not help matters. One must be able to whatsura. Alleged techno-scepti-cism be gone.

5. “whatsura” A key addition to the Shona language. Refers to real time communication via the whatsapp platform. A key indicator of how necessary this app has become. No, we would not like to have a conversation about how safe our data really is on this platform, at this time. What matters is that most tel-ecommunications companies offer bundles now (yes, that’s a jibe at you NetOne) and we can share funny videos en masse. Huzzah!

Anthea is a staff writer at kalabashmedia.com

Whether it’s a blessing or a curse, tech-nology is here to stay. The way we live,

communicate, and learn has been greatly af-fected by rapid changes in technology.

Thanks to the web, people now communi-cate faster, and have easier access to informa-tion. Facebook, Whatsapp, Email, and Skype help us share and collaborate with other us-ers worldwide. One wonders why our educa-tional system has been less adaptable to this rapid change in technology?

Schools have been run in the same way for the past century, making it difficult for parents, teachers, and students to embrace change. We have seen an increase in the number of school drop outs, some of whom have ended up becoming billionaires, like Bill Gates (Microsoft Inc. founder) and Mark Zuckerburg (Facebook Inc. founder).

This does not mean that school is no longer important to achieve success, but it would be better if the schooling system becomes more flexible, and accommodates the rapid chang-es that come with technology.

Today’s world has an insatiable demand for information and effective communication. Parents, teachers, students, and the school’s administration need an efficient system that updates them regularly and that is a conven-ient yet dependable source of information – a learner management system. The ideal learner management system ensures effec-tive collaboration between the school’s board of directors, the administration department, teachers, parents, and students, which en-sures effective communication on the go and addresses the needs of each party.

Parents want to find out how well their

child is doing at anytime from anywhere. They want to be able to check their school fees account as well as get teacher feedback on their child in a convenient way. This gives them confidence in the school, and makes them see an increased level of value in the school.

The school’s directors and administrators want to see how the school is doing in terms of academic excellence, the level of technol-ogy, and as a business. They need a com-prehensive reporting system that enables effective decision making. Students want to track their progress, and have instant ac-cess to help and resources whether they are in class, on the road or at home. With this present era of technology the teacher is no longer the sole source of information. This creates a more demanding role for teachers as mentors; leading and guiding students so that technology and education are utilised to the fullest.

With a learner management system,

parents are kept up to date with their child’s academic life, and teachers can track the progress of each student, while mentoring a greater number of students in less time in a virtual classroom. Students are able to ac-cess learning resources, engage in learning groups and instant chat sessions with the teacher, using their laptops, smartphones or tablets, anywhere at any time.

Is a learner management system the ulti-mate key for technology in education? We do not think so, but we can say is that it is the ideal way to start this road, as it is flex-ible, adaptable, convenient, and can be tailor made to suit your school’s needs.

Frampol is a total ICT solutions provider. Are you part of a school and want a solution that helps you achieve effective communication and reporting? If yes get Edumanager: the leading learner management system for any school.To know more email: [email protected], call 487100, whatsapp +263772426227

Technology and education: how can we mix the two efficiently?

80 Mutare Road, Msasa +263 4, 447710/9, 487100, 485540/1 [email protected]

Internet Service Provision

Cloud Computing

Computer Hardware & Software Supplies

Frampol is proud to power Harare News

Zim Pride when Zim Cricket pays?@iMisred: Why is it that we Have NO pride in Anything Zimbabwean??We don’t Celebrate Zimbabwe or Zimbabweaness????@MgciniNyoni: We were told and stupidly believed that attacking everything Zimbabwean was the way to achieve #democracy@lizweC: Cool down Misred. It’s okay, it’s okay *pats on the back*@Talk_Expert: Nigerians & Zimbabweans on same search. Looking for ‘a point’ where we can just love countries. Tough for both nationals@iMisred: Sum1 on the Street tells me to take off my Cricket Shirt cos we losin,I Told them off! Whether we win or Lose it is STILL MY TEAM!ZBC@BlacktoeTV: How much would you be willing to pay ZBC per year in license fees if they gave you the programmes you want?@libo88_HO: If ZBC give me programmes that r relevant 2 me gud movies and music & cut down on political ads I’d pay up to $150 per yr@mthansingo: well since its public media funded by the government...20 bucks a year is fair@zenzele: ZBC is failing to provide quality programming for 2 channels and yet they are talking about 6 new channels.Where will the money came from@Supapepo: am even surprised that ztv has two channels@SureKamhunga: Pack 1 channel with super programming and grow from there. Have they ever asked themselves why even rural people watch DSTV?Dyslexia in Zimbabwe@marlon_ralph: (Dyslexia)is a condition that if a child is afforded the appropriate interventions will not hamper them from achieving their full life potential@Just_Midzi: Not something that I’ve heard much about in this space to be honest. In fact, most disabilities aren’t spoken about@Zimtweets: Not in Zim but these are dyslexics who’ve done well for themselves; Richard Branson, Albert Einstein, Steven Spielberg & Ted Turner@sosowaire3: is that condition only found in kids or does it have an age limit@_mthunzi_: I have it. Lots of work with psychologists and reading coaches helped me read faster and more accurately + pay more attention@Thatsmyrambling: dyslexia does not affect general intelligence@RickyEMarima: Tonight’s #263Chat on dyslexia’s hitting home. I was never diagnosed but I think this may have contributed to my struggle with school exams@RickyEMarima: Now as a parent I know what to look out for so I’ll be sure to get my daughter the right schooling if her brain works like mine@luckyngirande3: interesting subject ; i noticed in our culture dsnt accommodate such conditions .Its sad reality cant spare us a thot on itFood for thought@Dzing_: ZESA is like the naughty kid in class who when you’re just about to give them a good comment they just go back to their old ways.....@pchinjx: I see a lot of people mainly women drivers with kids all over the car wiout seatbelts on , not safe and udon’t love yo kids surely@eshonge: Cut the negative people out of your life. The people you spend time with influence your attitude and thoughts more than you think@GulleysZw: WELCOME to ZIM: Where unemployed youths pick up weapons to fight in support of the politicians who deprivethem of employment & agood life@TichRay: Will newspapers please stop writing about and giving publicity to these prophets’ stupid claims and shenanigans. Just stop. Please

Sign up to Twitter and join the #263chat conversation online.

Keeping up with your urban lingo

Computers and other digital devices are a necessity in today’s classroom if children are to be prepared for their futures.

Photo: International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) via Flickr Creative Commons

Just Two Coates of the all newAPPLE SCENTEDPVA will give you a perfect finish

NEW

Factory Showroom - 22 George Drive Msasa Harare

Paint Express - Cnr Orr and Robson Manyika Harare

Maxi Tiles - 51 Steven Drive Msasa Harare

MICA Telford - 24 Telford Road Graniteside Harare

Mica Msasa, Hardware Planet -Chisipite, Planet Hardware -Workington, Mica BanketFABS Hardware, Open House, Farm World, Electrical Hardware, Graniteside Electrical,

Kensington Hardware, Bandridge, Battery Centre, All PG Branches Countrywide, TnT Hardware,

Nyati Hardare, Pool Plazza Hardware,S D Hardware - Banket, Mushonga - Bhora Mrehwa,

Quality Hardware - Mutare, Just Deal, Hardware Centre,OK MART Harare, Mt Pleasant Hardware, Colour Lux,

Union Hardware

Atrak Paints (PVT) LTD22 George Drive, Msasa, Harare

447 897, Fax 447 898

Available at the following

ON SPECIAL

Fully automatic tinting machineavailable @

Easter Promotion start now don’t miss itAll Branches


Feature

Kundai Marunya

“Pain strikes down every muscle of my body. I feel exhausted all the time, I feel

cramped, and everything about life crushes every effort to smile. I just wanted it all to end,” says Rebecca Nyamande*, a 22-year-old university student who tried to commit sui-cide.

