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Once a prime agricultural region, crops have been failing and the last time Nelia was able to harvest her field was in 2017, which produced just six bags of maize. Since then she has been forced to forage for masekesa and makwakwa, wild fruits usually only fed to animals.

Eating wild fruits and taking antiretroviral drugs for HIV on an empty stomach, is taking its toll on Nelia’s health. “The excessive intake of these fruits has affected by health and my skin has been peeling off,” she says.

Zimbabwe is experiencing its worst hunger crisis in more than a decade, with 3.6 million people suffering from severe food shortages.

Nelia and her family were among 49,000 people living in Makoni district to receive desperately needed food supplies last month, distributed by ActionAid Zimbabwe and funded by the World Food Programme.

As the situation worsens, the number of families receiving food support will this month double to more than 100,000 people in Makoni and Nyanga districts.

But more funding is urgently needed to prevent the food crisis deteriorating into a famine.

“I do not feel full at all after eating the wild fruit and mangoes,” says Nelia. “My children go to school on an empty stomach and sometimes we spend days eating only the wild fruit.”

Nelia has sold all but one of her six goats to pay for her children’s school fees. She worries that they will have to drop out of school and as she is unable to plant crops in her field, the family is relying on food aid.

ActionAid is running programmes to support families like Nelia in the longer term, by providing training in climate-resilient farming practices, support to start income saving and lending schemes, knowledge-sharing and disaster preparedness and response training.

Rumbudzai grows maize and groundnuts, which are more tolerant to drought, in her family’s fields. But she says recently it is rare to harvest even groundnuts due to the lack of rainfall.

“The rainfall pattern has changed, since I grew up,” she says. “I remember we experienced drought once when I was still young. But since I got married, the rains have been limited. Since Cyclone Idai hit [in March 2019], we have not received any meaningful rains at all.”

She says some families are taking desperate measures due to the hunger crisis, adding: “We have girls who are getting married due to food insecurity and poverty. There are some parents that marry their girls off to well off people from the community.”

Post published in: Agriculture

Post published in: Featured

It is not clear what threat the planes are supposed to protect us from. Perhaps it is the Zimbabwe Council of Churches which has warned the government of ‘all out chaos’ if things continue as they are. ‘Instability will grow and the state will need to use heavy repression to quell dissent due to the painful economic experiences’ it predicted. It said dialogue in the country was the only viable option (see: https://www.newzimbabwe.com/churches-warn-of-civil-unrest-if-govt-does-not-address-economic-challenges/).

More likely the arms purchase from Russia reflects the government’s increasing reliance on anti-Western autocratic regimes. This was seen in the recent vote at the United Nations on a resolution seeking to protect Rohingya Muslims from army atrocities in Myanmar (formerly Burma).

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya had to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh after their villages were burnt down by soldiers, accompanied by rapes and arbitrary arrests, tortures and deaths in detention. Perhaps Zanu PF identified themselves with Myanmar’s military government given President Mnangagwa’s role at the centre of the Gukurahundi genocide. Zimbabwe was one of only nine countries to vote against the resolution, which was passed with an overwhelming majority.

‘Shameful’, said MDC Secretary for Education Fadzayi Mahere. ‘Ours is a government that has no moral or legal difficulty with soldiers killing civilians’. Exiled former minister Jonathan Moyo said: ‘The lie of a new dispensation in Zimbabwe is exposed. Zimbabwe did not vote at the UN with its SADC neighbours, not with its African Union comrades and not with the Commonwealth it is so desperate to rejoin.’ (See: https://www.newzimbabwe.com/politicians-rights-defenders-express-shock-over-zims-support-of-rohingya-muslims-suppression/).

Mnangagwas is now on three weeks’ leave – perhaps it’s so he can spend time on his farm calming down his wife Auxillia, who has fallen out with the Herald’s former acting editor Tichaona Zindoga, who accused her of being publicity-hungry, demanding to be followed everywhere by a dedicated media team from the Herald and the ZBC to report on her do-goodings.

Zindoga, who was fired by the Herald last October, said: ‘It makes one uplifted when you can no longer be associated with such garbage (see: https://www.zimlive.com/2020/01/08/publicity-hungry-auxillia-mnangagwa-branded-herald-editor-snake-in-the-carpet/).

