Food insecurity continues to rise in Southern Africa – new SADC Report Projection puts 41 million at risk

According to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) 2019 Synthesis Report on the State of Food and Nutrition Security and Vulnerability in Southern Africa, 41.2 million people in 13 countries are estimated to be food insecure in the 2019/20 year. Comparing the 11 Member States that provided data last year, food insecurity has increased by 28 percent and…

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FAO, WFP programmes improving food security in drought-prone Masvingo Province

By Byron Mutingwende   United Nations agencies of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme are implementing projects to ensure food security in communities in the drought-prone Masvingo Province. WFP Food Assistance for Assets (FFA) Project Courtesy of a United Nations in Zimbabwe organised media tour, this publication visited the  Chebvute…

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Media should drive progressive socio-economic and democratic agenda in the country: Parajuli

By Byron Mutingwende The media plays an important role in defining common denominator in promoting national interest and setting progressive socio-economic and democratic agenda in the country, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Zimbabwe has said. “The role of media, including the newsprint, electronic and online/digital entities, cannot be over-emphasised in national development, which involves advancement…

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How banks and mobile money platforms are robbing farmers and citizens

By Charles Dhewa Mobile money continues to be touted as a solution to the financial exclusion of many people in developing countries. However, examples in Zimbabwe are showing the need for cautious optimism. As an economic hub, Mbare mass market in Harare has more than 500 mobile money agents and the number is increasing. Why? …

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ZPP bemoans discrimination in food distribution

The Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) has bemoaned discrimination prevalent in the distribution of food assistance as the inputs and food aid are channelled through local and traditional structures. ZPP said it has over the years documented numerous cases of destitute and marginalised citizens of Zimbabwe being unlawfully denied social welfare assistance, solely on the basis…

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Opuiyo Oforiokuma Appointed Head of Strategy and Investor Relations at Africa50

Africa50, the pan-African infrastructure investment platform capitalised by the African Development Bank, 27 African countries, and two African Central Banks, is pleased to announce the appointment of Opuiyo Oforiokuma as Head of Strategy and Investor Relations. He assumed his position on July 1, 2019. Mr. Oforiokuma, a Nigerian and British national, is an infrastructure specialist…

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Gondwe, Chitoshi triumph at the 2019 Econet Victoria Falls Marathon

Zimbabwean Christopher Gondwe has won this year’s Econet Victoria Falls Marathon which was run on Sunday, with Zambian Felistus Chitoshi taking the women’s top honours at the same 42.2km race. Gondwe crossed the finish line at Victoria Falls Primary School in a time of two hours, 25 minutes and 36 seconds, ahead of Zambia’s Costern…

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TEF-UNDP Sahel Youth Entrepreneurship Programme Set to Empower Entrepreneurs in 7 Sahel African Countries For 10 Years

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) have launched a youth entrepreneurship programme for the Sahel region of Africa. The TEF-UNDP Sahel Youth Entrepreneurship programme will train, mentor and financially support 100,000 young entrepreneurs in Africa in 10 years . The goal is to contribute to the overall target to…

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SoftBank to Invest $2.25 Billion in GM’s Self-Driving Unit — Cruise

Cruise, a U.S. self-driving vehicle company majority-owned by General Motors Co (GM), on Friday revealed that a U.S. national security panel approved a $2.25 billion investment in the firm by Japan’s SoftBank Corp. SoftBank has come under increasing U.S. scrutiny over its ties to Chinese firms in the face of an escalating trade and technology…

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Econet Media Put Kwesé Play Under Administration Over $130 Million Debt

Just months after Kwesé TV (satellite subscription service) shut down after a troublesome 18 months, last week on Wednesday, Kwesé Play users in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Uganda woke up only to find out that the streaming service was down with error notification that “Econet Nolonger Offers Kwesé Play. For More Information Contact Econet.” Kwesé Play, was launched last…

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Sony’s Latest Noise-Cancelling Wireless WF-1000XM3 Earbuds Takes On Airpods

Its Game on! In the race for the best “true wireless” earbud, Sony has a new horse. Meet the Sony WF-1000XM3. (Not to be confused with the company’s over-ear flagship, the WH-1000XM3.) Back in 2017, Sony’s inaugural pair of true wireless earbuds, the WF-1000X, didn’t stand out among the competition when they hit the market. They were plagued by…