In her suicide attempt, Rebecca overdosed on pills. Luckily a neighbour showed up just in time to save her. She was rushed to hospi-tal where the ‘poison’ was pumped out of her system, but the suicidal thoughts still occupy her mind.

“I put a lot of financial strain on my parents who struggle to pay my school fees. I wish working hard to achieve high scores was the only requirement to pass exams, but you have to add on sexual favors to the lecturers or pay up for a good grade,” she says.

Trying to fit in among her peers, some of

whom can afford a lot more than she can, doesn’t make Rebecca’s life any easier. She often finds herself singled out of plans to go

out and have fun, because she cannot afford to contribute to the expenses.

These pressures have made Rebecca’s life unbearable for her. She wants to succeed, she wants to please her parents but it’s just too hard. “There is no worse feeling than that I get when I fail and my parents just look at me like I’m a disgrace to the family,” she said.

Rebecca is not alone in her depression. A large part of the population shares her di-lemma. Many people lost their jobs in the past years adding to the already over 95% people who (according to International Labour Or-ganisation) are not formally employed.

“Ends are not meeting for the large part of the population, and the pressure is visible through the increased drug and alcohol abuse and suicides,” says psychologist Dr Theresa Chiendambuye, who draws attention to a cor-relation between unemployment and depres-sion.

In a research paper published in the last

Depression: a disease rampant in Zimbabwequarter of last year, Dr Chiendambuye ex-plains that “Signs of depression include per-sistent feelings of sadness, anxiety, emptiness, hopelessness, helplessness, worthlessness, guilt, and restlessness. They also include: loss of appetite, or overeating; sleeping too much or not enough; interest in death and suicide, loss of interest in life and things that used to make you happy; decreased or lack of energy, crying all the time; difficulty concentrating and making decisions; and aches and pains that don’t get better with treatment.”

She said people should seek medical at-tention when suffering from depression. “Depression is a disease that can be treated. It is because many people don’t treat it as a disease that we end up having suicides or suf-fering from various other health issues,” said Dr Chiendambuye.

Dr Chiendambuye believes that the lack of awareness on the availability of counselling services in Harare and the nation at large does not help the situation.“Counselling serv-ices are crucial in any society, but even more so in a country going through a terrible eco-nomic depression.” She said it is important that counselling services be established and well staffed with qualified personnel in edu-cational institutes and the community, and treated with the same priority as any physical health facilities.

We live in a society where depressed in-dividuals are expected to just snap out of it and be happy. This often drives people over the edge, ending up in many young people abusing alcohol and drugs. Recently students from tertiary educational institutes, notably University of Zimbabwe, have been commit-ting and attempting to commit suicide. Three deaths made headlines in the past month alone.

Dr Lynda Stranix-Chibanda (MBChB, MMed), a part-time lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe, said, “Depression is a big prob-lem that goes undetected. It is something we have to pay close attention to.”

Dr Stranix-Chibanda said our primary health care centres including local clinic are able to deal with mild depression. “Major cas-es are referred to Harare Hospital Psychiatry Unit and Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals’ Annexe Clinic which specialize with mental health conditions including depression and anxiety.”

“Depression is very topical in Zimbabwe right now, we know it’s there but we don’t pick it up often. We don’t do enough about it, in terms of awareness. It’s one of those ne-glected diseases that is just going to get worse and worse unless something is done about it and fast,” added Dr Stranix-Chibanda. Harare Hospital psychologist Dr David Machivenyika prescribes the use of natural healing methods to eliminate depression. “One should create a daily schedule, for example wake up at 5am every day, exercise, take a shower, eat break-fast,” said Dr Machivenyika. He said a sched-ule gives you control over your life. “When-ever you feel stuck, change your routine,” he said.

“People should also challenge negative thoughts. If someone made you feel worth-less, then consider your worth to other peo-ple. Question your thoughts before you accept them as truth,” he said. Dr Machivenyika en-courages exercise, healthy eating, and for de-pression sufferers to get out of their comfort zones and try something new. “Take a creative class, or join a hiking group because when you do something new it changes the chemical makeup in your brain – dopamine levels are altered. This is associated with pleasure.”

The first step however, when dealing with depression, is admitting that one needs help, and talking to somebody who can provide you professional counseling. There is no shame in suffering from depression just like there is no shame in other diseases, especially in modern day Zimbabwe, with a host of challenges that the ordinary person must battle against.

If you have any signs of depression seek help at your nearest local clinic.

Photo: KM Irteza via Flickr Creative Commons

DD

H&

M _

CR

E11

752

Head here | Feet there

Lodge - Harare Sango Conference Centre

Cnr. Samora Machel Ave/Robert Mugabe Road, Harare Tel: +263 4 487 006-8 | Mobile Number: +263 772 249 092 Email: [email protected] | [email protected]: www.crestalodgeharare.com.

AZTA 2014 - RUNNER UPBEST CITY HOTEL

Need we say more? Cresta Lodge offers warm welcomes,friendly service, delicious food, free and ample parking, great conference facilities, a tranquil, cool environment,free Wi-Fi, big breakfasts and comfy beds in newly refurbished rooms... All you have to do is follow the arrows!


Restaurants & food

Mystery Eater

We were highly excited this month to hear of

“Antalya”, a new restaurant situated in the Old Geor-gians sports club. Antalya is a Mediterranean port resort in south western Turkey, the very thought of which conjures up the smell of the sea. I imagine beautifully fried succulent squid fresh from the ocean accompa-nied by a whole range of Turkish summer vegetables and salads.

But back to reality. This is the watering hole of the thirsty sports people – loads of bench tables where the drinkers and families sit – with a dining section next to it of pleasingly comfortable no-nonsense wooden tables and chairs. We were greeted and seated and attended to with courteous care.

The menu is short and sweet. Two starters – peri-peri chicken livers or a mixed meze of olives, humus, spinach and feta börek (spana-kopitas), cacik (tatziki) and rye bread. As we have had our fill of mediocre chicken livers recently, we both went for the meze. And not bad it was too. The olives were nicely mari-nated, tatziki is – well hard to mess up, the börek were delightfully light if slightly under-seasoned, and the humus was delicious even if it didn’t taste quite like any humus I have had before. But we were well satisfied with our starter which, accompanied by a bottle of Nedeburg Baronne at $13 (surely the low-est mark up we have come across) gave us op-portunity to pour over the mains selection of which there was – hang on – one item!

Ironically for a restaurant named after a Turkish town, the main dish is pork ribs. Being partial to a bit of irony, that is what I ordered. There is also a selection of burgers, but somehow we both felt that “going out for dinner” and “going out for a burger” are two different things. I can see why the menu is

structured in this way. Members of the sports club are there for the sports facilities and

a burger is a good way to soak up the post-game beer. Or to feed the children. So my partner went for the “special” which was a

steak on a bed of spinach with fondant po-tatoes. At this point another waiter took

over our service and offered us dessert before we had received our mains

which was a bit disconcerting but quickly rectified.