Other points

• The Italian football authority La Liga says it is ’extremely disappointed’ that more than 1,000 footballs it donated for the development of grassroots football in Zimbabwe appear to have been misappropriate by ZIFA’s former chief Philip Chiyanga (see: https://www.newsday.co.zw/2020/01/la-liga-angry-over-missing-donated-balls/).
• Thanks to those who came early to help set up the front table and put up the banners: Patience Chimba, Yvonne Jacobs, Josephine Jombe, Jonathan Kariwo, Charles Mararirakwenda, Patricia Masamba, Lucia Mudzimu, Washington Mugari, Margaret Munenge, Ephraim Tapa and Kevin Wheeldon. Thanks to Josephine, Margaret and Patricia for looking after the front table, to Yvonne, Kevin, Bigboy Sibanda, Simon Nyanhi and Beverley Mutandiro for handing out flyers, to Jonathan, Delice Gavazah, Mary Muteyerwa and Chido Makawa for drumming, to Lucia for leading the singing, to Jonathan for photos and to Rosemary Maponga who, on her birthday, brought hot drinks and cakes.
• Thanks to those generous activists who have contributed to ROHR’s Mtoko Irrigation Project: Patience Chimba, Pamela Chirimuta, Simbarashe Jingo, Dambudzo Marimira, Margaret Munenge, Molly Ngavaimbe, Ephraim Tapa and Kevin Wheeldon.
• For latest Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimb88abwevigil/. Please note: Vigil photos can only be downloaded from our Flickr website.

FOR THE RECORD: 32 signed the register.

EVENTS AND NOTICES:

• ROHR general members’ meeting. Saturday 25^th January from 11.30 am. Venue: Royal Festival Hall, South Bank Centre, Belvedere Road SE1 8XX. Contact: Ephraim Tapa 07940793090, Patricia Masamba 07708116625, Esther Munyira 07492058109.
• ROHR Valentine’s fundraising dinner dance. Saturday 15^th February from 7 pm till late. Venue: to be advised.
• The Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) is the Vigil’s partner organization based in Zimbabwe. ROHR grew out of the need for the Vigil to have an organization on the ground in Zimbabwe which reflected the Vigil’s mission statement in a practical way. ROHR in the UK actively fundraises through membership subscriptions, events, sales etc to support the activities of ROHR in Zimbabwe. Please note that the official website of ROHR Zimbabwe is http://www.rohrzimbabwe.org/. Any other website claiming to be the official website of ROHR in no way represents us.
• The Vigil’s book ‘Zimbabwe Emergency’ is based on our weekly diaries. It records how events in Zimbabwe have unfolded as seen by the diaspora in the UK. It chronicles the economic disintegration, violence, growing oppression and political manoeuvring – and the tragic human cost involved. It is available at the Vigil. All proceeds go to the Vigil and our sister organisation the Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe’s work in Zimbabwe. The book is also available from Amazon.

• Facebook pages:

  Vigil: https://www.facebook.com/zimbabwevigil
  ROHR: https://www.facebook.com/Restoration-of-Human-Rights-ROHR-Zimbabwe-International-370825706588551/
  ZAF: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zimbabwe-Action-Forum-ZAF/490257051027515

Post published in: Featured

The three people are in serious condition after eating meat from animals that died of anthrax.

Marondera district’s veterinary officer, Dr Kramer Manyetu, said that upon investigation, it was established that the affected trio consumed meat from two cattle that died on December 30.

Anthrax vaccination of animals commenced in the area Friday.

Anthrax is a bacterial pathogen in livestock and wild animals. Ruminants such as bison, cattle, sheep and goats are highly susceptible, and horses can also be infected.

Anthrax is a very serious disease of livestock because it can potentially cause the rapid loss of a large number of animals in a very short time. Affected animals are often found dead with no illness detected.

When conditions become favourable, the spores germinate into colonies of bacteria. An example would be a grazing cow ingests spores that in the cow, germinate, grow spread and eventually kill the animal. Anthrax is caused by the bacterium, Bacillus anthracis. This spore-forming bacteria can survive in the environment for decades because of its ability to resist heat, cold, drying, etc. This is usually the infectious stage of anthrax.

