Sunday, April 28, 2024

Farai Shawn Matiashe

Can Zumbani, Zimbabwe’s Local Tea Leaves Treat COVID-19?

Farai Shawn Matiashe
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Can Zumbani, Zimbabwe’s Local Tea Leaves Treat COVID-19?

Nickson Mpofu (38) a resident of Cranborne, a medium-density suburb in Harare the capital of Zimbabwe, recalls how they used tea leaves to treat colds growing up in his rural home, Zvishavane. 

As a young boy, he did not know the plant would one day treat the symptoms of a novel virus: COVID-19.  

Last year, after many decades he realized the power of the plant in saving lives when he was diagnosed with COVID-19.

“I first developed a severe headache. I suspected it was just flu,” he tells Ubuntu Times.

“As the day went on the headache and fever became worse.”

Mpofu went to a COVID-19 testing center in Harare where he tested positive for Coronavirus. 

He was asked to quarantine at home.

At that time little was known about COVID-19, thus, Mpofu turned to Zumbani tea leaves. 

“I took Zumbani tea leaves. I also steamed using Zumbani, lemon, gum tree and guava tree leaves,” he said.

Since March 2020 when Zimbabwe recorded its first COVID-19 death, people have been using local remedies such as Zumbani to treat illnesses related to the virus. 

Zumbani, a woody erect shrub that grows naturally in Zimbabwe and other African countries, is known scientifically as Lippia javanica. 

Up until now, the world is battling to find a cure to the pandemic.

But as research efforts go on citizens of poor countries, who can hardly afford medical treatment have had to rely on local remedies to treat the symptoms of COVID-19. 

Several countries have developed vaccines that are currently being rolled out including United States’ Johnson and Johnson, Russia’s Sputnik V, China’s Sinopharm vaccine.

After receiving a donation of 200,000 Sinopharm vaccines from China, Zimbabwe rolled out its COVID-19 vaccination program on the 18th of January 2021. 

The initial phase of the vaccination program targets health workers, members of the security sector, and journalists.

The government aims to inoculate 60 percent of its population of over 14 million people with vaccines from China, Russia, and the Far East.  

In April 2020, the government allowed traditional herbalists to treat COVID-19 using herbs since very little information was available on how to treat the symptoms of COVID-19. 

Zimbabweans are using Zumabani tea leaves to treat COVID-19 related illnesses
Zumabani, known scientifically as Lippia javanica, grows naturally in Zimbabwe and other African countries and has been used to treat ailments such as colds and flu. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times

The southern African nation is experiencing its worst economic crisis in decades which has hit the health sector characterized by shortages of medicines and personal protective equipment (PPEs).

Poor countries like Zimbabwe are struggling to purchase vaccines for their citizens.

They are relying on vaccine donations from developed nations. 

Towards the end of 2021 COVID-19 cases surged as Zimbabwean residents returned from neighboring South Africa for the festive season.

As of the 16th of March 2021, COVID-19 had claimed the lives of over 1,500 people while infecting more than 36,500 people in the southern African nation, according to the Health Ministry.

At this time, the majority of people in Zimbabwe—constituting almost 80 percent of the population resorted to using home remedies to treat common illnesses before seeking modern medical care services, according to Itai Rusike, the executive director of the Community Working Group on Health, a network of community-based organizations.

Another Zimbabwean, Constance Makoni says her parents tested positive for COVID-19 in July 2020 and they took Zumbani and other home remedies. 

“When they tested positive we asked them to steam. My father was in terrible shape. He was not breathing well.”

“My parents could steam 15 times a day. They also drank Zumbani tea leaves. My father was later put on oxygen. They all recovered,” she said.

Zimbabwe is not the only country that at the height of the pandemic resorted to home remedies. 

Other African nations such as Madagascar and Tanzania authorized and promoted the use of home remedies to cure COVID-19. 

In April 2020, Madagascan President Andry Rajoelina launched a herbal tea that was marketed in bottles. 

The herbal remedy made from artemisia-a plant with proven efficacy against malaria, according to the Malagasy Institute of Applied Research.

This herbal remedy was reportedly exported to other countries. 

In Tanzania, President John Magufuli, who did not put the east African nation on lockdown while declaring it COVID-19 free, also ordered a shipment of the Madagascan herbal to treat the respiratory disease in May 2020.

Magufuli died from heart-related complications aged 61 on the 17th of March 2020.

In Zimbabwe, there has been a rise in the number of traders packaging Zumbani tea leaves, for sale in major cities. 

The World Health Organisation has been urging nations to use scientifically proven traditional medicine to treat COVID-19 related illnesses. 

Zimbabwe’s Health Minister Constantino Chiwenga has encouraged medical facilities to undertake a scientific study to ascertain the efficacy of traditional medicine and herbs to combat COVID-19.

There is no scientific research that Zumbani can treat COVID-19
In Zimbabwe, entrepreneurs are packaging Zumbani tea leaves for sale in major cities. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times

Africa University, located in the eastern part of Zimbabwe, is in the process of developing cough drops made from the Zumbani plant.  

The cough drops are not going to be sold as a pharmaceutical drug for now but as a herbal remedy and will be available commercially in one month’s time, according to Africa University. 

Despite its popularity among poor Zimbabweans medical practitioners are not convinced that it can treat COVID-19. 

“Zumbani is a herbal remedy which is probably good for general health and wellbeing. It has been found to have antioxidants like rooibos. It has no known specific effect against any particular bacteria or virus,” Shingai Nyaguse, president of the Zimbabwe Senior Hospital Doctors Association tells Ubuntu Times.

Medical experts say prolonged use of the triterpenoids in Lippia javanica causes liver damage, with jaundice being the most notable result.

How The Zimbabwean Government Is Muzzling Critics And Political Opponents

Farai Shawn Matiashe
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How The Zimbabwean Government Is Muzzling Critics And Political Opponents

On a rainy day in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, prison officers armed with AK47s are monitoring prisoners disembarking from a prison van at Harare magistrates court. 

A few prisoners have leg cuffs which are often used for prisoners with grave crimes such as serial armed robberies and those who are a flight risk.

One of these prisoners is familiar to Zimbabweans, especially in opposition politics circles.

His name is Job Sikhala, the MDC Alliance vice-chairperson who was arrested on allegations of communicating falsehoods.

Sikhala was arrested on the 9th of January 2021 at the same court when he had come to offer legal assistance to investigative journalist Hopewell Chin’ono who had been arrested a day before and charged with communicating falsehoods.

Just like Sikhala and Chin’ono, on the 11th of January MDC Alliance spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere was also arrested on the same charges.

Mahere was freed on bail, on Monday the 18th of January 2021

Chin’ono was also freed on bail on the 27th of January 2021 while Sikhala was released on bail on the 1st of February this year.

The trio are accused of using their Twitter handles to spread false information. They allegedly spread falsehoods that a child was killed by a police officer during skirmishes with illegal minibus drivers in Harare’s central business district on the 5th of January 2021. 

The post by the three followed a video, which was circulated on social media by many users, shows a mother manhandling a cop asking why he had beaten up his child who was hanging helplessly in her arms. 

The child allegedly died. 

MDC Alliance spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere, also a lawyer, at Harare Magistrates Court
MDC Alliance spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere was also arrested for communicating falsehoods, a law that was declared unconstitutional by Chief Justice Luke Malaba back in 2014. Credit: Ruvimbo Muchenje

However, the Zimbabwe Republic Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi denied the claims. 

“The child is not dead as alleged on social media and this has been confirmed by medical personnel who are now in touch with the police and parents,” he said.

The law under which the trio were arrested was outlawed by the Constitutional Court led by Chief Justice Luke Malaba back in 2014. 

In his ruling, Malaba said, “government is prohibited from appointing itself as a monitor of truth for people.”

This is the third time that Chin’ono has been arrested in a period of six months.

He spent 45 days in remand prison on charges of inciting people to commit violence and another 17 days on charges of obstructing the course of justice.

Human rights defenders and opposition party leaders believe President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime is using the judiciary to stifle freedom of expression.

Media Institute of Southern Africa-Zimbabwe Chapter official Nqaba Matshazi told Ubuntu Times that it was quite strange that people were still being arrested for publishing falsehoods in the 21st century.

“Publishing falsehoods is an effective tool in a dictators’ tool box. It is easy for dictators to use such laws to descend on political opponents,” he said.

Matshazi said there is no need to criminalize publication of falsehoods.

“When a journalist lies. It is the journalist who loses his or her credibility. There is no need to criminalize the offense. There is a norm of retracting and issuing apologies,” he said.

Hopewell Chin’ono at Harare Magistrates Court
This is the third time that investigative journalist Hopewell Chin’ono is being arrested in a period of six months. Credit: Ruvimbo Muchenje

Media Alliance of Zimbabwe programs manager Nigel Nyamutumbu said arresting citizens on account of peddling falsehoods is unsustainable and amounts to criminalization of freedom of expression, and by extension journalism. 

“Government should walk the talk in respect of reforms and be consistent on the same. It is an act of hypocrisy to, one hand purport to be repealing draconian laws such as [Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act] AIPPA during the day, while at night resuscitating dead laws as a means of targeting political opponents, muzzling journalists, criminalizing expression and crushing dissent,” he said.

In a related case, Harare mayor Jacob Mafume had been languishing in prison since 2020 after he was arrested on allegations of tampering with a witness in another case involving abuse of office for which he was already out on bail.