The mains arrived and were both extremely brown in ap-

pearance. There was spinach under the steak – but not

much. That was a shame as it was very tasty – lightly cooked and with a hint of chilli. The next disap-

pointment was that the steak was not very warm and

was half fat. Nevertheless it tasted extremely good. It had a good sauce and was beautifully seasoned and spiced. The fondant potatoes were a bit soggy, but the taste of the meat was such that it didn’t really matter. My sticky ribs were juicy and good, with well cooked chips, although I wasn’t keen on the spicy pickled cabbage which had a slightly soapy taste.

We had huge cups of good coffee and a cream brulee which passed the crack-the-top test.

All in all it was a pleasing experience. It is not really the place for an intimate dinner for two, but would be great for a crowd or the whole family. It caters to its clientele which is sporty, rowdy, and hungry. The food is good – though vegetarians would struggle, as after gobbling up the excellent meze there is noth-ing else to choose from. I would have liked to have seen a salad on offer.

These people know how to cook and I should add that the night we were there, there was a large private gathering which was also being fully catered. A welcome addition to the restaurant scene.

New kid Antalya makes a decent debut

Average: $35pp for 3 courses including drinks

Old Georgian’s Sports Club177 The Chase, Mount Pleasant

0782 240 9655

Open Monday–Saturday:Lunch: 12:30pm–3pmDinner: 6pm–9pmSunday: Lunch only

Top left: mixed meze starter; Top right: ironic pork ribs; Bottom: the informal but pleasing atmos-phere at Old Georgians Sports Club


Arts & culture

Kundai Marunya

The local theatre industry may seem to be in the doldrums, es-

pecially after the closure of Theatre in the Park a couple of years ago, but for 29 year old Tafadzwa Hananda, winner of the NAMA 2014 Outstand-ing Actor award, his career is just taking off, thanks to receiving the accolade.

Hananda started his acting ca-reer as a student at the University of Zimbabwe back in 2006, starring in the play Disco Inferno produced by Theory X Media under the direction of Zane E. Lucas. For him the award has opened vast opportunities out-side our borders.

“Many people down play the NA-MAs but it’s the one national acco-lade you will need especially if you want to be taken seriously outside the country. It speaks of your level

of commitment and dedication to quality,” said Hananda. Since his award he has performed in a South African play entitled Mine Boy which had two runs in Durban, first at the Stable Theatre and then at the Eliz-abeth Sneddon Theatre. Mine Boy is an adaptation of Peter Abraham’s novel, staged as a collaboration be-tween the community, schools and professional actors.

Towards the end of 2014, Hanan-da landed himself a role in the multi-national production Twenty Fifteen written by Sierra Leonean author Olufemi Terry. The multi-disciplinary ensemble had 17 ar-tistes and directors drawn from Zimbabwe, Switzerland, Germany, Uganda and France united on stage in a music-dance-theatre perform-ance. Twenty-Fifteen combines many voices asking and answer-ing the questions of the younger

generation regarding growing up, friendship, sharing ideas and career guidance.

The local cast included: mbira ar-tiste Hope Masike; Tumbuka dancer Maylene Chenyeraji; beat boxer Probeatz; Yeukai Zinyoro from Rolx Dance group; comedian Clive

Chigubu from Bulawayo; Tanaka Lionel Roki; and Kelvin Campbell of the ZimFlava group. Foreign ar-tistes included: Antonio Bukhar and Ronald Kibirige from Uganda; the producer Cindy Jänicke; artistic director Atif Hussein; actor Tobias Schulze; musician Kilian Unger and videographer Xaver Xylophon all from Germany; French dancer Pas-cale Firholz; and Swiss choreogra-pher Olivia Marinoni. The play trav-elled to Ludwigshafen and Bremen, Germany in November last year and is currently on tour in Germany and Austria.

Locally, Hananda created Man Unchained, his first attempt at di-recting. “This is a very hybrid show, a collaboration of beat-boxing and acting, working with Probeats.”

Hananda also travelled with the play to Germany, performing it as a parallel project to Twenty Fif-teen, had a national tour with Half Full Half Empty, and worked with Tafadzwa Muzondo of Agit Prop Theatre Production in the play De-molishing Democracy which pre-miered in December.

“I am looking forward to new ex-periences locally and international-ly. During my tour of Germany I’m going to learn puppetry and ven-triloquism, which I will introduce in future productions,” he said.

Hananda is a graduate of the UZ Theatre Department, and has worked in several plays, including Pub Stories, Swallowed, Sinners, Pris-oners of Hope, Facebook, and many other community theatre produc-tions.

Sharon Mazingaizo

Green Shoots is an exhibition hosted by the National Gallery

School of Visual Art and Design. The exhibition is comprised of works by 40 students and young and emerg-ing artists. The students took part in theory classes and workshops with master artists and also undertook research critical to their projects. The school was established in the early 1980s with the aim of expos-ing the students to the ever chang-ing art scene. Among the notable artists who have the graduated from the school are Virgnia Chihota

NGZ gives young artists training and exposure

March

eventsThe Impro Show5–7 MarchReps Theatre Upstairs

Dirty Dancing5–21 MarchReps Theatre

Zahara & Mafikizolo in Concert6 March, 8pmHICC at Rainbow Towers ($15/$25)

Summer Fair7 March, 10am–3pmQueen of Hearts

Barnyard Theater: 80s Rewind11–14 MarchTwin Rivers School

The Solitary Reaper Piano Recital by Sekai Mei13 MarchRiver of Life Church

Francophonie Festival13-27 MarchAlliance Française

Emerald Hill Children’s Home Centenary Concert14 MarchArrupe College

Sing your way to Paris21 MarchAlliance Française

Chamber Music Concert29 March, 3pmArundel Chapel

The Book CaféJosh Meck5 March, 8pm ($10)

House of Hunger Poetry Slam7 March, 2pm ($2)

Reggae: Transit Crew14 March, 8pm ($5)

Sulu Chimbetu20 March, 8pm ($10)

Oliver Mtukudzi21 March, 8pm ($10)(Pre-book from 2 March)

Disclaimer: This list is based on the information available at the time of going to print

Get your event here:Email [email protected]

Life afterNAMA

and Portia Zvavahera. Zvavahera was the winner of the 2014 FNB Art Prize, awarded at the Johannesburg Art Fair. Chihota has exhibited at the Venice Biennale in Italy.

This year the students who took part in the exhibition are in their second year. The ones to look out for are Takunda Billiat, Troy Maka-za and Miriro Mwandiambira. Bil-liat, who won much praise from the National Gallery School of Visual Art and Design, said, “My work fo-cuses on human anatomy and ma-nipulating the way of viewing the interior body parts as a mechani-cal form, believing that I can work as machine. I produce my artworks in the sense of educating people. In

my artworks I use pencil as my pre-ferred medium.”

Harare News spoke to Akim Nyakudya, the Education Officer, who said, “The branding of this exhibition Green Shoots is prem-ised on the similarity between the young crop of art students and the beginning of each new rainy sea-son. Some of the work on show is by students who have completed their studies and are ready to navi-gate the mainstream art industry while some of the work is by those students now entering their second and final year in which they will be pursuing individual projects.”

First year students to look out for are Calistas Thabani Ngadula, Ti-notenda Mabasa and Trymore Sen-gai. Ngadula said, “There are dif-ferent ways of communication but despite my speech and hearing im-pairment, I can communicate. Art is my mouthpiece. I get my inspira-tion from the nature of my works.”

Many people down play the NAMAs but it’s the one national accolade you need especially if you want to be taken seriously outside the country.

The artwork on display at the Green Shoots Exhibition was an eclectic mix of styles, concepts and mediums.


year the school saw almost 600 stu-dents pass through its doors.