There are no reports of person-to-person transmission of anthrax. People get anthrax by handling contaminated animal or animal products, consuming undercooked meat of infected animals and more recently, intentional release of spores.

There are three types of human anthrax with differing degrees of seriousness: cutaneous, gastrointestinal and inhalation.

Anthrax can be prevented by vaccination.

Post published in: Agriculture

The 45-year-old was attacked by a buffalo days earlier, and he was lucky to be on his feet.

Wild animals in Zimbabwe were responsible for the deaths of at least 36 people in 2019, up from 20 in the previous year.

“I thank God that I survived the attack,” said Khumalo with a laugh, making light of the fact that the buffalo almost ripped off his genitals.

Authorities recorded 311 animal attacks on people last year, up from 195 in 2018.

The attacks have been blamed on a devastating drought in Zimbabwe which has seen hungry animals breaking out of game reserves, raiding human settlements in search of food and water.

“The cases include attacks on humans, their livestock and crops,” said national parks spokesman Tinashe Farawo.

He said elephants caused most fatalities, while hippos, buffalos, lions, hyenas and crocodile also contributed to the toll.

Hwange National Park, which is half the size of Belgium, is Zimbabwe’s largest game park and is situated next to the famed Victoria Falls. The park is not fenced off.

Animals breach the buffer and “cross over to look for water and food as there is little or none left in the forest area,” Farawo said

Starving animals

Khumalo vividly remembers the attack.

More than 200 elephants starved to death over three months last year

He was walking in a forest near his Ndlovu-Kachechete village to register for food aid, when he heard dogs barking.

Suddenly a buffalo emerged from the bush and charged, hitting him in the chest and tossing him to the ground.

It went for his groin and used its horn to rip off part of the skin around his penis.

Khumalo grabbed the buffalo’s leg, kicked it in the eye and it scampered off.

Villagers in Zimbabwe’s wildlife-rich but parched northwestern region are frequently fighting off desperately hungry game.

More than 200 elephants starved to death over three months last year.

Despite suspecting that Khumalo was hunting illegally when he was attacked, Phindile Ncube, CEO of Hwange Rural District Council admitted that wild animals are killing people and that the drought has worsened things.

“Wild animals cross into human-inhabited areas in search of water as … sources of drinking water dry up in the forest,” said Ncube.

He described an incident that took place a few weeks earlier, during which elephants killed two cows at a domestic water well.

Armed scouts have been put on standby to respond to distress calls from villagers.

But it was while responding to one such call that the scouts inadvertently shot dead a 61-year-old woman in Mbizha village, close to Khumalo’s.

“As they tried to chase them off one (elephant) charged at them and a scout shot at it. He missed, and the stray bullet hit and killed Irene Musaka, who was sitting by a fire outside her hut almost a mile away.”

In this file photo taken on November 12, 2019 a hippo is stuck in the mud at a drying watering hole in the Hwange National Park, in Zimbabwe.

Chilli cake repellant

Locals are encouraged to play their part to scare off animals. One way is to beat drums.

But the impact is limited.

“Animals, such as elephants get used to the noise and know it… won’t hurt them, so it does not deter them in the long term,” said George Mapuvire, director of Bio-Hub Trust, a charity that trains people to respond to animal attacks.

Bio-Hub Trust advocates for a “soft approach” that encourages peaceful co-existence between humans and wildlife.

Mapuvire suggested burning home-made hot chilli cakes to repel wildlife.

“You mix chilli powder with cow or elephant dung and shape it into bricks, once the bricks dry, you can burn them when elephants are approaching. They can’t stand the smell!”

Villagers have created an elephant alarm system by tying strings of empty tin cans to trees and poles.

When the cans click, they know an elephant is approaching and they light chilli cakes to keep it away.

Another way of keeping elephants at bay is the chilli gun, a plastic contraption loaded with ping-pong balls injected with chilli oil.

“When it hits an elephant, it disintegrates, splashing the animal with the chilli oil,” Mapuvire explained.

Post published in: Featured

Picture: @flysaa_care/Twitter

HARARE – A court in Zimbabwe has ordered South African Airways (SAA) to pay more than R12 million to that country’s environment ministry.