Mafume was released on bail on the 15th of January after his lawyers had several times unsuccessfully requested he be granted bail so that he can get treatment at a health facility of his choice as he was ill. 

The list of people arrested in the past months for inciting violence is cumulative.

University of Zimbabwe student Allan Moyo (23) is also in prison after getting arrested on the 7th of December 2020 and charged with inciting people to revolt against Mnangagwa’s government.

Moyo has been denied bail several times.

In a statement, MDC Alliance deputy spokesperson Clifford Hlatywayo said his party strongly condemned the continued abuse of justice institutions through the arrests of Mahere, Mafume, Chin’ono, Moyo and other wrongly convicted prisoners that include Last Maingehama and Tungamirirai Madzokere.

He said the government is abusing State institutions by continuously persecuting opposition leaders and human rights defenders. 

“The arrest pertaining to non-existing crimes represents dictatorial rule, severe abuse of power and an attack on the rule of law. Persecution through prosecution reflects authoritarian consolidation rather than democratization,” he said.

There have been allegations of judiciary capture in Zimbabwe with Mnangagwa himself allegedly calling the shots from his office.

In October 2020, judges wrote a letter to Mnangagwa and the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, claiming that the judiciary was under siege and judges were captured thereby unable to independently execute their duties without interference from the executive and State agencies.

“What is repeated in the public domain and on social media about the capture of the judiciary is no longer fiction or perception, it is in fact reality. It is an open secret that right across the judicial structure, the Chief Justice now rules without a fetter,” reads part of the letter.

“Where magistrates used to be subject to administrative supervision by their superiors, it is now an open secret that the Chief Justice now routinely interferes with magistrates and their decisions through the Chief Magistrates’ office.”

Human rights defender Musa Kika told Ubuntu Times that the arrests simply provided the latest evidence in what has become a clear pattern of manipulating the judicial system to silence and eliminate dissent. 

“Chin’ono, Mahere and Sikhala are perceived leaders in dissent, and their arrest is meant to dissuade others from speaking ill against the regime,” he said.

Kika said as the norm the goal is never to convict them but to punish them through prolonged pre-trial incarceration and the harassment they endure in the process.

Even some people who are publicly perceived to be supporters of Mnangagwa are beginning to be critical of his administration. 

In a statement, media mogul and member of Mnangagwa’s advisory council Trevor Ncube said the attack on Chin’ono’s rights to freedom of expression limits the rights of citizens to know what is going on in Zimbabwe. 

He said the response of the State should be to set the record straight, not to arrest or harass those who express themselves freely.

Economic Sanctions: Zimbabweans Pin Hope On United States President-elect Joe Biden 

Farai Shawn Matiashe
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Economic Sanctions: Zimbabweans Pin Hope On United States President-elect Joe Biden 

On the 20th of January, United States (U.S) President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of America.

Biden’s win was recently confirmed by the US Congress months after the incumbent Donald Trump and his Republican party unsuccessfully sought to challenge the November 2020 election result, which they said were marred by irregularities.

Prior to that Trump, armed with his social media platforms including microblogging site Twitter and Facebook incited an insurrection that saw his supporters storming the US Capitol in Washington DC on the 6th of January 2021 resulting in five people losing their lives including a federal police officer.

Facebook and Twitter have since suspended Trump’s social media accounts, permanently.

The attempted “soft coup” at the US Capitol left millions questioning the so-called democracy that Americans preach around the world. 

Not to be left out, Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa seized the opportunity to call for Biden’s administration to remove sanctions on the former British colony.

The US and its allies imposed “targeted” sanctions on Harare in 2001, following the Land Reform Programme that saw around 4,500 white farmers lose land under the leadership of the late President Robert Mugabe.

The sanctions, under the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZDERA) of 2001 restricts US support for multilateral financing to Zimbabwe. The sanctions can only be removed if Zimbabwe implements political and economic reforms.

The Mnangagwa regime has even dedicated the 25th of October annually as a day to campaign against sanctions. 

But the US continues to insist that sanctions will remain until Mnangagwa implements comprehensive electoral and human rights reforms. 

In 2019, Trump’s administration renewed the sanctions with Mnangagwa’s top allies including businessman Kuda Tagwirei and National Security minister Owen Ncube being added to the list.  

Mnangagwa, who ascended to power in 2017 through a military coup that ousted his mentor and long time ruler Mugabe, took to Twitter to denounce insurrection at the US Capitol and to call for the removal of sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.

“Last year, President Trump extended painful economic sanctions placed on Zimbabwe, citing concerns about Zimbabwe’s democracy,” he wrote.

“Yesterday’s (Wednesday, 6 January 2021) events showed that the U.S. has no moral right to punish another nation under the guise of upholding democracy. These sanctions must end.”

Mnangagwa said his administration was ready to work with Biden to build cordial relations between the two nations.

Zimbabwe is, as it always has been, ready to work together as friends and partners with the U.S for the benefit of both our peoples.
— President of Zimbabwe (@edmnangagwa) January 7, 2021

After outlawing the use of multi-currency in mid-2019 and introducing its local currency the Zimbabwean dollar, the latter has been losing value against major currencies. 

As of January this year, Zimbabwe’s inflation rate was nearly 380 percent, according to Steve Hanke, an economist at Johns Hopkins University. 

The country faces a myriad of problems.

There is a shortage of medicine in public hospitals which has left the majority of Zimbabwe’s population struggling to access health care amid the global pandemic, Coronavirus.

The Mnangagwa-led administration, after dumping its “Open for Business” Public Relations stunt, has adopted the removal of sanctions mantra as the solution to Zimbabwe’s economic crisis. 

The government thrives on propaganda and blame-shifting.

Political analysts and international relations experts believe the US is not going to be moved by Mnangagwa’s talks without the implementation of political and economic reforms.

Pearl Matibe, an international geopolitics scholar with an interest in foreign policy and national security based in Washington DC told Ubuntu Times that Biden’s administration will continue to push the Zimbabwean government to respect human rights.

“What I do foresee is continued bipartisan support for transparency, fairness, and efforts that advance respect for human rights, democracy, and good governance,” she said.

Daglous Makumbe, a lecturer in the department of political studies at the University of the Western Cape said the US foreign policy does not change especially in response to dictatorial regimes such as the Zimbabwean one. 

“The coming of Biden to the presidential pulpit will not change the political conundrum between Harare and Washington. Whether a Democrat or a Republican comes to power in the US, its conditions are clear on Harare,” he said.

“It is not about a Democrat or Republican coming to power in America, but a change of draconian policies in Zimbabwe that will make the US change its stance on Zimbabwe. Washington and Harare relations, therefore, are going to continue being polarized as long as Zimbabwe remains stiff-necked and recalcitrant.”

People marching against sanctions
President Emmerson Mnangagwa led government has designated the 25th of October annually as a day for campaigning against sanctions. Credit: The FeedZW

Tawanda Zinyama, in academia at the University of Zimbabwe, said the character and behavior of Mnangagwa’s administration may help shape the US policy towards Zimbabwe.

“The fragmentation of the opposition and civil society in Zimbabwe does not entice the US to continue some of its policies as it may be counterproductive on their part,” he said. 

Zinyama said the opposition parties thrive on legitimate grievances of the people and once the Mnangwagwa regime addresses them, even partially, the US will be forced by the reality on the ground to engage with them.

Biden was part of the congress that passed ZDERA.

The Mngangagwa regime has been using the country’s security forces to descend on political opponents and critics since 2018.

In August 2018 the military shot dead six civilians in the streets of Harare who were demonstrating against the electoral body which was delaying to announce the country’s first elections after Mugabe. 

In January 2019, the military was deployed to quell demonstrators, who were protesting nationwide against Mnangagwa’s decision to hike fuel prices by 150 percent, resulting in the death of 17 people and leaving hundreds injured.

In 2020, the government using its security forces committed gross human rights violations under the guise of enforcing measures that had been imposed in March that year to slow the spread of the global pandemic, Coronavirus.

From March to September 2020 there were over 1,200 human rights violations cases ranging from unlawful arrests, assaults, threats and intimidations, harassment of citizens and journalists, and extrajudicial killings across the country, according to the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association, a human rights advocacy movement. 

Zinyama said the democrats are likely to be more directly confrontational against a nationalistic Zimbabwe and they are more impatient about the pace of the democratization they want to see than the Republicans who simply paid lip service to Zimbabwean issues.

Three Years After Zimbabwe’s Military Coup, False Hope And A Return To The Old Order

Farai Shawn Matiashe
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Three Years After Zimbabwe’s Military Coup, False Hope And A Return To The Old Order

Harare, Zimbabwe — Fiona Nyaungwa (24) still recalls marching towards the State House in Harare on the 18th of November in 2017 to put pressure on the then Zimbabwean ruler, the late Robert Mugabe to resign.

Nyaungwa, then a student at the University of Zimbabwe was supposed to attend lessons but she could not miss the historic event impelled by the military.

“My neighbor convinced me to witness this historical event of our time in the hope that we were being liberated from bondage,” she said.

But she is quick to confess her fear of Zimbabwe’s dreaded military. 

“I was afraid the military was going to open fire on innocent civilians,” she told Ubuntu Times.

In the city center, she joined millions of Zimbabweans around the country who were calling for the resignation of Robert Mugabe — the man who had ruled Zimbabwe with an iron fist since its independence from Britain in 1980. 