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BMW’s Next CEO Major Task is Reviving The Electric Car Initiative Amid Competition From EVs Like Tesla

In an update on Friday, BMW CEO Harald Krueger will be leaving his post as the German automaker’s CEO. The company announced that Krueger would not be seeking another term in his contract as CEO after it expires next year. A press release from BMW noted that the Supervisory Board will be discussing Krueger’s replacement during a meeting…

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Tesla YouTuber Bjørn Nyland Breaks 24-hour Electric Car Distance Record — 2,781km (1,728 miles) With Tesla Model 3

A Tesla Model 3 has travelled 2,781 km (1,728 miles) in 24 hours, breaking the 24 hour EV distance record. The new record was set by Bjørn Nyland and his co-pilots, on an autobahn in northern Germany. A common refrain about electric cars is that they’re fine for city driving but can’t do road trips….

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AU Summit: President Adesina to lead AfDB’s delegation, AfCFTA talks to top summit agenda

The Bank will also participate in the meetings of the 37th NEPAD Heads of state and Government Orientation Committee African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) President Akinwumi Adesina will next week lead a delegation of top Bank officials to the extraordinary summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) in Niger’s capital,…

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Vodacom Launches VodaPay Masterpass in South Africa

Vodacom has launched its new VodaPay Masterpass mobile app in South Africa, which uses Mastercard’s global digital payment service to facilitate tokenised bank card payments. The app is available on both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store, and is developed by the same company which created the Masterpass applications for South African banks. According to its…

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Samsung Q2 Profit Halves After Global Industry Downturn and Trade Tensions

Samsung Electronics said on Friday that operating profit fell to 6.5 trillion won ($5.56 billion) in the quarter ended June, falling 56% year on year in the face of sinking DRAM prices. Samsung Electronics Co.’s quarterly profit more than halved after a global industry downturn and trade tensions hammered demand for its chips and high-end smartphones. The…

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Phuti Mahanyele-Dabengwa Appointed Naspers SA First Female and Black CEO

A little more than 100 years ago, Naspers was created by white South Africans to produce a Dutch-language newspaper. Naspers, now Africa’s largest public company thanks to its investment in China’s Tencent, has appointed Phuti Mahanyele-Dabengwa its first woman, and first black person, as CEO of its SA business ahead of an offshore listing of its valuable…

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ZTA, City of Harare partner to drive community tourism

By Tatenda Mujeyi The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) has partnered with the Harare City Council to venture into township tourism and market Zimbabwean townships. “We are indeed delighted and honoured to have you here, to participate, discuss and share in this Township Tourism Workshop under the theme ‘Unlocking & Empowering township communities through Tourism,” ZTA…

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Pan-African Summit on HIV/AIDS and Health Financing in Africa

Under the high patronage of H.E. Denis Sassou Nguesso, President of the Republic of Congo, the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) in collaboration with the Republic of Congo and the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), will hold a High-Level Pan-African Summit on HIV/AIDS and health financing in Africa from 11 to 12 July 2019 in Brazzaville, Congo. The…

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Air Zimbabwe and Mack Air announce launch of “FLAME LILY HOPPA” service

Mack Air and Air Zimbabwe signed an Agreement for the launch of the “Flame Lily Hoppa” domestic and regional air service in Harare, Zimbabwe on the 4th of July 2019. The agreement outlines an integrated and synergistic operational and commercial partnership between the two airlines. This agreement includes the imminent launch of daily domestic scheduled…

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Zimbabwe’s mixed energy fortunes

By Tatenda Mujeyi The second edition of the renewable energy conference held in Harare yesterday explored the mixed fortunes characteristic of the Zimbabwean energy sector. The key challenge in the energy sector was inaccessibility of energy to the majority of the population which left non-renewable energy as the only option. “Latest figures from ZIMSTATS indicated…

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Humanitarian aid: €7 million for disaster preparedness in Southern Africa and Indian Ocean region

