THE drama never ends for President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Now Zimbabweans and the world are being told that the gazetting of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act that sought to hide details of some procurement processes from the public was a fraud, just a day after the law was made public.
Okay, it was a fraud by who? By the opposition political parties, or by the countries that have imposed targeted sanctions on some mischievous individuals?
Interestingly also, we are told investigations are underway to establish how the Act was gazetted without the appropriate signature. Don’t take Zimbabweans to be fools who cannot follow statements issued on official platforms.
This is not the first time you have issued statements that have been reversed. On May 9 2022, you unilaterally ordered banks to stop lending in a move ostensibly meant to contain inflation, a move that had the opposite effect as it resulted in the prices of basic commodities spiking. Was it another fraud? We never saw any heads rolling. And I am sure we won’t see any heads roll again this time.
Wake up Zimbabweans, the country cannot afford such mediocre? We cannot be led by a President who unilaterally makes the wrong decisions and continues with business as usual, while the citizens suffer. Never be fooled as chances are high that the ugly law which is meant to cover up for corruption will be re-introduced if you allow them to rig the elections. The First Lady Auxilia Mnangagwa is now a self-proclaimed medical expert who goes out to treat people, so the Act was actually meant to inflate the medical expenses so that the First Family could get the inflated amounts.
We have already seen how Auxillia has been allowed to go with her children to meet Presidents of other countries representing Zimbabwe, and we will see more if you allow Mnangagwa and Zanu PF to rig the upcoming polls.
When Mnangagwa got into power in 2017, some Zimbabweans thought he would stabilise things as he would try to create a legacy for himself, but the opposite is true.
What is happening now are the signs of old age that we saw in the late President Robert Mugabe when he reached 80 years. Zimbabwe now needs young brains to move the country forward.-Kennedy Kaitano
- Mr President, you missed the opportunity to be the veritable voice of conscience
- ED to commission new-look border post
- Zanu PF ready for congress
- EU slams Zim over delayed reforms
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Public resources oiling Mthuli’s campaign
FINANCE minister Mthuli Ncube is campaigning for a parliamentary seat in the 2023 elections.
He is promising locals in his chosen constituency, Cowdray Park in Bulawayo, access to train as nurse aides so that they can leave the country for England and be a care assistant.
In other words, the Finance minister is telling the locals that their future is best secured in Britain and other developed nations, not in Zimbabwe.
It’s a “…vote for me and I will help you escape the crisis that I have and continue to actively create!”
Help me understand this logic comrades.-Concerned
Potential effects of agric commercialisation on food security
TRADITIONALLY, food production in Africa remained at subsistence level and the farming system was based on shifting cultivation and bush fallow farming. Under these practices, soil fertility was periodically restored to cultivated land by the shifting of cultivation to fresh, rested ground, allowing the recently cultivated land to rest and recover.
The use of external inputs such as chemical fertilizers was minimal, with farmers occasionally applying organic manure. Similarly, animal production was practised as an extensive free-range system in which pastoralists moved with their herds to seek new pastures by following the seasonal rains.
Such systems of agriculture were ecologically appropriate and sustainable under low population densities. However, with increasing numbers of people and animals, more settled cropping patterns were established, and the fallow period was gradually reduced.
As a result, cultivation practices became more intensive; crop rotation, multiple cropping and intercropping were adopted as effective strategies to maximise land productivity without endangering soil fertility. Land-use patterns were complex, involving the production of a wide variety of food crops for domestic consumption; this strategy ensured a varied diet and helped to stabilise food supply against climatic and seasonal shortages.
Gradual monetisation of the economy and a shift in the socioeconomic environment increased the need for cash. For example, there was increased demand for education, better housing, health services and communications. Cash crop production was increasingly adopted by small-scale farmers as they strived to generate cash both for themselves and as foreign exchange for their countries.
In most cases, governments adopted the policy of balancing the production of exportable cash crops with food crops. The governments of several countries of eastern and southern Africa identified maize as the most appropriate food and cash crop for small-scale production, and cropping packages already adopted by commercial growers were promoted. However, in many cases there were unforeseen problems, and the maize production of the small-scale farmers failed to meet consumer demand.
The transition from subsistence farming to cash crop farming offers the opportunity to increase income, but it also harbours considerable risks. These include the food security risks of increased dependence on a limited number of crops, capital risks linked to prices and socio-economic dependence on the lender when credit is obtained. Poor farmers in particular have often failed to reap the benefits of technological change or commercialisation, or have even lost from them.-OldHabits