Four days before, Nyaungwa had seen armored vehicles taking strategic positions in the city center from Inkomo Barracks about 35 kilometers northwest of Harare.

She did not know what was happening until the morning of the 15th of November 2017. ZTV, the country’s only State television broadcasting station and radio stations had been taken over by the military under the cover of the darkness. 

While the drama unfolded, they had placed Mugabe under house arrest and Major General Sibusiso Moyo calmed the nation: “We wish to assure the nation that (President Mugabe) and his family are safe and sound and their security is guaranteed,” he said.

“We are only targeting criminals around him who are committing crimes that are causing social and economic suffering in the country in order to bring them to justice.”

Mugabe together with his wife Grace and a faction of Zanu-PF G40 members including outspoken former Minister of Higher Education Jonathan Moyo, Patrick Zhuwao – Mugabe’s nephew and Saviour Kasukuwere were immediately labeled criminals – accused of corruption in Zimbabwe. Their persecution started. 

The coup led to the ousting of Mugabe and paved the way for the ascendency to power of axed Vice President Emmerson Mnangangwa – the man who for many years was Mugabe’s confidante. 

People holding placards of Mnangagwa during the coup
The coup that ousted late President Robert Mugabe led to the ascendency of axed Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa to power. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times

Young people like Nyaungwa saw Mnangagwa as a savior who would build a new nation where democracy, rule of law, and respect of human rights thrived. He carried Zimbabwe’s hopes of burying years of living under fear, years of political turmoil, and rebirth of a nation that was once praised for its economic boom. They welcomed the ouster of Mugabe.

“Mugabe’s regime was oppressive. There was no freedom of speech and expression. I needed change. My hopes were to see a democratic Zimbabwe. Under Mugabe there was nepotism and corruption,” Nyaungwa said.

Three years after the military-assisted takeover and a disputed election in 2018 Zimbabweans’ hopes have faded away as it becomes apparent to many that the coup was just a change of power and not a rotten system.

After outlawing the use of multi-currency in mid-2019 and introducing its local currency the Zimbabwean dollar, the latter has been losing value against major currencies. 

As of November this year, Zimbabwe’s inflation rate was nearly 385 percent, according to Steve Hanke, an economist at Johns Hopkins University. 

The country faces a myriad of problems.

There is a shortage of medicine in public hospitals which has left the majority of Zimbabwe’s population struggling to access health care.

The Mnangagwa-led administration, after dumping its “Open for Business” Public Relations stunt, has adopted the removal of sanctions mantra as the solution to Zimbabwe’s economic crisis. 

The government thrives on propaganda and blame-shifting. The Mnangagwa regime has even dedicated the 25th of October annually as a day to campaign against sanctions.

The United States and its allies imposed “targeted” sanctions on Harare in 2002 following a chaotic Land Reform Programme that saw blacks taking back their land from about 4500 white farmers during the Mugabe era. 

But, Washington through its embassy in Harare has insisted that Mnangagwa should reform and respect human rights.

Admire Mare, a senior lecturer at Namibia University of Science and Technology said Zimbabwe’s economic malaise is a combination of both external and internal sanctions.

“Internal sanctions are rooted in deep-seated corruption, bad governance, unending electioneering, winner takes it all politics and polarization,” he told Ubuntu Times.

He said the current situation highlights that the regime has learnt nothing and forgotten nothing about the modus operandi of “Mugabeism”.

“The intensity of rule by law and abuse of the criminal justice system is unprecedented. It casts doubt on the sincerity of the regime to reform the political and electoral system,” Mare said.

The government has been using force on citizens since 2018 thereby closing the democratic space.

In August 2018 the military shot dead six civilians in the streets of Harare who were demonstrating against the electoral body which was delaying to announce the country’s first elections after Mugabe. 

In January 2019, the military was deployed to quell demonstrators, who were protesting nationwide against Mnangagwa’s decision to hike fuel prices by 150 percent, resulting in the death of 17 people and leaving hundreds injured.

This year, the government using its security forces committed gross human rights under the guise of enforcing measures imposed in March to slow the spread of the global pandemic, Coronavirus.

A police officer holding a rifle
President Emmerson Mnangagwa is using force to silence critics. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times

From March to September 2020 there were over 1,200 human rights violations cases ranging from unlawful arrests, assaults, threats and intimidations, harassment of citizens and journalists, and extrajudicial killings across the country, according to the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association, a human rights advocacy movement. 

Dr. Wellington Gadzikwa, a journalism lecturer and academic at a local university, said the presence of the military in civilian issues which are normally handled by the police has increased and reports of the members of the army violating human rights have increased more than during the Mugabe era. 

“I think most people expected Mnangagwa to be radically different from Mugabe but the frustration with lack of change has led many to perceive that the new leader is worse off than the former,” he said.

Freedom of expression is being suppressed by the current regime with independent journalists being arrested for exposing corruption.

Njabulo Ncube, the Zimbabwe National Editors Forum coordinator told Ubuntu Times that media reforms have been a fraud in the country.

“While (Mnangagwa regime) purports to be rolling out media reforms, it is sneaking in draconian laws that criminalizes the journalism profession,” he said.

“Mugabe was subtle in stifling media freedoms but Mnangagwa is brazen.”

Nyaungwa is regretting joining the march that forced Mugabe to resign in March 2017.

“The march brought corruption and the suppression of the freedom of expression,” she said.

Zimbabwe Farmers Embrace Conservation Agriculture To Beat Effects Of Climate Change

Farai Shawn Matiashe
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Zimbabwe Farmers Embrace Conservation Agriculture To Beat Effects Of Climate Change

Marange, Zimbabwe — It is a windy day in Marange, Chanakira village. Small clouds scuddle the blue sky giving it a blurred look. About 110 kilometers southwest of Mutare, Norah Mwastuku (48) a subsistence farmer sits at the verandah and contemplates when the first rains will arrive. 

She anxiously looks at her fields, decorated with mulched holes.

Mwastuku is one of the farmers who have embraced the Pfumvudza program — a concept where crops are planted on zero tillage in a bid to conserve water and inputs on a small piece of land.

She is enthusiastic about the program and is looking forward to the new season. 

“I have already dug holes in a 39 meters by 16 meters piece of land. This coming season I am planning to grow maize,” the mother of four told Ubuntu Times.

This area does not receive much rain and farmers like Mwastuku rely on boreholes to water their fields. The soils are tired too. 

While the government is currently popularizing the Pfumvudza program, Mwastuku is used to it. In the season 2019/2020, she grew maize and sorghum at the same size of land as part of Pfumvudza.

“I had a good harvest. This is what we are surviving on as a family,” she said. The farming concept is increasingly becoming popular among farmers in areas that receive less rainfall. 

Lilian Murangariri (50), a small-holder farmer from Headlands, about 140 kilometers from the capital Harare says Pfumvudza has less labor.

“Last year I grew orange maize and white maize in a half-hectare piece of land. I was amazed with the harvest. As a farmer you do not have to stress about using cows for tillage as this is zero tillage,” she told Ubuntu Times.

The mother of three says Pfumvudza is economic and can be practiced by farmers who do not have enough farming machinery. 

“The holes and mulch conserve water. I can still harvest my crops even if there is poor rain. I also use less inputs such as fertilizer,” said Murangariri.

Mwastuku and Murangariri are some of the over 9,000 people who have embraced Pfumvudza with the support from the Zimbabwe Livelihoods and Food Security Programme (LFSP).

Pfumvudza concept is helping rural women to end hunger in their communities
Pfumvudza concept maximizes on a small piece of land with less agricultural inputs to produce a good harvest. Credit: FAO

The LFSP, which is funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), is managed by United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and implemented by Welthungerhilfe, Practical Action and World Vision.

It is aimed at reducing poverty, targeting 250,000 rural farming households through improved food and nutrition security and incomes in 10 districts in Zimbabwe.

LFSP trained over 50,000 farmers from their clusters in Manicaland, Midlands, and Mashonaland Provinces in 2019.

For the past half a decade Zimbabwe has been having incessant droughts and floods which, according to experts, are caused by climate change. 

Nearly 8 million people, about half of Zimbabwe’s population, are food insecure, according to the United Nations’ World Food Programme.

The southern African nation, which was once the breadbasket of the continent, will import an estimated 1.1 million tonnes of grain in the 2020/2021 marketing year to meet demand, according to the FAO.

This Pfumvudza concept which was spearheaded by FAO last season in Zimbabwe has been adopted by the President Emmerson Mnangagwa led government in the 2020/2021 season targeting nearly 2 million households, about 10 million people. 

The government is supporting these farmers with inputs.

Prudence Mucharwa, a small-holder farmer in Chihota near Marondera, about 70 kilometers from the capital Harare, said she is new to the concept.

“I joined Pfumvudza a bit late. I met an Agritex officer who explained it to me. The Grain Marketing Board will loan me inputs and I will pay back with maize or soya meal,” she said.

A mulched maize crop
Mulching which is part of the Pfumvudza concept helps in water conservation ideal in drought-hit areas in rural Zimbabwe. Credit: FAO

Lands ministry permanent secretary John Bhasera explains more about the program. 

“Pfumvudza is simply conservation agriculture. This is basically conservation which has been nationalized. It has minimum soil disturbance as well as mulching creating a blanket of cover so that you can conserve moisture. Crop rotation as well, we have three farming sectors—one for [a certain type of] cereal, another for [a different] cereal and the last for other crops,” he said.