As natural disasters threaten the most vulnerable people in the Southern Africa and Indian Ocean region, the EU is providing €7 million in humanitarian aid to increase the capacity of communities and authorities to prepare for and respond to disasters. This aid is in addition to the approximately €17 million in EU humanitarian assistance given…

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Kenya Airways Selects GE Aviation for Digital Flight Operations

Kenya Airways adds to the 15,468 aircraft with GE Aviation’s digital solutions Maximizing Airline Efficiency with the Most Accurate Data and Analytics; Kenya Airways (www.Kenya-Airways.com) adds to the 15,468 aircraft with GE Aviation’s (www.GEAviation.com) digital solutions. Kenya Airways has selected GE Aviation for the Flight Operations suite of digital products across the airline’s fleet of…

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Africa’s Small-Scale Fisheries Critical to Food Security

Fish accounts for more than one-fifth of the protein intake of African south of the Sahara and provides a livelihood to millions of people Africa’s small-scale fisheries play a critical role in global food security and must be supported with greater research and investment, say international and African experts. Industry, NGO, government and academic representatives…

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Centurion CEO speaks to Chinese Oil and Gas Investors on African opportunities

Led by CEO Nj Ayuk, the team is meeting with several high-profile Chinese executives and energy companies seeking to invest in sub-Saharan Africa A team of attorneys from Centurion (https://CenturionLG.com) is in China this week to participate in the EG Ronda Licensing Roadshow being held today and tomorrow at the Kempinski Hotel Beijing. Led by…

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African Energy Chamber’s Investment Push in China is Met with Tremendous Success

This 2-day roadshow is a demonstration of what the Chamber can accomplish for African governments and private stakeholders The biggest names in the Chinese energy industry participated in the EG Ronda Licensing Round Roadshow in Beijing yesterday, hosted by the African Energy Chamber (EnergyChamber.org/). This is the first investment roadshow organised by the Chamber in…

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SADC countries present dire vulnerability assessment and analysis results: A Focus on Zimbabwe

By Byron Mutingwende   Across a number of counties in Southern Africa, vulnerability assessment and analysis results for the 2018/19 agricultural season paint a gloomy picture but with relevant interventions there is light at the end of the tunnel. This write-up will focus on Zimbabwe.   Addressing stakeholders during the Windhoek Regional Vulnerability Assessment and…

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Resilience Building Programme in Zambezi valley to help community withstand shocks

ActionAid Zimbabwe (AAZ) in partnership with Zimbabwe Environment Lawyers Association (ZELA), AfroSoft Private Limited and Africa Breeders Services Total Cattle Management (ABS TCM) has launched the Second Phase of the Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund (ZRBF) Programme in the Zambezi Valley reaching 45 105 households. Phase 1 of the ZRBF Programme ran from July 2016 to May…

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SADC Stakeholders root for strengthening the mainstreaming climate change into vulnerability assessments and analysis

Meeting to consolidate the regional food and nutrition security outlook for 2019 The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Regional Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis (RVAA) programme’s annual dissemination meeting has opened in Windhoek, Namibia with a call to strengthen and prioritise the mainstreaming of climate change into vulnerability assessments and analysis.   The meeting that took…

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ZTA to develop Joshua Nkomo Heritage Trails into tourism product

The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority remains committed to working with relevant partners in developing the Joshua Nkomo Heritage Trails into fully-fledge tourism product, an official has said. Speaking today at the 20th anniversary Joshua Nkomo Day Commemorations – Joshua Nkomo Legacy Walk and Umdala Wethu Dance held in Bulawayo, ZTA acting chief executive Mrs Rita Likukuma…

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Empowering communities to appreciate and conduct research

By Charles Dhewa If developing countries are going to only recognise and respect research results from formal research institutes and universities, they will continue excluding diverse voices and stifling ambition. While formal institutions in Africa are doing their thing, ordinary people in farming communities, fishing villages and informal markets are creatively shaping their own future…

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Becoming drought resilient: Why African farmers

By Esther Ngumbi The latest UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s annual Africa Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition Report highlighted drought as one of the key factors contributing to the continuing rise in the number of hungry people in sub-Saharan Africa. And in South Africa, the Government’s Crop Estimates Committee announced that the country would harvest 20…

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