The high telecommunications tariffs being levied by telecommunications service providers in the country have contributed to the continued widening of the digital divide within urban centres of Zimbabwe. I believe that it is due to these high tariffs that potential investors in instruments of technology and empowerment in the 21st century such as internet Cafes are reluctant to open information kiosks in high density suburbs. My personal conviction is that they believe that residents of high density suburbs cannot afford the current tariffs being levied by telecommunication service providers and hence establishing an information kiosk in high density suburbs is akin to business suicide.
Imagine a suburb such as Mzilikazi with a population of over 10 000 people it does not have a single internet Café. This is puzzling in the 21st century were virtual e-technology is the main aider of life processes.
I will illustrate my point on the power of the internet with a specific and deliberate focus on youths. Young people of today, and of course those resident in Mzilikazi have a wish to access relevant information from a multivariate of sources for various purposes which include academic, job opportunities, study opportunities within and without Zimbabwe and to continuously share experiences with fellow youth across the globe and friends and relatives who have migrated from Zimbabwe and are scattered across the earth.
The internet offers cheaper, reliable and faster means of communication. If young people can access the internet, I believe that the potential of the internet as an incubator of knowledge unleashes greater opportunities to young people in high density suburbs. Maybe after all if they could access the internet and find out what other people are doing across the world and the potential for success that they have in this world that they have, we can start to see a more responsible and mature youth which contributes effectively to national development processes.
The only institution at this particular moment which can aid the process of faster digitalization of Zimbabwe is the government. The government must open up the telecommunications industry and allow for new investors to come on board. This move has twin advantages of lowering the tariffs and also improving the quality of service. I will support my point by illustrating the example of South Africa. Competition in the telecommunications industry has greatly lowered tariffs and has improved the quality of service compared to many African nations. However, there have been complaints in South Africa on the quality of service provided mobile service communications provided. May be soon our government will see light…
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Private sector, government and NGOs must support local entrepreneurs
The government, private sector and Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) must support local entrepreneurs if efforts to resuscitate the economy are to yield positive results.
Mzilikazi and Makokoba are home to some of the enterprising business activities which run from the Makokoba main market, Mashumba small-scale furniture manufacturing industries and the Mazai river bed-making ventures.
A close look at some of the activities taking place at centres aforementioned one can clearly tell that residents of these suburbs have a degree of business acumen in them. Despite the potential that these business ventures have towards contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the nation their nature and business-fact that they are small scale enterprises they have failed to contribute quantifiably to the national GDP.
These home industries provide greater opportunities for employment creation and on the job skills training for unemployed youths in the suburbs. However, for these home industries to achieve their potential they need to financial and technical assistance from the government, NGOs and the private sector in the form of loans and developmental grants.
Mzilikazi and Makokoba are home to some of the enterprising business activities which run from the Makokoba main market, Mashumba small-scale furniture manufacturing industries and the Mazai river bed-making ventures.
A close look at some of the activities taking place at centres aforementioned one can clearly tell that residents of these suburbs have a degree of business acumen in them. Despite the potential that these business ventures have towards contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the nation their nature and business-fact that they are small scale enterprises they have failed to contribute quantifiably to the national GDP.
These home industries provide greater opportunities for employment creation and on the job skills training for unemployed youths in the suburbs. However, for these home industries to achieve their potential they need to financial and technical assistance from the government, NGOs and the private sector in the form of loans and developmental grants.
A business opportunity for residents of Mzilikazi and Makokoba
The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) recently flighted an advertisement in the local press calling for tenders for the lease of its women’s clubs dotted around the high density suburbs of the city. Among those advertised were the women’s clubs in Mzilikazi and Makokoba.
This is an opportunity for young people and women in the two suburbs to seize this opportunity and venture into business. As residents of Mzilikazi and Makokoba we have often complained of economic marginalization, here is an opportunity for us to venture into business.
By the way there are women who have been doing various self help projects such as tie and dye, crocheting and knitting at the Mzilikazi women’s club under the auspices of the city council. I believe that this is an opportunity for these women to organise themselves and send in their tender and proposal to BCC.
There are high chances that poor and marginalized groups in the city may win these tenders as the advertisement posted in the press by the city council stated that in their application interested applicants must state their proposal of rent and the nature of their project. In addition the city council has the right to accept any tender proposal regardless of proposed rents. Essentially this means that even those proposing to pay less amount of rent may win the tender proposal based on their project proposal.
I have submitted my own proposal and I trust that I will win one of the many lease tenders.
This is an opportunity for young people and women in the two suburbs to seize this opportunity and venture into business. As residents of Mzilikazi and Makokoba we have often complained of economic marginalization, here is an opportunity for us to venture into business.