That’s not to say that he doesn’t see the value in the cultural side that his predecessor Charles Hou-dart worked so hard to develop. Charles raised funds to refurbish the theatre at the centre, a tool that Franck sees as immensely valu-able. “When you have a theatre that can accommodate more than 100 people, a place where artists, both

rising and established, want to per-form: that’s a great thing,” he says. Luckily, he explains, the cultural programme almost runs itself. They put the venue at the disposal of the artists for a minimum fee to cover their costs. The artists take the ticketing and they organise as they want. He did stress that they need to balance so that AF can have a maintenance budget, as it is costly to keep running.

Culture, in fact, is one of the rea-sons that Franck wanted to return to Harare. “What is amazing with Zimbabwe is the concentration of talent, in terms of music, graphic arts, culture…And they need a place to perform. So yes, we are happy to keep providing that.”

Franck is also excited about the new restaurant about to launch on the premises. “We think a restau-rant is a good thing, to give convivi-ality, to help people to stay here, to meet here. We believe in meeting! Socialisation is extremely impor-tant to link the culture and lan-guage.” Unfortunately for AF the last two tenants were a bad experience. This time, Franck and his team have run a strict selection process and a promising tender has just been cho-sen. The public can look forward to a restaurant with a French touch that will nicely complement other activity at AF: workshops linking language to food and perhaps some good French wine in the evenings.

Arts & culture

Sara Davies

Franck Chabbasseur is the new Directeur of Alliance Française

(AF). Six months into his four year tenure, and on the eve of the Fran-cophonie Festival, we headed over to find out his plans for one of Harare’s best known culture cen-tres.

Franck is no newcomer to Zimba-bwe. He first came to town back in 1998 when his wife landed a position at AF as a volunteer. Franck spent a year and a half teaching at L’Ecole Française, the French School. It was during this period that they fell in love with the country. He was back again in 2001, when both he and his wife worked at the French School, that time staying for two years.

Now, after three stints work-ing in the AF network elsewhere – Cape Town, Mombasa and Vichy, back home in France – Franck has returned to take the helm of AF Harare. “When I saw that this post was vacant we said ‘shall we stay for the rest of our life in France or shall we continue with our time in Zim-babwe?’ It is very exciting to come

back after 10 years,” he says happily.It is his teaching roots and strong

belief in the important role that lan-guage plays in culture that are lead-ing him to put this element more firmly into the minds of the public when they think about AF. “You can’t separate language and culture,” he emphasises, when asked what he plans to focus on. “The main man-date for AF is to organise classes for the general public, for children, for

professionals. French is part of the culture, we have to discover things through the language. The way we conduct classes, you get another view of French gastronomy, poli-tics, and whenever we can we bring in the cultural side.”

From the outside he says that AF might seem to be more of a cultural centre but inside it is balanced with the language school – that side pro-vides almost 70% of its income. Last

Kundai Marunya

After successfully growing a local audience, popular comedy show Zambezi News plans

to win the hearts of the continent and pro-duce the best satire in Africa, with its produc-ers already in talks with television stations in other countries.

Zambezi News, which premiered its third season at Eastgate Ster Kinekor cinema last month, has established itself as one of the most sought after local comedy shows in the country. Produced in a news format covering topical issues that affect citizens in Zimba-bwe, the show takes a swipe at those in au-thority. Though not currently being screened on TV, the show manages to reach audiences through DVDs and YouTube.

In an interview with Harare News, Zambezi News producer Samm Monro, a.k.a. Cde Fatso, who features in the production as Jerome Weathers and other characters, clearly stated his vision for the project, saying, “We want Zambezi News to be the leading satire produc-tion on the continent!”

The newly premiered season took a step toward this, with improvements in both con-tent and format. It has a host of new actors and an excellent production quality. “We tried to improve this time around; we learnt from previous seasons and ensured that we had some of the most skilled film crew as well as quality equipment,” said Monro.

The addition of other genres and news formats added to what was achieved in the preceding seasons. The introduction of pop-ular musicians such as Ba Shupi and Tehn Diamond in the Even Mo’ Lil’ Swaggery Boy$ (EMLSB) music videos is definitely an exciting addition. Other additions include the real-ity TV section, ‘At Home with the Weathers’. Though fresh on set and outlining important issues in the day-to-day goings on in Harare, some viewers felt that the script was too wordy and could have benefited from being made shorter and punchier.

In a swipe at the new wave of religious lead-ers, standup comedian Q the Boss debuted as a prophet who preyed on congregants taking

their money after performing ‘miracles’. His hilarious performance is definitely one of the funniest moments in the series. Monro said, “We wanted to get across our same hard-hitting comedy in a different, less predict-able way. We never want to produce a season where people are like ‘Okay that’s the formula they use, and it’s always the same.’”

Zambezi News also introduced popular stan-dup comedians from ‘down south’, Kagiso Lediga and John Vlismas, as their South Afri-can correspondents. At face value this should have proved a huge hit to viewers but Lediga, who also appears in South African show of the same genre, Late Night with Loyiso, did not quite cut it this time around. As reputable as he is, some viewers might have hoped for more.

The most outstanding addition was Natalie Kombe, who also works as the Shoko Festival coordinator. From the onset, she cracked up the audience with her very natural, effortless and convincing acting. She brings new flair to the EMLSB crew.

With a slightly tighter script, but the same positive, experimental approach and high production quality, there is nothing to stop the Zambezi News team from fulfilling their ambitions and putting Zimbabwean TV on the world map. “In the future,” says Monro “people should expect new twists, turns and characters. We always want to keep it fresh and cutting edge.”

For more information on how to get your copy of Zambezi News like their page www.facebook.com/zambezinews or follow them on twitter @zambezinews.

Zambezi News aims for continental recognition

Coming up this month at AF13–27: Francophonie Festival – music, film, art and discussion.21: Sing your way to Paris

Curriculum Vitae:Age: 44Education: Masters in Teaching French as a foreign language.Experience: Teaching French for 7 years in different countries& in France.Alliance Française Cape Town for 4 yearsAF Mombasa for 3 yearsCavillam, AF in Vichy for 4 years.Member of the French Ministry of EducationHe has two boys and his wife is a teacher at the French School.

New Director of Alliance Francaise, Frank Chabbasseur

Bienvenue Directeur Franck Chabbasseur


Readers’ page Snapped anything cool around town? Send your pictures to [email protected]

Who’s who

Editorial submissions:Harare News welcomes editorial submissions but reserves the right to publish. All editorial must be submitted via email. Opinions expressed in the editorial are not necessarily the opinions of Harare News.

Disclaimer:All information and points of view are those of the people who submitted them and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editor. While every effort has been made to establish the validity of the information submitted, Harare News can not be held responsible for any inaccuracies. E & O, E.