Zimbabwe has been having farming schemes for the past decades but still, farmers are producing grain not enough to feed the nation. 

There is a need for new tactics. 

“We now have a new extension approach which is called Train, Track and Monitor (TTM). We have sourced motorcycles for our agriculture extension workers across the country so that they are able to practice the TTM approach. We started with training. We trained the Agritex officers for nearly a month. Now the extension officers are training farmers,” Bhasera said

Farmers preparing the land for Pfumvudza on zero tillage
Pfumvudza concept is a zero tillage program that is considered cheap and time-saving by farmers. Credit: FAO

Olga Nhari, Women in Agriculture Union chairperson speaks glowingly about the program. 

“Of the three plots one produces yield sufficient for family and the other two plots for national storage,” she said.

Nhari said Pfumvudza helps rural women, especially, to fight against hunger and to improve livelihoods. 

Zimbabwe Farmers Union executive director Paul Zakariya said there was a need to reverse the current state of affairs, where Zimbabwe has remained a net importer of staple cereals.

“It is not desirable that a country that has excellent agricultural lands and enjoys excellent climatic conditions, should import all its food,” he said.

In the past, farming schemes have been marred by corruption in the distribution of inputs as well as loan allocations. Some experts fear that the culture might continue under the Pfumvudza program.

“To say it is an opportunity to loot funds needs intelligence on whether the program will have a budget allocation and the actual implementation of the project in terms of funds or inputs allocation,” Harare based economist Victor Bhoroma told Ubuntu Times.

“However, almost all the country’s agricultural subsidy programs have flopped because of politicization of inputs distribution, corruption, inefficient funding or repayment models and lack of private capital participation which is tied to complicated land tenure policies,”

He said most of these agriculture programs are more political than economic of which in politics, the end justifies the means, hence, the government can pursue an economically costly program because it serves political interests.

Farmers doing land preparation for Pfumvudza
Land preparation for Pfumvudza concept is often done soon after harvest while some in winter and others in summer. Credit: FAO

Another economist Vince Musewe said Zimbabwe has invested in previous farming schemes but the country still imports grain.

“We have invested billions (of dollars) in Command Agriculture and we still have to import. We, however, need a new mindset that farming is a business and not a hobby where farmers expect to get free inputs,” said Musewe adding that a strong private sector drive in agriculture is important.

Zakariya said there is a need to put in place measures to curb abuse of inputs under such schemes. 

“Without effective and efficient systems, the world over, abuse can be rampant,” he said.

From Pfumvudza, the government is expecting about 1.8 million tonnes of grain, which is almost 90 percent of the national food requirements.

During the 2020/21 season, the LFSP aims to incorporate agroecology aspects as subsistence farmers like Mwastuku realize the fruits of their sweat. 

It is hoped that agroecology will better climate-proof smallholder agriculture production and will ensure nutrition for 50,000 households. 

COVID-19 Imposed Lockdown Effects, Dwindling Incomes And Child Labor In Zimbabwe

Farai Shawn Matiashe
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COVID-19 Imposed Lockdown Effects, Dwindling Incomes And Child Labor In Zimbabwe

Zimunya, Zimbabwe — The October sun is blazing hot in Zimunya, about 56 kilometers southwest of Mutare. Johnson Muranda (11) is resting on his pickaxe inside a mining pit.

Muranda has been here before sunrise searching for gold.

He has a uniquely awkward beginning to his day compared to his agemates. 

Most boys of his age spend their pastime at home doing extra-lessons to compensate for time lost as a result of the COVID-19 imposed lockdown. 

Since March this year when the government imposed a nationwide lockdown, Muranda has been visiting the area along Odzi River, daily, in search of the precious metal – gold.

The story of Muranda is a tip of the iceberg of the threatening effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on school-going children. 

Zimbabwean children had been out of school for nearly seven months until the government opened schools to some exam classes in early October. 

The rest of the classes are expected to open later this year.

As family incomes dwindled during lockdown, children have had to carry the mantle of fending for their needs even if it meant delving into dangerous ventures such as illegal mining. This has seen a number of Zimbabweans losing their lives in unprotected mines. 

“I have been coming here since April with my friends. I sell gold to buyers from my home area. I realize about $20 per day,” said Muranda whose name has been changed to protect his identity.

Muranda, a Grade 5 student lost his father in 2015 and is now staying with his mother and two other siblings. 

He is slowly graduating into a “young parent.”

“I started mining in May and used the money to buy food for my family. My mom is not formally employed and her sources of income were impacted by Coronavirus,” he said. 

Muranda is not alone in this dangerous venture. Many more children from his school have answered to the lure of illegal gold mining as they seek ways to make ends meet.

Illegal gold miners at work along a riverbed in Zimbabwe
Chemicals such as cyanide and mercury used to separate ore and gold put the lives of child minors at risk. Credit: CNRG

Another child miner Sarudzai Muchemwa (17) works about five hours a day along Odzi River. 

She too has a heart and responsibility of an older person.

“I use the money to buy food as well as clothes for me and my family,” said Muchemwa whose name has been changed to protect her identity.

Apart from looking after the family needs, Muchemwa, who is in Form 3, is saving the money to pay school fees when her class opens late October.

“We are opening on the 26th of October. My parents are peasant farmers and they struggle to raise money for my fees. So, I have decided to help them,” she said.

Zimbabwe has a long history of child labor.

Children at an illegal mining area in Zimbabwe
Child rights defenders have recorded an increase in the number of child miners in Zimbabwe during lockdown. Credit: Zela

In 2019, of the 50,000 children surveyed in the southern African nation, 71% were working in agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors and 5.4% were in the mining and quarrying sectors, according to the Labour Force and Child Labour Survey released by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency.

Adolphus Chinomwe, International Labour Organisation senior program officer based in Harare told Ubuntu Times that loss of incomes could be forcing children into illegal mining. 

“The period from March up to now was postseason for agriculture and from May to June households, especially those in rural areas normally supplement with artisanal mining,” he said.

He added that the lockdown period has been long to the extent that children become “susceptible to child labour-both economic and non-economic.”

According to the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (Zela) in its report titled “Impact of Covid-19 response mechanisms on children in selected gold and diamond communities in Zimbabwe”, children have resorted to drastic mechanisms that compromise their welfare and puts their rights at risk of being violated.

Zela said children were no longer attending classes and the pandemic also drove some to engage in economic activities including illegal mining while stating that sexual exploitation is rampant in mining areas around the country.

“Since the COVID-19 induced lockdown and the closure of schools, the number of children involved in alluvial diamond and artisanal gold mining in the areas under review has increased,” said Zela. 

“For diamond, the activities include milling of alluvial diamond, skirting of diamond, cooking for the syndicates and digging of diamond ore. For gold, the alluvial mining is mainly happening along river beds.”

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) defines a child or minor as a human being underage of 18. 

But according to the International Labour Organisation the fundamental convention sets the general minimum age for admission to employment or work at 15 years, even at 13 for light work and the minimum age for hazardous work at 18 while 16 years is considered as well though under certain strict conditions.

Even though the Labour Act in Zimbabwe allows people under the age of 18 to be employed as part of educational training it makes it illegal for children under the age of 18 to perform any work which can jeopardize their health, safety or morals. 

Without proper monitoring, observance of these laws is minimal. Children venturing into mining are exposed to dangers and are left to learn the ropes of the trade on their own.

“Fortunately, we do not use any chemicals. We first create holes on top of a 200-liter water container. We then put a carpet on top of it. Gold usually does not pass through the carpet but only soil will. This is how we separate the gold,” said Muranda.

He said he has never fallen into any open pits left by other miners.

The environmental damage left by illegal miners along river beds in Zimbabwe
Illegal miners often leave a trail of environmental destruction in forms of gullies and open pits putting the lives of other miners at risk. Credit: CNRG

Desperate to get money during lockdown some young girls had to engage in sexual activities with illegal miners operating in Manicaland. 

“In Odzi we met young girls who are having sex with artisanal miners in exchange for money. Miners take advantage of them. They sleep with them without protection and pay them huge sums of money,” Hazel Zemura, a coordinator for Women Against All Forms of Discrimination told Ubuntu Times.

Organizations that advocate for the rights of children are concerned about the involvement of young people in illegal mining activities.

Zela said the government needs to speed up the formalization of the artisanal and small-scale mining sector to discourage the increasing involvement of children in the sector.

Mines deputy minister Polite Kambamura professed ignorance on the involvement of children in mining activities.

“Our Labour laws in the mining industry do not allow employment of anyone under the age of 18 years. If ever there are such employers they must account for such actions,” he said.

Kambamura challenged mining companies to formalize their operations. 

“We encourage all miners to register and formalize their operations so as to avoid unethical work practices.”

But while solutions to child laborers and observance of law by miners continue to be sought, pupils like Muranda and many other young girls who are forced into illegal mining activities might be irreparably damaged. 

They are beginning to see mining as a pastime venture with lucrative proceeds albeit its associated dangers.

“This is my only source of income. I will be back in the mining fields whenever we break at school,” he said.

Zimbabwean School Children Pay The ‘Price’ As Teachers Strike Over Poor Salaries

Farai Shawn Matiashe
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Zimbabwean School Children Pay The ‘Price’ As Teachers Strike Over Poor Salaries

Harare, Zimbabwe — When schools reopened in Zimbabwe, late September, Noel Madamombe (16) thought time had arrived for him to prepare for final examinations later this year.