By the way there are women who have been doing various self help projects such as tie and dye, crocheting and knitting at the Mzilikazi women’s club under the auspices of the city council. I believe that this is an opportunity for these women to organise themselves and send in their tender and proposal to BCC.
There are high chances that poor and marginalized groups in the city may win these tenders as the advertisement posted in the press by the city council stated that in their application interested applicants must state their proposal of rent and the nature of their project. In addition the city council has the right to accept any tender proposal regardless of proposed rents. Essentially this means that even those proposing to pay less amount of rent may win the tender proposal based on their project proposal.
I have submitted my own proposal and I trust that I will win one of the many lease tenders.
Artist dupes fellow artists
Arnold Ncube, a perfoming artist with Lothu Lothu Theatre group who was instrumental in organizing social events for the St. Columbas day stands accused of duping Kwabatsha theatre group of their dues for their performance during St. Columbas day.
Ncube, approached Kwabatsha Dance Company (KDC) in April asking them to perform at the annual Anglican church festivities in return for an undisclosed monetary ‘token of appreciation’. KDC agreed to his proposal and performed on the occasion of St. Columbas day.
However, things turned ugly when their token of appreciation took ages to reach the dance company’s coffers. The director of KDC approached Ncube on the 15th of May to demand their dues and Ncube told him that the church is still organizing their dues.
Ncube visited the KDC rehearsal venue this week to give them their dues and to the surprise of theatre and dance artists at Kwabatsha they only got a two litre bottle of Mazoe orange crush and six bars of soap. According to KDC this is what they had agreed upon with Ncube.
This is not the first time that Kwabatsha has been duped. In 2008 they were invited by a local arts promoter to perform in Europe for three months. They never got any money for their performances in Europe except daily allowances of ten Euro per day.
The arts industry in Zimbabwe is taken for granted and practitioners in the industry have never been treated as professionals. Cases of sexual abuse are also rampant in the industry.
Ncube, approached Kwabatsha Dance Company (KDC) in April asking them to perform at the annual Anglican church festivities in return for an undisclosed monetary ‘token of appreciation’. KDC agreed to his proposal and performed on the occasion of St. Columbas day.
However, things turned ugly when their token of appreciation took ages to reach the dance company’s coffers. The director of KDC approached Ncube on the 15th of May to demand their dues and Ncube told him that the church is still organizing their dues.
Ncube visited the KDC rehearsal venue this week to give them their dues and to the surprise of theatre and dance artists at Kwabatsha they only got a two litre bottle of Mazoe orange crush and six bars of soap. According to KDC this is what they had agreed upon with Ncube.
This is not the first time that Kwabatsha has been duped. In 2008 they were invited by a local arts promoter to perform in Europe for three months. They never got any money for their performances in Europe except daily allowances of ten Euro per day.
The arts industry in Zimbabwe is taken for granted and practitioners in the industry have never been treated as professionals. Cases of sexual abuse are also rampant in the industry.
School holidays are approaching…Lets start preparing for the “exams term”
Students at various schools scattered around Mzilikazi, Makokoba, Barboufields, Nguboyenja and Thorngrove have just finished sitting for their mid year examinations. From what I have gathered this time around there was some order at schools in terms of the administration of exams.
However, knowing the above mentioned suburbs as some of the poorest and were low income earners stay I wish to point out that parents, guardians, teachers and school development associations must start to work together in order to prepare for the final and third term.
The third term is the most crucial in the school calendar. Grade seven, form four and upper six students will be writing their national public examinations. We do not want to fool ourselves that things will be alright and convince ourselves that pupils will write these examinations without any foreseen or unforeseen challenges. Those who follow this blog might be aware that I once wrote an entry on the acrimony between parents and teachers at Mzilikazi high school over teacher incentives.
Teachers have been disappointed by the latest pay hike by the government and may decide to hit back during or as we approach the sitting of national public examinations. To any parent or guardian worth their salt it is obvious that given the present state of affairs in the country they need to invest more (monetary wise) in the education of their children.
As residents of the aforementioned areas we do not wish to complain about not having enough sons and daughters from our area in positions of leadership because we did not get proper education. I implore the major stakeholders to use this holiday period to reach a consensus on key issues pertinent to teachers’ remuneration and the guarantee of full teacher service at exam time.
However, knowing the above mentioned suburbs as some of the poorest and were low income earners stay I wish to point out that parents, guardians, teachers and school development associations must start to work together in order to prepare for the final and third term.