Harare News does not accept any liability for advertising copy/content that has not been submitted correctly. We reserve the right to refuse advertising material that does not meet our specifications or advertising standards.

www.hararenews.co.zw www.twitter.com/hararenews

www.facebook.com/hararenews

Harare News subscribes to a Code of Conduct that promotes truthful, accurate, fair and balanced news reporting. If we do not meet these standards, register your complaints with the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe at:

34 Colenbrander Rd, Milton Park778096/[email protected]

[email protected]: 0772 125 65824hr complaints line: 0772 125 659Twitter: @vmczwww.vmcz.co.zwFacebook page: vmcz Zimbabwe

Harare-born author Paula Hawkins has hit the big time. Her novel,

The Girl on the Train, has been sitting at the top of the bestseller lists since it landed on the shelves six weeks ago – the New York Times, Amazon, Kindle, you name it. According to Publishers Weekly, 186,589 copies had been sold as Harare News went to press, and that’s only the hardcovers sold in the US. Add the UK hardcover figures and it’s close to a quarter of a million, not to mention those sold on kindle… It’s not hard to see why. Set in London, the thriller is a serious page-turner, pulling the reader into what seem to be ordinary lives and spitting them out at the end gasping for breath. Sara Davies got in touch with Paula to find out what it feels like to be the writer of a worldwide bestseller.Your book was sold on auction. Tell us about that process? Was there lots of pressure?I sold a half-finished manuscript through an auction in June 2013: four publishers bid for the book, and once Transworld had published the rights, they gave me a deadline of the end of the year to finish it. I had sketched out a detailed outline, so I knew what I needed to do in the next six months – I quickly developed a really good rela-tionship with my editor at Transworld, so I never felt unduly pressured.And how long did it take you to write?Including edits, it took about thirteen months, which I think is pretty quick. I wrote the first half very quickly.What does it mean to you to be a best-selling author?The book has done amazingly well so far, which is wonderful – it’s also rather strange. It’s difficult to identify why exactly some books take off when others don’t, why readers respond to one story and not in the same way to another. And while it is hugely gratify-ing to imagine my book in the hands of so many readers around the world, it’s daunting, too.What’s been the best thing so far about publishing this book?There’s a great sense of accomplish-ment when you write something and you realise that you got it right – or at least, you must have got some of it right, because people are responding so strongly. It’s an amazing feeling when readers tell you that they recognise characters or situations, or that it kept them up all night, or that it stayed with them long after they finished reading the final page.

Many readers, especially women, will perhaps rather uncomfortably, identify with your characters. Are any of the three women based on you?No. There are probably bits of me in all of them. There are bits of my friends, too, or people I’ve worked with. But they’re mostly imaginary.What’s next?The film rights have been optioned by Dreamworks – they have someone working on the script so watch this space. As for me, I’m working on my second thriller at the moment, but I’m

not really talking about it because it’s at a delicate stage.This isn’t your first book. Tell us about your earlier books.I wrote four novels under a pseu-donym. They were what is (often disparagingly) termed ‘chick-lit’ – in other words, books by a woman about relationships, friendship, and so on.

The first one was commissioned, which is why I wrote it under a pseudonym, and then three others followed. I enjoyed writing them, but they weren’t really me. They kept getting darker and darker – it was obvious the direction in which I was headed. I am happy to be writing under my own name, though there is a lot to be said for hiding be-hind a pen name.Describe yourself...Oh god. Introspective. Very grumpy, but ultimately soft-hearted.You were at Groombridge and then Arun-del. Did you know you wanted to be an author when you were at school?I always loved creative writing and English literature, but when I was at school I wanted to become a journalist or a lawyer.When did you leave Zimbabwe?I left Zimbabwe in 1989 when my father decided to take a sabbatical from his job at the University of Zimbabwe and spend some time in London. I finished my A levels in London and then was ac-cepted at university in the UK, and so I ended up staying when they went back. I’m still in London today.When was the last time you were in town?1999. Last century! It’s been way too long.Are you likely to come back any time soon – for a holiday? will you ever come back for ‘good’?I’m sure I’ll visit for a holiday soon, I’ve been meaning to for ages, but some-how it’s never seemed like the right time. I don’t think I will move back for good. I think I’ve become quite English in my old age.Buy The Girl on the Train on kindle or support local publishers Weaver Press and buy your copy by calling 308330.

Meet Paula Hawkins:NYTimes

bestseller author

Head Office and Sales: Suite 1, 1st Floor, Beric Building,Eastlea Shopping Centre, S. Machel Ave/Selkirk Road

782175, 0772 220 211 [email protected]

• Mosquito control• Cockroach baiting• Rodent control• Bee removal• Termite proofing on

pre-construction areas • Baits control

FASTEN PEST SERVICES PVT LTD

• Flies and fleas control• Grain fumigation• Garden chemicals• Snake/snail/spider

repellents• Ant control in houses

and shops

Pest Management Professional

Guaranteed pest control

Book review sponsored by

Suppliers of the Amazon Kindle

Large library of ebooks for most e-readers and devices including iPad and tablets

26 Cambridge Road, Avondale

333213 / 307594

[email protected]

Editor: Harry Davies 0776 729 326/442866 [email protected]

General Manager: Sara Davies [email protected] Writers Farai Dauramanzi 0772 413 332 Lovemore Lubinda 0773 165 803 Kundai Marunya 0735 023 720

Copy Editor: Michael Nott

Layout: Graham van de Ruit

Graphics Intern: Dumisani Nyoni

Ad Sales & Distribution: Newton Musara 0772 233 086/442866 [email protected]

Ad Sales: Nikita Little 0772 598 156 [email protected]

Jocelynne Lake 0772 243 648

Accounts: Muthandani Zaba 443498 [email protected]

Harare News is published monthly by: Harare News (Pvt) Ltd.

Letter from the editorIn February we brought you the story of a partnership between Harare News and House of Smiles. We allocated copies of our February issue for two young men supported by House of Smiles to sell for 20 cents in the CBD. It was our ambition to afford them some small income, since all proceeds were theirs to keep.

It did not go according to plan. Tinotenda did not show up at all. Innocent took to the streets but only for a few hours before returning all his copies and Harare News t-shirt to House of Smiles and disappearing without explana-tion. Understanding that these young men come from very hard backgrounds, we initially felt that perhaps they were unused to work, or in the case of Tinotenda, got waylaid by other youth doing who knows what.

Our concern for them was justified though misplaced. This endeavour had very unfortunate timing. It coincided with a move by the authorities to rid the streets of touts, vendors, beggars, street children - indeed anyone who fitted the bill of desperate and trying to make a living. Whilst we were assured that Tinotenda and Innocent likely turned themselves in to the Department of Social Services of their own volition, it is likely that they did so out of fear of hang-ing around during the move.

Harare News will continue to try and nurture this and other partnerships in spite of the actions of authorities, which fly in the faces of the citizens they purport to protect and serve.

Send letters to [email protected].


Readers’ page Find us on Facebookand Twitter @hararenews

INSPIRE EMPOWER & REBUILD

3rd March – Waste Management − 9am to 10:30am10th March – Persons with Disabilities − 9am to 11am

26th March – Prisons Networking Meeting – 9am to 11am31st March – Life & Hope 4 Kids − 9am to 11am

Highlands Presbyterian Church – 112 Enterprise Rd Highlands

Contact: [email protected] – Facebook Miracle Missions TrustJacqueline Anderson – 0774 136 239 or Sharon Hook – 0772 240 442

2 9 1 7 5 6 4 8 3

6 4 7 3 8 9 2 1 5

3 8 5 1 2 4 6 7 9

4 5 3 8 6 1 9 2 7

7 6 8 2 9 5 3 4 1

9 1 2 4 7 3 5 6 8

8 2 4 9 3 7 1 5 6

5 7 9 6 1 2 8 3 4

1 3 6 5 4 8 7 9 2

3 1 7 6 4 8 5 2 9

4 5 2 7 9 1 3 6 8

6 8 9 2 3 5 1 7 4

5 6 1 8 7 2 9 4 3

7 3 4 9 5 6 2 8 1

2 9 8 3 1 4 7 5 6

8 7 3 4 2 9 6 1 5

9 4 5 1 6 7 8 3 2

1 2 6 5 8 3 4 9 7

Sudoku Fill in the grid so that every row, column and 3 × 3 box contains all nine digits, with no number repeated.