Little did he know that there will not be any learning, for quite some time. 

Zimbabwean teachers have vowed not to report for work until their employer revises their salaries to 2017 when they earned not less than $300 per month. 

While negotiations are continuing, the government has, in the interim, offered the striking teachers a 40 percent transport allowance.  

This is in addition to a COVID-19 $75 allowance lasting until December. 

Currently, teachers are earning a paltry 3,500 Zimbabwean dollar (Z$) ($38). 

The Total Consumption Poverty Line for an average family of five is now pegged at Z$15,573 ($173) as of August this year, according to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency. 

While the poverty datum line and the cost of the basic commodities, which are pegged against the United States dollar, have continued to rise the government has not responded by increasing teachers’ salaries beyond the COVID-19 allowance and transport allowance.

As the government and its workers tussle over salaries, the students are the most affected.

Pupil wearing face mask in the capital Harare
School children in Zimbabwe are going to school to study as teachers’ strike continues. Credit: Ruvimbo Muchenje

Madamombe, is in his final year studies and is due to write his Ordinary Level examinations. 

Students have been out of school since March this year when the government imposed a nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic. 

As a provisional measure, some schools introduced online learning during the lockdown period but only a few students – those who could afford data bundles benefitted. 

Zimbabwe has some of the highest data tariffs in the region and has been experiencing its worst economic crisis in decades. 

With Coronavirus cases declining, the government is finally putting measures to ensure all schools reopen while observing COVID-19 World Health Organization regulations. 

Since the 28th of September 2020, schools have started opening their doors only to pupils who will sit for their national examinations later this year. 

The remaining pupils are expected to return to school towards the end of the year.

“I am worried about my examinations because during lockdown I was not learning,” Madamombe, a student at George Stark Secondary School in Mbare in the capital Harare told Ubuntu Times.

“I live in an area with no electricity to charge my gadgets and buying internet data bundles to attend online lessons was a challenge for me.”

While students are coming to school, no learning is taking place.

“Our teachers are not coming to school,” Madamombe said.

Another Form 4 student, Trish Hungwe (17), said they were going to school to study. 

“Since the day we reopened we have not been learning,” said Hungwe who learns at Chikanga Secondary School in Mutare, Zimbabwe’s fourth-largest city.

Madamombe and Hungwe‘s predicament is similar to many students who are going to school at a time when their teachers are on an industrial strike citing incapacitation. 

Zimbabwe’s economy has been plummeting since the time President Emmerson Mnangagwa took over reigns of power from the late former President Robert Mugabe, in November 2017 through a military coup.

Doctors from public hospitals demonstrating against poor salaries in the capital Harare in 2019
Teachers are among civil servants that are demanding adequate salaries from the government. Doctors from public hospitals were captured here demonstrating against poor salaries in 2019, in Harare. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times

The country is going through a crisis. 

Basic commodities are readily not available and the country is battling to arrest unemployment and hyperinflation that has surpassed an annual of 700 percent as of August this year, according to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. 

This has posed viability challenges and eroded salaries of civil servants.

The southern African nation’s economy has been worsened by the impact of Coronavirus which has paralyzed many industries. 

Teachers are among the worst affected groups. 

Teachers, who are saying their salaries are the lowest in the SADC region are demanding a monthly minimum wage of $520.

As the plight of students worsen there are growing calls for the government to ditch piecemeal arrangements and find a holistic solution to teachers’ salaries problem. 

“Our education is in a serious crisis, November 2020 candidates will not be ready for examinations in December. Government should urgently convene education stakeholders to resolve the ensuing crisis,” Obert Masaraure, Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe president told Ubuntu Times.

He said even though they still have teachers who are consistently logging in they are not teaching and 98 percent of their teachers are not reporting for work. 

“The few teachers who reported for duty on opening day are now leaving schools to join the majority who are still at home,” he said adding that learners in boarding schools were spending time in between hostels and dining halls.

Some schools, especially those in remote areas, are struggling to meet Ministry of Health conditions on social distancing and sanitization. 

But, the government has given assurance that all is under control.  

Students walking to school in Harare
School children in the cities are being asked by school authorities to bring at least two face masks from home. Credit: Ruvimbo Muchenje

Speaking during a media briefing in early October, Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said basic Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) that include face masks, sanitizers and disinfectants “have been distributed to all public and independent schools.”

This is all fake according to information gathered by Ubuntu Times. 

John Mutisi, a headteacher in Buhera, in eastern Zimbabwe, whose name has been changed to protect his identity for fear of reprisal said he has been forced by the government to open the school with inadequate PPEs.

Mutisi’s worries are echoed by teachers’ unions who believe the government is neglecting them by exposing them to Coronavirus.

“There are no PPEs and no running water in several schools. Teachers have not been tested for COVID-19,” said Raymond Majongwe, the secretary-general of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe.

Masaraure said PPEs were an essential requirement for schools to reopen. 

“However, the government has failed to make these important essentials available thus risking the lives of teachers and learners,” he said.

Some Non-Governmental Organizations have come to the government’s rescue by providing PPEs in some schools in the country. 

“We have provided handwashing stations and most of the schools in our areas have been making masks,” Shamiso Matambanadzo, World Vision Zimbabwe advocacy, communication and external engagement team leader told Ubuntu Times.

“Also, we have been distributing bars of soap, hand sanitizers, and buckets in preparation of schools opening.”

However, the government remains hopeful that a solution will be found. 

Mutsvangwa said salary negotiations for civil servants were underway.

“Government is aware of the challenges facing civil servants including teachers and is committed to improving the welfare of its workers. Consultations are currently underway to consider the request by the Apex Council in the last negotiating meeting held with the Government,” she said.

A pupil opening a gate at Chikhova Primary in Chiredzi, south-east of Zimbabwe
School children in Zimbabwe have been out of school for nearly six months and now their teachers have embarked on industrial action over poor salaries. Credit: Zimbabwe Peace Project

There seem to be no lasting solution in sight to Zimbabwe’s crippling education sector. 

While the government has in some sectors resorted to issuing threats to its workers, teachers are refusing to budge. 

“Teachers continue to send a bold message to the employer, they are not going to be cowed by empty threats,” said Masaraure.

While the labor tension between the government and teachers continues, Madamombe and other students who are scheduled to write their national examinations this year will continue paying the ‘price’. 

“I just hope we will soon start learning,” said Madamombe.

“I am worried about my future if I fail this examination.”

Of Energy Crisis, Beekeeping And Forest Conservation In Zimbabwe

Farai Shawn Matiashe
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Of Energy Crisis, Beekeeping And Forest Conservation In Zimbabwe

Mutare, Zimbabwe — Growing up in Ngaone, Chipinge in the southeastern town of Zimbabwe, Ishmael Sithole (35) still recalls bees could not entertain anyone cutting down a tree near their hives.

He hated them for their stinging bite.

Then, he was a young boy, growing up in a family that grew wattle trees for survival.

He never imagined the idea of becoming a beekeeper someday, nor did he know the value of bees to conserving forests.

Only God knew his fate.

Sithole, is now a renowned professional beekeeper and commercial beekeeping consultant at MacJohnson Apiaries.

He works with Willett Mtisi (44) of Climate Smart Bees and Admire Munjuwanjuwa (35) of Honey World Zimbabwe.

Sithole nostalgic about his childhood and others determined to change the lives of their communities, the three have expanded the project to Dangamvura, a high-density suburb in Mutare—Zimbabwe’s fourth-largest city. 

Their project has become a shield to the effects of deforestation.

In this area, trees have been cut down except where these beekeepers’ beehives are located and surrounding areas.

“If you try to cut down these Acacia trees, bees will come out to defend their territory,” Sithole told Ubuntu Times while applying few puffs of smoke at one of the bee hive’s entrance.

Bees are highly sensitive to smell
Willett Mtisi, a professional beekeeper, prepares smoke which they use to prevent bees from biting them. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times

“Bees have a high sense of smell. They naturally feel threatened whenever they hear the sound of an axe chopping a tree within a 10-meter radius. They become defensive and go into a stinging frenzy.”

When there is an intruder bees have a natural chemical that they produce known as pheromone, that triggers the colony to be defensive. 

Sithole, a member of the Southern African Development Community Apimondia Youth Initiative, said their bee sanctuary in Dangamvura, established two years ago, is serving a dual purpose-producing honey and keeping firewood poachers at bay.

Willet Mtisi dressed in bee suits
Willett Mtisi, a professional beekeeper, prepares to open a beehive at a sanctuary in Dangamvura. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times

He adds that there is a symbiotic relationship between the urban environment and bees.

“This then offers an opportunity for biodiversity conservation as well as an opportunity for apitourism—where the public are afforded an opportunity to appreciate bees at sanctuary setting,” Sithole said.

The trio rescue bees in urban areas from ceilings, chimneys and tree hollows, and house them in the mountains. 

A queen bee is the mother of most bees in a colony
A female bee, known as the queen, surrounded by other bees. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times

“We are currently hosting approximately 24,000 bees of the Apis Mellifera species in three standard Kenyan top bar hives. We will be introducing the trigona hives to attract the trigona species,” Sithole said.

At the sanctuary, they were mainly targeting to protect Acacia trees.

“Acacia trees are a lucrative source of nectar and pollen yet they offer immaculate shade for hives as well as a beautiful aesthetic appeal owing to their shape,” he said.