The ruling was made after a six-year-long legal wrangle, in which the South African carrier reportedly refused to pay meteorological fees to the government.

The state-run _Herald _says SAA had been using international airports in Harare and Victoria Falls since 2006 without paying a meteorological fee demanded by the environment ministry.

The legal battle has been going on since 2014; now the court has come down on the side of the government.

According to court papers cited by the Herald, High Court Judge Owen Tagu ordered SAA to pay more than $877,000 in unpaid fees.

It’s understood that SAA was opposed to paying the fees, saying they weren’t legal, and that the environment ministry was duplicating the role of the Civil Aviation Authority.

Post published in: Featured

Marry Mubaiwa, 38, who is the wife of Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, 63, was arrested last month on allegations of attempted murder, fraud and contravening currency laws by transferring about $1 million abroad.

She was freed on bail on Monday after three weeks in jail.

According to an affidavit filed Thursday, she has not seen her children, and troops have barred her from their matrimonial home.

The businesswoman and former model wants the courts to urgently order the vice president to hand over their children, aged eight, seven and five.

She said the children “have unlawfully (been) taken away from my custody”.

“I’m not aware of their location nor have I been allowed to see them.

“Not only is this an act of unconscionable cruelty, but it is also brazenly illegal,” she said.

The attempted murder charges against her arose from a trip last year when she accompanied her husband who was airlifted for medical attention to neighbouring South Africa.

In Pretoria she allegedly took the ailing Chiwenga to a hotel, refusing to take him to the hospital until his aides forced their way and took him to a clinic.

Prosecutors alleged that Mubaiwa went to Chiwenga’s hospital ward and asked his security aides to leave saying she wanted to have a private conversation with her husband.

Alone with the bedridden Chiwenga, Mubaiwa allegedly removed an intravenous line and a catheter from her husband causing him to bleed profusely, the prosecution said.

Chiwenga, who led the 2017 ouster of long-time ruler Robert Mugabe, went to South Africa to seek emergency medical attention for a constricted oesophagus, before being transferred to a Chinese hospital where he spent four months.

Prosecutors also said between 2018 and May last year, Mubaiwa transferred money from her foreign currency account in Zimbabwe to South African bank accounts under the pretext of paying for goods to be imported from that country.

She allegedly used part of the money to buy a house in a Pretoria plush golf estate and two luxury cars.

A trial date has not been set yet but she is due back in court on January 14 for a routine pre-trial appearance.

The southern African nation’s economy is experiencing its worst crisis in a decade while poor rains are seen worsening the food security situation at a time some 8 million people face hunger after a drought last year.

The top public workers’ union Apex Council said the government had offered to increase the salary for the lowest paid employee to 2,033 Zimbabwe dollars ($123.68) from 1,033 Zimbabwe dollars a month. There would also be a one-off allowance of 750 Zimbabwe dollars.

“As workers, we totally rejected the offer,” Apex Council deputy chairman Thomas Muzondo told Reuters, adding that the union would meet on Monday to decide on its next action.

Vincent Hungwe, head of the Civil Service Commission, which employs government workers could not be reached for comment.

Muzondo said public sector workers still insisted that the government should revert to the October 2018 salaries when the country was still under dollarisation. Then, the least paid worker received $475 a month.

Zimbabwe re-introduced a local currency last year in June, which sparked increases in prices of basic goods and services and inflation, which economists say reached 400% in November.

Salaries have lagged, angering workers, including most junior doctors at state hospitals, who have remained on strike since September.

Hopes that the economy would quickly recover under President Emmerson Mnangagwa have faded as the economy grapples with 18-hour daily power cuts, shortages of fuel, foreign currency and medicines in government hospitals.

Post published in: Featured

HARARE, Zimbabwe

Six years ago, it was only a dream for Michelle Chitembwe, 47, to own a bed, who slept on the floor of her slum house in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital.

But challenging the difficulties, Chitembwe launched a soap-making venture and has shifted to a life of the rich from that of rags. She now enjoys her luxurious house in a Harare suburb.

Her initiative was a magic touch on her life, for sure, but it also changed the lives of many women as she employed scores to ensure a future for them.

For entrepreneur women, there are organizations in Zimbabwe showing them a way to help elude poverty.