Difficulty: medium Difficulty: hard

Seke Road 0772 235 070 / 0712 807 634Willowvale 0772 480 912 / 0712 216 768Chiremba Road 0779 764 565 / 0772 331 788

For all yourwholesale & retailbeef, pork, fish &

chicken requirements.B yu rt ech Takashinga Ne Mombe

PANYAMA

Bulawayo 0774 377 817Gweru 0773 919 313

Kadoma 0783 083 326Kwekwe 0773 238 432Chinoyi 0775 835 002Bindura 0772 237 887

Kuwadzana 0733 748 595Boka 0772 542 772

Makoni 0772 550 027

The Mayor RespondsEditor,Through the Harare News may I ask the Mayor of Harare if there is any suburb, any street in residential Harare that will remain free of the occupation by offices, car lots, or restaurants.

I would be interested to know what con-sideration the City Council has given to water delivery? Many domestic plots possible de-signed to allow a water supply for 6-8 people, are now catering for many more. Possibly the Mayor and Councillors consider that the supply of ground water is infinite?

But, water aside, I am puzzled by the logic of this epidemic which seems as arbitrary as it is uncontrolled.

Possibly the Harare News, or other inter-ested journalists could follow this enquiry through if the Mayor is too busy to reply.Many thanks,Jealous Miti

Dear Jealous,There has been no conscious effort to ring-fence any specific suburb and protect it from com-mercialisation. This drift into the residential areas has been going on for some years now – easily 2 decades especially when you look at the trailblazing projects like Northridge Park.

We do occasionally reject, as Council, some change-of-use on land and existing buildings based on an number of planning considerations including resident objections, concentrations, road networks access and servicing capacity.

We have lost and downgraded a lot of com-mercial space in the CBD as prime tenants relocate to the leafy suburbs leaving sub-prime occupants in some of the best buildings in town.

On residential unit densities – we have put some services under strain owing to higher-than-planned occupancy levels especially con-cerning water supply. I have personally pushed to still allow things like cluster home develop-ment hoping that the water supply solution will eventually follow so allow for housing solutions to proceed in the meantime.

My thinking is not premised on borehole water becoming a permanent solution. As we all know this is a short to medium term offering. The invertible coming on of new water supply sources will put less pressure on boreholes.RegardsClr Ben ManyenyeniHarare Mayor

Letters to the editor

Dear Mr EditorThanks again for an entertaining edition of your paper.

A couple of points of interest: Borrowdale vlei is the biggest wet land threatened with development, but it’s not the only one!

I’ve seen big earth moving equipment in the Mabelreign vlei, just down from the Ma-belreign swimming bath. A small river runs down and under a bridge – or used to. That was 2 years ago.

At the end of last year I saw signs of road making in Greendale vlei – right in the river bed! I couldn’t believe it! This happens to be the same area from which LS Waters takes it’s bulk supply.

Onto a different topic: pot holes are be-coming the bane of our lives. Just the other day I read that, at least one district office has materials and labour for fixing pot holes. It

lacks only transport. So, if residents can sup-ply a truck the council can supply the rest!

If you have a keen investigative reporter looking for something to do, he or she could, perhaps, canvas all district offices and offer give them much needed publicity???Best wishesRuth Evans

Thank you for reading and for your letter. I be-lieve the Greendale Vlei is the one referred to in the article on published in this issue on page 9. I hope some of your questions are answered. In reference to the opportunity for a road-repair-ing public private partnership, this is certainly something we would like to publicise and I will be in touch. I’m sure there are residents willing to lend time and transport to improve their roads.

Dire roads in EastleaHie Editor,I live in Eastlea. The roads are so bad near my place. They have repaired the whole of Samora Machel, but not these small roads which are like mud lakes when it rains. Why do they only fix the main road, which was not so bad, and stop before doing the really bad spots? I want to ask my councillor – who is my councillor?Nixon

Our offices are also in Eastlea, and the roads are terrible I agree. It seems as though ZINARA has taken on the repaving of Samora Machel, and likely their jurisdiction ends there, with our small roads meant to be taken care of by council. You would do well to ask your council-lor about this. I believe that you are in Ward 2, Harare Central. Your councillor is Auxillia Mahachi. You can reach her on 0772 348 982. We will look further into the problem of roads, and see what solutions might be out there. PPPs are one – see the letter from Ruth Evans.Some hope shines

Lucy Broderick sent in this photo of road repairs taking place on Willowmead Lane in Rolf Valley.

FIND US AT: 1 FISHER AVE ROLF VALLEY

(Opposite St Johns College)

DON’T FORGET: WE DELIVER! 0778 842 088 0778 842 016

Road repair opportunity


Youth

Pomona Quarries, Alpes Road, Pomona(04) 851996 / 851983 • 0772 [email protected] • www.hsbricks.co.zw

$15.00 (Inc. VAT)

Tinashe Muchuri – Writer

A-level students and their teach-ers were given an opportunity

to listen to the authors of Strife and Uncertainty of Hope at a ‘Meet the Author’ event organised by Weaver Press and sponsored by the Meikles Trust and Sable Press at Prince Ed-ward School on 19 February. It was a rare opportunity for literature students to meet their prescribed authors and gain insight into their works.

The first conversation was be-tween two writers: Shimmer Chi-nodya in conversation with the poet and storyteller, Ignatius Mabasa, while Valerie Tagwira, who is both a doctor and an author, was in con-versation with Dr Sunanda Ray, a public health specialist who runs an exciting book group. The event was introduced by Murray McCart-ney who told us: “Writing is an art, but so too is reading, and often that is overlooked. A good book needs a good reader, and by that we mean one who reads with sensitivity, in-sight and intelligence.”

Chinodya’s Strife is a set book for the ZIMSEC A-Level English Litera-ture Paper 5 while Tagwira’s Uncer-tainty of Hope is a set book for Paper 2. They have been prescribed from January 2015 though to June 2020.

Chinodya defined the role of the writer as to listen to the muse and try and do so well… “My role is to write those books before I die.”

Strife is a book that, Shimmer told

us, “cried out to be written. It came up when I was ready to do it. Some of it is researched and some of it is made up. Strife is a tribute to my an-cestors. Strife is a serious version of Dew in the Morning. Beauty in art is about beautifying the ugly.”

Mabasa noted that in Dew in the Morning, Chinodya seemed certain of the place of religion in society but in Strife he seems to question its reliability. Chinodya responded by saying that religion is like the cosmos. “God is a force bigger than all the religions put together would begin to comprehend.”

Of the relationship between writers and their fiction, Chinodya said, “Often times writers’ lives are linked to characters in their books.” Tagwira’s view was that, “Writing is inspired by events seen or expe-rienced, but they’re not literally reproduced.” But Chinodya told us, “Good writing is all about writers who write about strife.” He also told us that he mines his own life to write his books and “I play games with you. I edit myself. I switch voic-es. I metamorphosise. That’s how it is to be a writer.”

Tagwira on the other hand told us that her life as a doctor, working particularly with women, gave her access to many different stories, experiences and points of view. She also said that in order to write The Uncertainty of Hope she did a lot of research on the internet, reading of direct first-hand experiences and consulting with people about their

points of view.Also discussed was the removal

of Shakespeare from the syllabus. Chinodya was emphatic, “The idea is madness. Nonsense. If you want to do literature, read anything and everything. Read African-Caribbean literature and go back to the clas-sics.”