Sithole said they are determined to leave an indelible mark in the annals of the forest conservation to last hundreds of years to come.

“Since the tree of this year is Adansonia digitata (Baobab), we are busy erecting a nursery so that we plant hundreds of this largest succulent on the first Saturday of December (the National Tree Planting Day) as well as on the 11th of December (International Day of Mountains). Some of the trees we are nursing will be visible and alive 700 years to come,” he said.

Albert Sabawe (24), another beekeeper based in Chimanimani, about 144 kilometers out of Mutare, told Ubuntu Times that bees protect forests.

“No one dares to cut down a tree near my beehives,” he said.

Mtisi said honey which will be harvested at the bee sanctuary in Dangamvura will be an additional bonus.

“Honey builds bodily resistance to cough, colds and other ailments. Provides cure for constipation and it is used in Hospitals as a surgical dressing. Asthmatic patients also benefit from honey as well as people with ulcers,” she said.

Ishmael Sithole holding various bee honey products
Ishmael Sithole holding various bee honey products. In Zimbabwe, bee honey is used for medical purposes. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times

Zimbabwe’s beekeeping industry has been growing for the past decade.

“As beekeepers, we champion forestry preservation by protecting our sites through establishing fireguards in areas where we keep our bees,” said Jacqueline Gowe, a chairperson at the Zimbabwe Apiculture Platform (ZAP).

“We promote use of modern hives made from timber of environmentally managed forests.”

According to the country situation paper, in 2014 there were over 150,000 beekeepers in the country but projections from the ZAP are that the number has almost doubled up.

The trio are expanding their project to other areas.

“We recently introduced another sanctuary close to Cecil Kop [a nature reserve located 2 kilometers out of Mutare] and we are prospecting for further expansions,” said Sithole.

Zimbabwe is experiencing its worst economic crisis in decades with shortages of basic commodities such as fuel and electricity.

Daily load shedding has become normal.

In urban areas, there is a huge demand for firewood used for cooking as prices of other sources of energy including liquified petroleum gas are beyond the reach of many.

This has forced many people to cut down trees indiscriminately.

People coming from the mountains to fetch firewood
In Chikanga, a high density suburb in Mutare, people walk everyday to the surrounding mountains to fetch firewood used for cooking. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times

The southern African nation loses 330,000 hectares of forests per annum due to forest fires, settlements or agricultural expansion, firewood and tobacco farmers who burn their produce after harvests, according to the Forestry Commission.

But bee projects are helping to preserve forests and are fast becoming a lucrative enterprise.

Beekeeping industry has been growing for the past decade in Zimbabwe
Admire Munjuwanjuwa, a professional beekeeper, looks at some of the beehives in his custody. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times

Violet Makoto, an information and communications manager at the Forestry Commission said beekeeping is a forests-based enterprise that is lucrative and conservative.

“We have also discovered that beekeeping is one of the strategies for forest conservation,” she said.

Makoto concluded that beekeeping is a non-consumptive way of utilizing forest resources.

How Locals In Mauritius Are Spearheading The Cleanup Campaign After An Oil Spill

Farai Shawn Matiashe
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How Locals In Mauritius Are Spearheading The Cleanup Campaign After An Oil Spill

Mauritius — On a sunny day in Mahébourg southeast of Mauritius, an island nation in the Indian Ocean about 2,000 kilometers off the south-east coast of the African continent, Shaama Sandooyea (23) is making booms using nets and sugar cane straws. 

She is one of the several environmentalists and volunteers working round the clock to avert an environmental disaster–trapping oil before it reaches other coastal regions and lagoons in the Indian Ocean.

More than 1,000 tonnes of oil and diesel leaked from MV Wakashio, a Japanese vessel carrying about 4,000 tonnes of fuel, early August this year, near Pointe D’Esny after the ship had been in the reefs for 12 days. 

So far, affected areas include the waters of the blue lagoon outside the coastal village of Mahébourg – a filming area for many Bollywood movies, Riviere des Creoles, Bois des Amourettes, Vieux Grand Port, Anse Jonchée, Deux Frères and Quatre Soeurs. 

The Mauritian government led by the Prime Minister, Pravind Jugnauth has responded by declaring the disaster an environmental emergency.

But environmentalists say it has acted too late.

The placard translates to, 'Give value to fishers, skippers and people of the sea'
Environmental activist Shaama Sandooyea from the movement Future For Fridays Mauritius holds up a placard that translates to, ‘Give value to fishers, skippers and people of the sea.’ She is one of the activists who are protesting against government’s negligence in environmental disaster mitigation and preparedness. Credit: Shaama Sandooyea

“If the government had listened to (warnings) none of this would have happened. It was not an accident,” says Sandooyea, an environmental activist from the movement Future For Fridays Mauritius.

She says while doing the best to prevent the oil from causing further damage, those responsible should be held accountable.  

After catching wind of the news, she went to Mahébourg and “started helping to make booms,” she said.

Sandooyea is one of the thousands of locals that are helping Non-Governmental Organizations to contain the disaster.

International teams from France, South Africa, Russia, India, and Japan have also come to aid the government’s efforts.

This is a bad time for Mauritius and her people. 

The disaster has further burdened the nation that is battling the global pandemic, Coronavirus, which has claimed the lives of over 10 people while infecting more than 350, according to the World Health Organization.

COVID-19 imposed travel restrictions around the world, have impacted this island nation’s population of over 1.2 million people who rely heavily on tourism and fishing. 

The oil disaster could exacerbate Mauritius’s problems and result in huge impact on pristine lagoons, coral reefs, mangrove forests, and biodiversity.

People carrying booms to the Indian Ocean
Locals are using booms made of sugar cane straws and nets to trap oil from reaching other coastal regions. Credit: Mehryne Annooar

Stefan Gua, another local volunteer, says the problem requires collective effort. 

“We are mobilizing people into one movement so that we can take part in the clean-up campaign as a collective,” he said.

Piled booms before people take it to the Indian Ocean
Booms made of sugar cane and nets have proven to be effective in trapping oil from reaching other coastal regions in the affected area. Credit: Mehryne Annooar

Mehryne Annooar (22), a support educator trainee, told Ubuntu Times that she first heard of the oil spill news while she was in class but she had to do something.

“With the nature of my job I started volunteering during the weekend but I have had to go even during the week,” she said.

It is a desperate situation that calls for a lot of sacrifice.

Angora said she had to pull together all the resources available to contain the oil spill. 

“I had long hair. So, since hair is oleophobic, I had to cut it to make the booms,” she said.

Annooar said the booms made of sugar cane straws and nets have proven to be effective in blocking the oil from reaching the shore.

Ile Aux Aigrettes, an Islet off southeast of Mauritius, home to endangered endemic species of Mauritius protected by Mauritius Wildlife Foundation (MWF), a conservation charity, was affected by the toxic air from the oil spill and the animals had to be relocated to safer places.

The MWF reptile team has collected 30 Bojer’s skinks, six bouton skinks, and 30 lesser night-geckos from the various Islets and they are now being kept in a biosecure facility which had previously been built in 48 hours on the mainland, according to the MWF.

The oil spill is going to take a long time to clean
The area that has been affected by the leaked oil spans to about 5 to 6 kilometers. Credit: Sunil Dowarkasing

The southeast Islets are important habitats for these species which have gone extinct on mainland Mauritius and there are fears that the hydrocarbons may adversely affect these populations, putting 14 years of conservation work at stake.

While the extent of damage is yet to be established some species of fish are seen floating dead while some have been washed to the shores of the beaches and the mangroves’ roots are all covered in oil.

The disaster has destabilized the surrounding communities leading to the closure of schools and leaving many people hospitalized after inhaling toxic air.  

Volunteers have not been spared.

Annooar recounts the experience.

“The air is so toxic. It affected my health. I became sick,” she said.

Sandooyea was also affected by the toxic air. 

“I started feeling dizzy, nausea and skin irritation,” she said. 

People who clean up oil spills are at the risk of developing problems that include skin and eye irritation, neurologic and breathing problems, and stress, according to the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

A volunteer taking part in the clean up campaign
The toxic air in the beaches is already affecting people’s health with some feeling dizzy. Credit: Sunil Dowarkasing

This is the first human-made environmental disaster to hit Mauritius with such a huge impact. 

By the end of the first week of August about 400 sea booms had been deployed in the area. 

“We will take a lot of time to clean up this. The area that has been affected spans to about five to six kilometers,” Sunil Dowarkasing, a former global strategist, for Greenpeace International, a non-governmental environmental organization, told Ubuntu Times.

Meanwhile, Fridays For Future Mauritius has written a communique to Prime Minister Jugnauth pushing his administration to act responsibly in protecting the environment.

Despite the risk involved, volunteers and environmentalists such as Sandooyea have vowed to continue with the campaign to clean the oil spills no matter how long it will take. 

 

Coronavirus Forces Funeral Culture Rethink In Zimbabwe

Farai Shawn Matiashe
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Coronavirus Forces Funeral Culture Rethink In Zimbabwe

Rusape, June 20 — Shingirai Manyengavana (25) opens a white coffin for people to pay their last respect inside a kitchen hut in Denhere Village, in Rusape, 174 kilometers southeast of Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe.

Mourners, inside this kitchen hut, are wearing homemade face masks, of different colors and they are standing about one meter apart.