The third term is the most crucial in the school calendar. Grade seven, form four and upper six students will be writing their national public examinations. We do not want to fool ourselves that things will be alright and convince ourselves that pupils will write these examinations without any foreseen or unforeseen challenges. Those who follow this blog might be aware that I once wrote an entry on the acrimony between parents and teachers at Mzilikazi high school over teacher incentives.
Teachers have been disappointed by the latest pay hike by the government and may decide to hit back during or as we approach the sitting of national public examinations. To any parent or guardian worth their salt it is obvious that given the present state of affairs in the country they need to invest more (monetary wise) in the education of their children.
As residents of the aforementioned areas we do not wish to complain about not having enough sons and daughters from our area in positions of leadership because we did not get proper education. I implore the major stakeholders to use this holiday period to reach a consensus on key issues pertinent to teachers’ remuneration and the guarantee of full teacher service at exam time.
The longest power cut
Since the start of this year’s winter season, the twin suburbs of Mzilikazi and Makokoba have surprisingly been ‘put off’ the load shedding schedule by the power utility, Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA). Mzilikazi and Makokoba have been experiencing unscheduled power cuts since the 27th of July.
However, the power cuts that have taken place on the 27th and the 28th of July have also affected other areas in the city which traditionally did not experience load shedding. For instance the Bulawayo central business district went without electricity for the better part of the day on the 27th of July.
Imagine one of the restaurants in the central business district had to prepare lunch dishes using firewood. These are the times indeed, ZESA is slowly turning our urban centres into rural dwellings. One of these days I am sure we will work up and be used to e-town egcwele intuthu, after all kuko ntuthu ziyathunqa.
Concerning these power cuts something interesting immediately comes to mind. What exactly is taking place at ZESA. Would someone care to explain? I thought that with depressed industrial and less production work at farms this winter we will not be subjected to load shedding, alas I was fooling myself.
However, the power cuts that have taken place on the 27th and the 28th of July have also affected other areas in the city which traditionally did not experience load shedding. For instance the Bulawayo central business district went without electricity for the better part of the day on the 27th of July.
Imagine one of the restaurants in the central business district had to prepare lunch dishes using firewood. These are the times indeed, ZESA is slowly turning our urban centres into rural dwellings. One of these days I am sure we will work up and be used to e-town egcwele intuthu, after all kuko ntuthu ziyathunqa.
Concerning these power cuts something interesting immediately comes to mind. What exactly is taking place at ZESA. Would someone care to explain? I thought that with depressed industrial and less production work at farms this winter we will not be subjected to load shedding, alas I was fooling myself.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Leadership Training…
Yours truly was selected by a certain NGO for some leadership fellowship, but unfortunately I only went as far as the pre-selection conference. Not because I was terrible, no, not at all. In fact, I believe I was the best candidate among those I interacted with!
The reason why I decided to pull out was simple and limited to my view that I think that the organisation that is leading this noble programme does not have the human resource mental wisdom among its leadership of what leadership is and who qualifies to undergo a leadership fellowship. I have seen how most leadership fellowship programmes are designed, and I am talking from a position of knowledge. But before I get thus far, let me highlight my disappointment.
Candidates who were selected for the programme were simply not up to scratch- why do I say so? I found students that I taught at high school last year (2008) as part of the prospective fellows and one of them later phoned me to tell me that she had made it. Honestly, her only leadership role in community was to serve as a prefect. Compare that to me, I lead a community project, I am a research fellow and I have been a student leader at university. How do you mix the two?
Generally, for one to be selected as a leadership fellow, for any serious fellowship they need to be doing some outstanding work in their respective communities and/or society. My point is let’s take the issue of leadership development seriously, as a nation we acknowledge time and again that we are suffering from a leadership famine and the only way we can address this is by developing promising leaders not clowns!
The reason why I decided to pull out was simple and limited to my view that I think that the organisation that is leading this noble programme does not have the human resource mental wisdom among its leadership of what leadership is and who qualifies to undergo a leadership fellowship. I have seen how most leadership fellowship programmes are designed, and I am talking from a position of knowledge. But before I get thus far, let me highlight my disappointment.
Candidates who were selected for the programme were simply not up to scratch- why do I say so? I found students that I taught at high school last year (2008) as part of the prospective fellows and one of them later phoned me to tell me that she had made it. Honestly, her only leadership role in community was to serve as a prefect. Compare that to me, I lead a community project, I am a research fellow and I have been a student leader at university. How do you mix the two?
Generally, for one to be selected as a leadership fellow, for any serious fellowship they need to be doing some outstanding work in their respective communities and/or society. My point is let’s take the issue of leadership development seriously, as a nation we acknowledge time and again that we are suffering from a leadership famine and the only way we can address this is by developing promising leaders not clowns!
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