Tagwira was equally clear that we should not deny our students access to great literature, including Shake-speare, who can open our hearts and minds to so many different hu-man experiences.

Readers meet set book authors Tagwira and ChinodyaTafadzwa Karuma – Weaver Press Intern

In February, Weaver Press, a pub-lishing house where I am current-

ly working as an intern, played host to a literary event, and I found my-self among A-level scholars, writers and literature teachers at Prince Edward School. Being a former A-Level science student it was a very different and intriguing experience for me, as I had the opportunity to meet and chat with renowned authors. I was also surprised and pleased to discover that Valerie Tag-wira is both a writer and a doctor, as

I would also like to study medicine. Listening to the authors speak, I better understood what drives writ-ers and how they decide to offer their insights to readers.

Shimmer Chinodya was inter-viewed by Ignatius Mabasa while Valerie Tagwira was in conversation with Sunanda Ray. I noted a differ-ence in presentation in that Shim-mer spoke very fluently using the questions as prompts, while Valerie answered each question very care-fully and precisely.

Shimmer speaking about his novel Strife, told his young audience that, “You can’t run around the past, it is inescapable,” and how “good writing should evoke pain”. In addi-tion, he bucked up the students who wish to be writers by telling them of his experiences as a young writer.

I was more enthusiastic about Valerie’s interview with Sunanda and her insights into her book The Uncertainty of Hope. Many, including myself, were interested to learn how a doctor who is also a writer manag-es to balance her medical profession and its ethics with her writing. And she told us, “I see my writing as story telling.” She also added that through her novel she hopes her readers ac-quire a better understanding of the situation and the health challenges in Zimbabwe in 2005.

After the event I got to have a one-on-one interaction with both writ-ers as well as get pictures taken to-gether and this was one experience I was honoured to be part of.

Both interviews will shortly available as podcasts at www.weaverpresszim-babwe.com. Both novels are available from Weaver Press. Phone 308330.

Dr Valerie Tagwira (right) in discussion with Dr Ray (left).

Photo: Fungai Machirori


Youth

Farai Dauramanzi

Over the past few years many private schools and pre-schools

in Harare have chosen to offer transport to pick up and drop off students in a bid to lure pupils who come from other suburbs.

The provision of transport for students used to only be offered by a few former ‘Group A’ schools and private colleges, but nowadays other newly established private col-leges also offer this service. Some of the schools hire private transport-ers, while others use their own vehi-cles. However, of concern is the fact that some of the vehicles being used to transport school children are run down and do not meet basic safety standards. It seems as if old mini-buses and kombis that have become commercially uncompetitive on the roads are now being used for trans-porting school children.

The other issue is that of over-loading. It is common practice to find school buses carrying nearly twice the stipulated number of pas-sengers, as students are forced to sit on top of each other in order for the vehicle to accommodate more pas-sengers. This has, in some cases, led to fatal accidents.

Harare West MP Jessie Majome last month expressed her disap-pointment in the transportation

system for school children on Fa-cebook, after a commuter omnibus ferrying 24 children from Avonlea School was involved in an accident along Suffolk Road and left five kids injured. “I am shocked that 24 chil-dren would fit into a commuter om-nibus – I wonder how big it was… Harare United Omnibus Company with its school buses had an impec-cable safety record. Lately I have also been wondering why commut-er omnibuses aren’t required by law to have passenger safety belts when they carry more passengers than private vehicles for which it is mandatory,” wrote Majome on her Facebook wall.

According to the ZRP Traffic check list, school buses are sup-posed to have valid passenger insur-ance, a valid fitness certificate from the Vehicle Inspection Department, and a valid vehicle license. The driv-er of the school bus is expected by law to be in possession of a class 2 driver’s license and retest, a valid defensive driving certificate and a valid medical certificate. “The driv-er of a school bus should be above the age of 25 years, just like in other PSV vehicles. In terms of carrying capacity, the vehicle should carry the number of passengers that are stipulated on the fitness certificate, that is 15 for kombis and 22 for mini-buses such as Sprinter and Civilian

buses,” said a ZRP Traffic officer who was manning the Traffic Section Help Desk at Charge Office.

School buses should also have public service vehicle registration plates (white and red) and be visibly marked at the back with a sign that reads “Caution Children On Board.” However, a survey conducted by Harare News revealed that buses that belong to government schools and bigger private schools, such as Herentals, are properly marked, while most of the vehicles from smaller colleges are not. Some pre-schools are even using unmarked private vehicles and taxis.

The country’s education laws require schools to have signed in-demnity forms from parents before transporting students. However, one educationalist who runs a pri-vate college in Chitungwiza said that some private schools were now abusing the indemnity clause.

“Schools are required to have indemnity forms, but I think some schools are now taking advantage of the situation by transporting children in unsafe vehicles that are often overloaded thereby putting children’s lives at risk. The school authorities know that if anything happens their hands will be clean because the parents have signed the indemnity forms,” said the educa-tionalist on condition of anonymity.

Lovemore Lubinda

Harare’s youths are facing many socio-economic challenges

including dropping out of school, unemployment, and engaging in drug abuse and its associated vices. Promiscuity among the young is also high, exposing them to sexually transmitted infections and unwant-ed pregnancies. Some have even re-sorted to suicide after being unable to deal with their problems. Howev-er, there is always support available. Harare News tracked down some of the youth organisations in the city to find out what they have to offer the city’s future residents.

Chiedza Support Group, now Chiedza Trust, is a clinic based voluntary initiative for the provi-sion of psychological support to adolescents living with HIV/AIDS. It was founded in 2008 with the aim of addressing the many issues faced by HIV-infected adolescents that impact on their ability to take

medication, their physical and men-tal health and their general well-being.

Approximately 50 newly diag-nosed children and adolescents, aged between 10 to 18 years, mainly from Harare Central Children’s Hospital, are enrolled. They are giv-en registration forms and consent letters for their caregivers to au-thorise participation. They attend sessions that are 4–5 hours long, de-signed to address pertinent issues.

Sara Lowe, an official at the or-ganisation, said the Trust is an an-nual programme consisting of 12 modules offering clinic based sup-port to adolescents in the first year after diagnosis or disclosure of HIV status. “It aims to impart essential skills and knowledge specifically related to living as an adolescent with HIV,” she said. She added that on completion of the modules they are encouraged to access communi-ty based long term support groups provided by local organisations

including AFRICAID.Youth Agenda Trust (YAT), which

is located at number 19 Tredgold Drive in Belvedere, is a youth-led or-ganisation that was formed in 2007, with the aim of reducing social in-equality and to lobby for an increase in basic social services among chil-dren and youths. It also works with youths outside Harare and mem-bership is free, one can visit the offices or download the form from their website www.youthagendaz-im.org.

“Any person between the ages of 15 to 35 is a youth and so is eligible to be a member. This takes into ac-count students as well. We are also currently working with schools in Chitungwiza and Epworth,” said Francis Rwodzi, the organisation’s Media and Information Officer. He added that they also facilitate the linking of students for bursaries and scholarships to study abroad.

Integral Youth Development (IYD), situated at 37 Admiral Tait

Avenue is a progression from Jesuit Aids Project (JAP). This is a Chris-tian based organisation founded by Father Edward Rogers. “IYD is responsive to the issues of teaching

youths about life skills, leadership, youth dialogue, internship of youths out of school, child protection, teen-age pregnancies, and drug abuse,” said IYD Program Coordinator Time

Baluwa. He said his organisation wants to cultivate youths who are responsible citizens. Under the SRH he said they are engaging youths in schools to join Youth Against Aids (YAAs) which is a group of around 30 to 100 students, who in turn pass the information to others for positive behavioural change. The schools include Dzivarasekwa High, Harare High, Girls High, and Glen view High1. The organisation also works with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education.