As part of Zimbabwean culture, the dead should be taken to their rural home where the coffin is put inside a family kitchen hut to spend a night there while people pay their last respect.

Shingirai is here to bury his grandmother, Dorcas Manyengavana, who passed on early this month in Mutare at the age of 72 after battling high blood pressure and diabetes-related diseases for nearly 10 years.

He was here a decade ago to bury his grandfather at an event attended by hundreds of people but this time the environment is different as Zimbabwe, like the rest of the world, is fighting Coronavirus, a respiratory disease.

“We usually have huge gatherings at funerals but this time it is different,” he told Ubuntu Times. 

“Many could not attend. We had to make sure that there is a sizable number adhering to Coronavirus regulations.”

Some people are adhering to the government's call to observe social distancing at gatherings
Mourners at funerals in Zimbabwe are being encouraged by the government and health officials to observe social distancing in a bid to curb the possible spread of the Coronavirus pandemic. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times

The southern African nation has been on ‘indefinite’ lockdown since mid-May to curb the possible spread of Coronavirus that has claimed the lives of seven and infected more than 590 people.

Globally, the respiratory disease has killed over 510,000 people while infecting more than 10 million people, according to Johns Hopkins University. 

There is restriction in movement of people in Zimbabwe, putting on a mask is mandatory for everyone in public places, gatherings of more than 50 people are illegal and citizens are being encouraged to observe social distancing. 

Zimbabwe is not the only country that has put restrictions on human traffic since the start of the pandemic in March.

Southern African Development Community countries have closed their borders for nonessential human traffic, only cargo and returning residents are allowed to enter. 

These Coronavirus measures have forced a shift in Zimbabwe’s funeral culture. 

In Zimbabwe, a funeral practice known locally as ‘Kubata maoko’ meaning visiting the grieving family, shaking hands with them while expressing condolences is important amongst the Shona people—the majority in the country. 

Now with Coronavirus, this culture risks spreading this respiratory disease, and the Manyengavana family ditched it at their recent funeral.

“We avoided using handshakes. These measures were, however, in conflict with our cultural norms considering that people were used to the normative way of handshaking and consoling each other through hugging,” said Shingirai. 

At the gate and all around the house, there were containers filled with water and sanitizers in the form of detergents for hand washing.

Hand washing
Shingirai Manyengavana washes hands through a container filled with water and detergents at a funeral in a rural area in Rusape to minimize the spread of Coronavirus. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times

James Denhere, who is also the headman in Denhere Village, said most of his villagers were not turning out for funerals since March when the lockdown started in fear of contracting Coronavirus.

“They could not attend because of Coronavirus. Coronavirus is real,” he said.

The late Dorcas Manyengavana has three sons who are working in neighboring South Africa but they failed to attend the burial of their mother.

“I really wanted to attend. At first, I thought it was very inappropriate not to attend but because of the current travel restrictions due to Coronavirus, I made peace with the fact that I can not bury my mother,” Artwell Manyengavana, one of the sons, told Ubuntu Times.

“It is not easy but that is the reality at the moment.”

Usually, when close family members of the deceased are outside the country, the burial is often delayed to buy time for them to arrive.

Barely a month after Dorcas’s death, one of her three sons living in South Africa, Washington Manyengavana, passed on after battling severe headaches for nearly two weeks.

Late Dorcas Manyengavana
The late Dorcas Manyengavana. Credit: Manyengavana Family
With both South Africa and Zimbabwe on partial lockdown, repatriation of the body to the latter is going to be tough.

A Zimbabwean prolific writer Oscar Gwiriri said it is of paramount importance in Shona culture that one attends a close relative’s burial, bids farewell with the deceased through body viewing and mourning with others.

“If one fails to attend the funeral for whatever reason, it remains a social and spiritual debt, and worse still the spirit of the deceased may attack him or her in dreams or encountering misfortunes,” said Gwiriri who has penned a number of Zimbabwean cultural and traditional novels.

Prince Mutandi Sibanda, a secretary of education of Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association, said Coronavirus has affected African traditional and religious rituals practices especially at funerals, and limiting the number of attendees is against people’s norms and cultural values.

“If one fails to attend funerals of close family members one will be haunted by angry spirits of the dead and might experience bad luck,” he said.

Gwiriri, nevertheless, said safety of the living comes first considering the avenging spirits of the dead may be dealt with later.

Manyengavana family epitomizes the predicament of many Zimbabwean families who have seen a shift in the way funerals are held.

Tanaka Chidora lost his grandmother in early May and some of the family members who were in Harare and those outside the country failed to attend the burial in Masvingo.

He said they also had to shun away some of the cultural practices that could spread Coronavirus at the funeral.

“People were paying their condolences using handshakes. They constantly reminded each other there was Coronavirus out there and it is real,” said Chidora.

Another Zimbabwean writer, Aaron Chiundura Moyo, told Ubuntu Times that the newly adopted cultural practices will continue even after the world wins the fight against Coronavirus.

“This is beyond our control as Zimbabweans. It is changing the lives of many people locally and even beyond the borders. People have already adjusted culture at a funeral due to Coronavirus and I am sure this norm of handshaking will be abandoned even after this global pandemic,” he said.

Tsitsi Nomsa Ngwenya, a Zimbabwean writer, said people are likely going to normalize the new culture as their way of life.

“People may no longer respect the need for attending funerals. Such tragedies, unfortunately, may chart new ways in life and also normalize it. The fact that Coronavirus has made it possible, that may not be difficult for some in future, therefore, breaking our traditional customs,” she said. 

It Is Not Yet Dawn For Zimbabwe’s Informal Economies As Government Extends Lockdown ‘Indefinitely’

Farai Shawn Matiashe
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It Is Not Yet Dawn For Zimbabwe’s Informal Economies As Government Extends Lockdown ‘Indefinitely’

Mutare, May 23 — A medium build 35-year old Blaster Chemugaira is seated in a chair just outside the gate of a house he rents in Chikanga, a high-density suburb in Mutare—the fourth largest city in Zimbabwe.

A wooden placard nailed onto the durawall to his left side written ‘Carpenter available’ is visibly seen from a distance.

This is after sunrise and Chemugaira is hoping to get a part-time carpentry job from cash strapped Zimbabweans.

The father of four has been sitting on this spot daily since the week Zimbabwe eased restrictions on its lockdown which started in late March to curb the possible spread of global pandemic Coronavirus that has infected more than 55 people and claimed the lives of four in the country. 

His workshop is in Mutare show grounds but there is no activity as these traders are adhering to lock down regulations.

“I always sit here looking for a part-time job. Most people are not comfortable inviting us to work in their homes in the wake of Coronavirus. So, it is hard to get one,” Chemugaira told Ubuntu Times. 

“At my workshop, there is furniture that we had done before lockdown. At times we sell that. We cannot have new furniture at the moment as there is no material. This lockdown is interrupting the supply and delivery chain of our raw materials.” 

In mid-May, President Emmerson Mnangagwa extended lockdown ‘indefinitely’ with review every two weeks and the informal sector remains closed. 

Blaster Chemugaira's work place.
On a normal day at Blaster Chemugaira’s workplace saw dust from wood working machinery and tools would have been all over the place. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times

It is estimated that around 90 percent of Zimbabwe’s working population is employed in the informal sector, according to Supporting Economic Transformation, a program aimed at promoting economic transformation and job creation in low and middle-income countries. 

Most of these people survive on a hand to mouth basis and not in operation for over a month puts their families at the brink of starvation. 

“Part-time jobs and little money from my savings have taken my family this far. Only God knows our next meal,” said Chemugaira. 

34-year old Selina Chapfotsoka, a vendor in Mbare, a densely populated suburb in Harare—the capital of Zimbabwe, said she is having hard times under lockdown. 

“Harare is expensive to live in, worse when one is not going to work. It is tough, I am struggling to feed my family,” she said. 

Wisborn Malaya, Secretary-General of Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Association (ZCIEA) said people in the informal economy are now vulnerable and hopeless as lockdown continues.

“These people are no longer able to sustain their families,” he said. 

The southern African nation’s informal economy is the largest in Africa and second only to Bolivia in the world, according to the 2018 International Monetary Fund report. 

Zimbabwe’s economy is largely dominated by the informal sector which takes 60 percent of its economic activity based on the 2018 International Monetary Fund report.

Informal sectors were closed due to COVID-19.
These young boys are selling sugar cane near a closed tuck shop in Mutare recently. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times

Victor Bhoroma, an economist based in Harare, said Zimbabwe’s informal economy now has tentacles in every sector due to economic hardships and collapse of mainstream producers. 

“The informal sector and small to medium enterprises (SMEs) sector employ (about) 7 million Zimbabweans while contributing over 65 percent to Gross Domestic Product so the extended lockdown will have disastrous consequences on employment and consumer spending,” he said. 

Millions of livelihoods who depend on the informal sector for income, said Bhoroma, are sliding into poverty at the moment. 

Prosper Chitambara, a Harare-based economist, told Ubuntu Times that the informal economy is largely survivalist in nature.

“What the lockdown does is that it drives many into poverty and hunger through loss of incomes,” he said.

ZCIEA is projecting that the percentage of the people working in the informal economy is going to increase further since companies in the formal sector have started retrenching workers as Coronavirus bites. 

Local authorities, since last month, have been taking advantage of the lockdown to demolish structures used by people in the informal sector. 