“Apart from working my way through single-handedly to where I am now, I have also obtained support from organizations like USAID [U.S. Agency for International Development] to shape my vision,” she told Anadolu Agency.

Chitembwe said she can now afford a private school for the education of her children thanks to her soap-making venture.

Actually, Zimbabwean women like Chitembwe have turned to forming home-based industries, with some of them even creating and producing dishwashing liquid, soft drinks and perfumes.

“These entrepreneur women have become sources of most of the domestic products many of us sell in our shops,” said Humphrey Gatawa, a Harare-based indigenous businessman.

Agness Chiramba, who lives in Mbare township in Harare and makes dishwashing liquid, said the market for her product has never ceased to amaze her.

“I’m so amazed at the way local retail businesses have clamored for my dishwashing liquid. I tell you I’m making money just by making dishwashing liquid, pocketing over $200 every day in sales,” Chiramba told Anadolu Agency.

She was an unemployed woman with academic education on chemical engineering. Chiramba, without options, turned to making dishwashing liquid in order to support herself as a single mother.

– Self-encouraged women

Benefiting the support of non-governmental organizations, women entrepreneurs are thriving in Zimbabwe although their activities are not regulated by government due to bureaucracy and corruption which many fear would derail their success.

“USAID Zimbabwe funded the course through its partnership with Junior Achievement Zimbabwe, a forum for youth business growth aggregators and that has helped women like me,” said Chiramba.

As a result, Chiramba and Chitembwe have become self-assisted, at a time Zimbabwe’s economy teeters on the brink of collapse, with inflation around 300%, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Zimbabwe battles with 90% of unemployment, according to the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. However, women like Chiramba and Chitembwe have challenged the crisis with their entrepreneurial skills and have mastered over the years.

Based on statistics from the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development in Zimbabwe, about 261,000 women are involved in self-assisted projects, like soap- and detergents-making among other income-generating projects.

Of late, development experts have attributed the rise in women venturing into home-based manufacturing industries to the hostile economy of the Southern African nation.

“The women have seen that men are losing their jobs as formal industries are closing down and the only option they have hatched for survival over the years is to leap into self-aided projects in order to survive the harsh economy,” Donald Sengwayo, a Zimbabwean development expert based in Harare, told Anadolu Agency.

Except for the technical and financial support they have earned from non-governmental organizations like USAID, the women say, the Zimbabwean government itself has not moved in with any help.

“NGOs have seen the need to support women and our government has not so far done anything meaningful to back our strides, leaving us to progress with the help of non-governmental organizations like USAID,” Chitembwe said.

– Women dreaming big

For Zimbabwe’s entrepreneurial women, working at the backyards of their homes is not enough — they are seeking more.

“Personally, what I wish is to end up, one day, running a huge industry producing soaps, and even exporting,” Chitembwe said.

But for many women like Chiramba, this may not be easy.

“We have no access to loans at banks here because most of us don’t have collaterals to enable us secure more capital from the banks,” Chiramba said.

Apart from difficulties in accessing to capitals from banks, Chitembwe and Chiramba said they also had to suffer from getting customers for their homemade products although they have now gone past the stage.

“Shop owners and ordinary people didn’t really trust my products at first, rather preferring ordering stock from countries like Dubai, South Africa or India; you see, naturally as Zimbabweans we shun locally manufactured products. So, lots of hard work had to be done explaining to people why I was making my product from home before they could buy,” Chiramba said.

Now, thanks to their endurance, many female entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe have become optional sources of affordable homemade consumable products at a time inflation has shot through the roof in the Southern African country.

“Due to rising prices, women who produce staff like soaps, candles and dishwashing liquid have become providers of such items at quite low prices and I’m personally happy dealing with them,” Marian Sithole, a 26-year old Harare woman, told Anadolu Agency.

Even Taurai Kandishaya, national coordinator of the Zimbabwe Citizens Forum, a civil society organization with links to the country’s governing Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF), is excited about the products women are producing in their backyards.

“Homemade products made by these entrepreneurs are offering our citizens a cheaper alternative although they may eventually be affected by price rise in the raw materials they use, which may eventually force them to increase their prices,” Kandishaya told Anadolu Agency.