There are a number of youth or-ganisations in Harare that include: Youth Empowerment and Trans-formation Trust (YETT); Anglican Youth Association of Harare (AYAH); Youth Forum; Restless Develop-ment; and others. In Zimbabwe, all youth organisations are required to register with The Zimbabwe Youth Council (ZYC), a quasi-government institution established by an act of parliament, Zimbabwe Youths Council Act (Chapter 25:19).

Patrick Musira

Zimbabwean student Collins Damaiso of Direct Contact

School is holding the Zimbabwean flag high by scoring the top score internationally in his Cambridge A-Level Environmental Science ex-ams.

Adding to Collins’ excitement is the fact that his school is holding an award dinner at the five-star Meik-les Hotel in his honour.

“I was very excited to learn that I had the highest marks for the ex-ams!” said Collins, 18 years old and

a recent school leaver.Still in great shock and surprise,

Collins sent email responses to Harare News disclosing how he

“always had a passion for the sub-ject and gave up the combination I was previously doing and changed to one that was compatible with the subject”.

“Each time I overheard some-thing about the environment be-ing mentioned I fell in love with the subject as I became more and more involved in green issues,” he said, explaining: “For example, in 2013 on World Environment Day, our Environmental Management class and the Direct Contact School carried out a clean-up campaign at 4th street bus terminus under the

theme ‘think, eat, and save’.”“We picked up plastic, cans, bot-

tles, papers, and other bio-degrada-ble litter which was taken for prop-er recycling,” he added.

Collins also credited his exam achievement to Caxton Mupita, his environmental science teacher, whom he described as “one of the best teachers on the school”.

“As Collins’ teacher, I find this ac-complishment less than surprising; Collins is smart, hard-working, and intuitive,” said Mupita.

Mupita also added that the sub-ject has become prominent yearly

with more students enrolling.“It’s a modern subject that has

received global attention and I am proud to say that the young gen-eration have found it imperative to take action aimed at saving the mother earth from so many impacts emanating from anthropogenic ac-tivities,” he explained.

Collins said that he is not actively involved in environmental work at present as he is “still searching for a place in tertiary education where I can take part in protecting the environment through projects and awareness campaigns.”

Local student tops A-Level Environmental Science results

Harare youth organisations and their work

School buses: are children safe?

Harare News tracked down some of the youth organisations in the city to find our what they have to offer the city’s younger residents.

Our city, our lives

TWA Auctions (PVT) LTDAntiques and house sales1 Routledge Street, Milton Park

Phone: (04) 702741 / 703043 / 705182Cell: 0772 325 634 / 0772 718 846

P.O. Box BE225 Belvedere, HarareE-mail: [email protected]

Masunda Shepherd

Zimbabwe motor racing star Ax-cil Jefferies is expected to take

the Formula 1 Bahrain challenge which kicks off on 17 April, this pa-per can exclusively reveal.

In an interview with Harare News Jefferies said this year’s plan is to compete in GP2 once again, and all races are support events for Formu-la 1 which is to be held in Bahrain. The championship is held over 11 events around the world through-out the year.

Jefferies, who has managed to gain control in the motor racing sport, expressed confidence that he will be among the best after the race. “I have got nothing to fear in the upcoming race since I have been blessed with a lot of success in my career. What I am most proud of though, is reaching the level we are at now in GP2. “There are only

26 drivers in the world in GP2, and I am the only African at this level”, said Jefferies.

The Goodwill Ambassador of UN-AIDS also said he is not expecting to have any upsets or to have any regrets, but highlighted his biggest upset was when he was crashed into by another driver on his GP2 debut. He said there are many people he looks up to, like Lewis Hamilton, as he has faced and overcome a lot

of challenges. The youthful star also has great respect for his fellow sportsperson Kirsty Coventry who he described as a great athlete.

Axcil also said he is humbled by the support he received not only from Zimbabwe, but from across the continent. “Our fan base is continuously growing and I hope I can continue making an impact around the globe,” said Jefferies. He becomes only the second African

racer to compete in the FIA Formula Two Championship, after Ricardo Teixeira who raced in 2010 and now competes in GP2. The 18-year-old began karting in 2007 in the Rotax Max Euro Junior series, followed by the Northern Regions karting championships in 2008, finishing seventh. In 2009 he made his single seater debut in the Formula BMW Pacific Championship, ending an impressive third overall with two

wins and six podiums to his name. After a second season in Formula BMW Pacific he was forced to take a step back from racing due to budget restraints, but returns to F2 this year full of gusto. Axcil is also a Goodwill Ambassador for UNAIDS and for the charity Childline. He de-scribed it as being an honour to rep-resent such a massive organisation and he is proud to be recognized.

Freelance Contributor

The Hockey Association of Zim-babwe (HAZ) has urged people

in Harare to support hockey, which has a good gender balance and a strong youth foundation in many schools.

In an interview with Harare News, HAZ Vice president Humphrey Chig-wedere said hockey has the second biggest player base after football in the country. Chigwedere said people should come in their numbers to support hockey at all levels – school hockey, club hockey and national league.

Hockey is a team sport that ticks a lot of boxes in terms of health and teamwork, and the equipment requirements are not prohibitive. Although there are plans to decen-tralise the sport to rural schools, Harare and Bulawayo are still the main hubs, with lots of hockey be-ing played.

Chigwedere applauded the recent visit by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) CEO Kelly Fair-weather who met with the Hock-ey Association Zimbabwe (HAZ), Government officials, potential sponsors, and also visited stadi-ums and schools to strengthen the

development of the sport.Talking about Fairweather’s visit,

Chigwedere gave background to the potential for the sport to produce international talent. “Bulawayo has approximately 1,000 hockey players and Harare 8,000. The majority of these players are youth players and the club structure is undergoing a major overhaul,” he said.

“The first stop on Kelly’s agenda was a visit to the Magamba Hockey Stadium, Harare, where he met with Chairman of Sports and Rec-reation Commission Edward Si-wela and CEO Charles Nhemache-na. While the stadium has a solid

infrastructure, it is in need of reno-vation and an upgrade of the facili-ties,” said Chigwedere.

Fairweather then met individu-ally with Deputy Minister of Sports, Art and Culture, Hon Tabetha Ma-linga, and Secretary of Ministry of Sport, Dr Thokozile Chitepo and also with the Minister of Tourism and Hospitality, Hon Mzembi, who were all very positive and support-ive towards the growth of hockey in Zimbabwe.

Fairweather also met with po-tential sponsors, giving him the op-portunity to explain the FIH strat-egy and support for hockey in both

Zimbabwe and Africa in general during his trip, where he was ac-companied by HAZ President Mark Manolios and Vice President Hum-phrey Chigwedere.

He organized a meeting with HAZ Executive Board and other stake-holders. In discussion with the HAZ Board members, school representa-tives, coaches and athletes, Fair-weather outlined the strategy of the FIH and stressed the importance for HAZ to work on their governance structure and a strategic plan for the next four years.

Zim motor racing ace fully geared up for Bahrain challenge

Racing car driver Axcil Jeffries has put Zimbabwe on the motor sport map.

Hararians urged to support hockey as the FIH visits