Booker Machingaidze, who operates a tuck shop in Chikanga, said he is not operating waiting for a time City of Mutare officials will come to demolish his tuck shop. 

“I do not even know when they will come. I will just wait but in some areas, their structures were destroyed,” he said. 

Closed tuck shop.
Tuck shop owners in some parts of the country are worried that City Council officials might arrive at any time to demolish their structures. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times

William Muraicho, a sole trader based in Dangamvura, a high-density suburb in Mutare told Ubuntu Times his working place was not yet demolished but his worry was that any time City of Mutare officials might descend towards it. 

“I do not know what the future holds for me. I am not even comfortable because informal sector structures in some places have already been destroyed. I am sure it is only a matter of time,” he said. 

Hopes for some of these traders to get back to work after lockdown, said Malaya, were shattered as City Councils went on rampage destroying their marketing stalls across the country. 

He said no alternative workplaces have been allocated to most of their members throughout the country. 

In a letter addressed to Local Authorities in early April, Zvinechimwe Churu, a Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government said Local Authorities “should take advantage of the lockdown to clean up and renovate SMEs and informal traders’ workplaces so that the areas will be more conducive to operate when business reopens.” 

Flea market structures in Zimbabwe.
Local authorities are taking down informal sectors’ marketing stalls throughout the country in their latest campaign to bring sanity into the cities. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times

Spren Mutiwi, a City of Mutare spokesperson, told Ubuntu Times that trading will continue but this time they shall require them to use smart modern and mobile wares. 

“This is an ongoing program and we want to ensure that we come up with better markets that are of modern standards and that are environmentally friendly,” he said. 

City of Mutare has designated vending sites across the city, said Mutiwi adding that the focus is to upgrade the available facilities. 

Malaya said the welfare of their members have been worsened by the absence of a support relief allocated to informal traders. 

In a televised address last month, Mnangagwa said he had set aside 500 million Zimbabwean dollars ($8 million) as a rescue package for SMEs.

But that package is yet to be distributed to these SMEs. 

Bhoroma said the absence of social safety nets and a stimulus package aimed at SMEs means that most are finding the going tough.

Malaya said in some cities they were forging alliances with City Councils to provide sanitizers, masks, and disinfectants at informal sector’s trading places. 

He said they were still pushing the government to reopen the informal sector considering that it is the chief player in the economic development and sustainability in Zimbabwe.

While the government, local authorities, and informal traders associations are in a dialogue to come up with solutions to Zimbabwe’s informal economy, Chemugaira will continue sitting outside their house hoping to get part-time jobs. 

“I will wait. If they say we should reopen on condition of having personal protective equipment and other essentials in fighting Coronavirus at our workplaces; I am ready,” he said. 

Zimbabwe’s High Internet Data Costs Threaten Online Learning 

Farai Shawn Matiashe
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Zimbabwe’s High Internet Data Costs Threaten Online Learning 

Mutare, ZIMBABWE — On a gloomy day in a squatter camp located near Sakubva, a filthy densely populated suburb in Mutare—the fourth largest city in Zimbabwe, 14-year old Mirriam Sundayi is taking down clothes from a hipped rust coated fence which they use as ‘washing line’ at their makeshift house.

This was the last household chore this young girl could do before taking an hour studying and later going to play with her friends at a neighboring makeshift house.

Sundayi is in Grade 6 at Sakubva Primary but she has not been going to school since late March when President Emmerson Mnangagwa gave a directive for schools and universities to close early to curb the possible spread of a global pandemic, Coronavirus, that has infected over 42 people and claimed the lives of four in Zimbabwe.

She said her teacher has since created a group on WhatsApp, the most popular social media platform in Africa, to help pupils study during this 63-day lockdown imposed by Mnangagwa administration.

Sundayi does not have a personal cell phone as her self-employed parents cannot afford to buy her one, so she uses her mother’s smartphone but it is hardly paid up with WhatsApp bundles.

When schools closed in March other teachers moved to online learning but the migration is hitting a brick wall as there are high digital inequalities in Zimbabwe.

“Each time I borrow my mom’s phone it is always without WhatsApp bundles. Therefore, I am not getting resources some of my classmates are getting online. My mom says she cannot afford to purchase Whatsapp bundles,” Sundayi told Ubuntu Times with a melancholic voice.

Chikanga Primary School.
These young boys walk past the closed gate of Chikanga Primary School in Mutare recently. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times

Most people in Zimbabwe access internet using their mobile devices but Zimbabwe’s biggest mobile service providers Econet Wireless and Netone have reviewed upwards more than three times their social media and internet data bundles since early March as inflation soars.

The Southern African nation is experiencing its worst economic malaise in decades. In March this year, its yearly inflation rate was at 810 percent, according to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

Recently, Econet Wireless hiked its monthly 25 Gigabytes private Wifi bundle, a favorite for many families, from 400 (8 USD) to 1,300 Zimbabwean Dollars (37 USD).

This is beyond the reach of many families as the average salary of civil servants in the country is Zim $2,000 (44 USD) per month of which the consumer basket as of April was at Zim $6,660 (148 USD), according to a survey conducted by the Industry and Commerce Ministry.

In April, Media Institute of Southern Africa–Zimbabwe Chapter (Misa Zimbabwe) launched the #DataMustFallZim campaign to push the government to intervene to ensure citizens access affordable data prices.

Tabani Moyo, a national director at Misa Zimbabwe, told Ubuntu Times that data is no longer for the privileged elite as it used to be but should be accessed by all citizens.

“Everything has changed due to Coronavirus. All services have gone online, hence, the need for the Government and other stakeholders to come up with a sustainable pricing for data and internet access in Zimbabwe,” he said.

“This is critical in that if you leave data and internet service price to profit interest alone it will lead to inequalities as profit-making does not do public good.”

Daisy Zambuko, a spokesperson for Zimbabwe Teachers Association, told Ubuntu Times that they were equally shocked by the hiking of data bundles at a time they were trying to introduce online lessons inclusive to all including the most vulnerable groups.

Young learners in Zimbabwe.
Some leaners in Zimbabwe are struggling to access online learning materials due to the high costs of internet data bundles in the country as inflation soars. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times

Postal and Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) Director-General Gift Machengete said the internet prices which were set by mobile service providers were within the prescribed charges of 0.30 cents per megabyte.

Another pupil, 13-year old Tawananyasha Dudzai, in the 5th grade at Murahwa Primary School, said her mother struggles to buy WhatsApp bundles.

“My teacher is giving us work via WhatsApp every day. Last week I did not have WhatsApp bundles and I was not doing work. Right now I am behind,” he said.

Obert Masaraure, Amalgamated of Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe president, told Ubuntu Times that he believed online learning is fueling inequality among learners.

“The marginalized learners who barely have access to physical teaching instructions are completely shut out from learning,” he said.

Masaraure added that his union through their WhatsApp online classes that started in April had reached over 5,000 Primary and Secondary School students but it was becoming unsustainable.

“Our choice for WhatsApp classes was informed by the low bandwidth used for WhatsApp. Our teachers are now struggling to sustain the classes,” he said.

Tawananyasha Dudzai.
A grade 5 pupil, Tawananyasha Dudzai is behind in his daily work sent on a WhatsApp group by his teacher as his guardian did not have WhatsApp bundles last week. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is working extensively with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to develop alternative learning platforms for children during this pandemic, including the development of radio and television learning.

To date 52 radio lessons have been produced, said UNICEF Zimbabwe spokesperson James Maiden adding that they are being finalized for launch.

Fungayi Mandiveyi, an Econet Wireless spokesperson, said they had introduced an E-learning discounted data bundle for teachers and students to continue learning in the comfort of their homes.

“The average price of bundles is $1.83 per megabyte. The offer is for at least 50 mobile numbers (for students and teachers). Each school pays on behalf of its students and teachers and collects money from parents,” he said.

Lizwe Runoza, a student at Midlands State University, told Ubuntu Times that researching over the internet consumes much data of which that is the only alternative available to access literature since they cannot go to the library under the current lockdown restrictions.

Lizwe Runoza on laptop.
Online learning is becoming more unsustainable for even tertiary education students due to the continuous increase of internet data bundles by Zimbabwe’s mobile operators. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times

Ashley Pfunye, Secretary-General of the Zimbabwe National Students Union said the idea of online learning comes as another burden to students who are already in an impoverished state.

“Institutions and governments must stop to make announcements without carefully considering and preparing the affected constituency for the changes they intend to make,” he said.

Professor Amon Murwira, Higher and Tertiary Education Minister, said they were working with various stakeholders to come up with a workable solution to online learning problems.

“We are confronting this problem with solutions. We are trying to be systematic. First stage is to put the learning material online and the second stage is we come up with methods that enable students to access that material online,” he said.

Mirriam Sundayi.
Mirriam Sundayi is waiting for better solutions to her online learning challenges from the government and other civil society organizations. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe / Ubuntu Times

It seems most learners particularly those who are not writing exams this year and non-final year at colleges and universities, will remain home for more weeks considering some of their learning institutions are being used as quarantine centers for citizens coming back home.

While the government is working with mobile service providers and non-governmental organizations to find solutions to online learning setbacks, in the meantime, Sundayi is reading notes from her exercise books and revising past exam scripts but her biggest fear is that she is lagging behind as her other classmates with access to WhatsApp and internet are moving along with the syllabus.

“I just pray we have lessons on radio. There is no electricity here but radio at least I can listen from my mom’s phone,” she said.

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