Top Zim climate scientist wins global award
ONE of Zimbabwe’s leading climate scientists, Prof Desmond Manatsa, has won a global prize for his distinguished research work on climate change. He clinched the “Distinguished Researcher of the Year Award, 2019 in Climate Science Field of Ozone Impacts on the Climate” of the World Research Council.
“The Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, Prof Desmond Manatsa, recently scooped the World Research Peace Award (RULA) for recognition as the best researcher in Ozone Impact on the Climate in the Field of Climate Science for the year 2019, by the World Research Council, India,” read part of a Bindura University of Science Education statement.
“Bindura University of Science Education is proud of this achievement and applauds hard work and commitment among its members. Congratulations, Makorokoto.”
The World Peace Award recognises distinguished contributions in the subject area of high potential global impact through a thorough review of published work, open source contribution and pedagogy among other academic attributes.
PEACE is a foundation in the Far East. The award is based on high impact publications in the field that are determined by citations received against those publications.
The award includes a plaque, trophy and citation, including a lifetime free membership to the foundation. The award was presented to Prof Manatsa by Syed Abuthahir, president of World Research Council. Prof Manatsa’s award-winning research was related to the lower stratospheric impacts on the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean which is the most prominent source of global climate changes.
His research basically speaks about the physics involved, which could lead to better rainfall and temperature predictions of a longterm nature.
His research on the impact of the ozone on the climate dates back to his PhD days when he researched on the ozone hole’s impact on the climate of Southern Africa when he was studying at Tokyo University in Japan. The results of this research were published in the journal Nature, the number one global journal in Geosciences. In simple terms, ozone is a shield high in the sky protecting us from potentially lethal solar radiation.
Prof Manatsa and his team found that when the ozone hole develops in certain seasons, temperatures are observed to rise significantly and while drying the region.
Ozone hole
But when the “ozone hole” fills up considerably, the sub-region becomes cooler and wetter. These novel findings constitute the strongest evidence yet that ozone has a significant direct impact on climate in Southern Africa.
Prof Manatsa studied at the University of Cape Town in South Africa and Russian State University of Hydrometeorology, where he graduated with top honours.
“It’s quite a great pleasure to receive such a prestigious international award,” he told The Herald in an interview. It really shows what we Zimbabweans are capable of achieving even under tough economic conditions. If resources are not constraining then the sky is the limit for Zimbabweans.
“I just want to encourage my fellow academics to also navigate the international waters. Our intellect matches international standards. These international awards speak for themselves.”
Recently, he and his colleague, Prof Geoffrey Mukwada of the University of Free State, made a startling discovery when they revealed the existence of an ozone hole over South Africa that is centred above the Free State Province. These findings were published in the journal Frontiers in Earth Science.
Prof Manatsa is the Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Bindura University of Science Education and chairman of Africa Alliance for Disaster Risk Institutions (AADRI), an affiliate of Japan-based Global Alliance for Disaster Risk Institutions (GADRI).
FORMER president Robert Mugabe was buried at his Zvimba rural home last Saturday, three weeks after his passing on September 6 in Singapore. The Generation 40 group of self-exiled former ZANU-PF members, who remained close to the former First Family, mainly through the former First Lady Grace Mugabe, seized Mugabe’s death to score embarrassingly cheap political points against President Mnangagwa and ZANU-PF in revenge for their own loss of the succession battle in 2017.
Heartless and inhumane designs The matter, however, goes back to 2014 when one of the associates, former Politburo member, Professor Jonathan Moyo, schemed to succeed former president Mugabe by befriending his wife, Grace, in order to achieve his ambitious design. While nursing ambitions to lead one’s country is neither criminal nor sinful, it is heartless, inhumane and immoral to take advantage of an ageing leader to achieve that ambition, which is most repugnant.
To buttress his designs and improve their chances of success Moyo roped in Mugabe’s relative, Patrick Zhuwao, the former president’s nephew. Despite claims of a flowery résumé of being an economist, agricultural and digital transformation researcher and strategist, Zhuwao is not blest with any outstanding achievements (except of course wearing his head in dreadlocks) to have been of any meaningful value to Moyo, except to bolster his foot-in-the-door strategy by virtue of being a Mugabe relative.
To this assemblage Moyo also added the then burly national commissar, Saviour Kasukuwere who, like Zhuwao, did not possess much political stock, except the advantage of being in charge of the ZANU-PF commissariat at the time. This is the guy who broke new ground by buying Commercial Transport of Mutare before adding Johnston’s Transport of Kwekwe in the 1990s. He also formed Comoil, a petroleum retail concern before acquiring United Touring Company (UTC) in 2001 in partnership with Nicholas Goche.
By 2014, the time that Moyo set his plans into motion by convincing the then First Lady to get into politics full-time as the ZANU-PF National Women’s League chairperson, most of Kasukuwere’s business empire had been run aground. Most of his trucks were sitting on bricks, service stations were franchised and UTC was liquidated. In view of this background Kasukuwere’s only value to Moyo’s scheme was his control of the ZANU-PF national structures which Moyo hoped to lev
ZIMBABWE yesterday joined the rest of the world in commemorating the International Day of Older Persons, and as a nation there is need to change the perspective of ageing and strive to overcome structural barriers to equality for all ages.
Since Independence from Britain in 1980, there has been a significant increase in life expectancy. To enjoy the benefits of this demographic bounty, Zimbabwe has to protect the elderly. Since time immemorial, older persons played significant roles in our societies as leaders, caretakers and custodians of our various traditions in the country.
Although playing a significant role as models of wisdom, the elderly are highly vulnerable; with a huge percentage of them falling into poverty.
They have no one to nurse them, face discrimination and some even become disabled. While healthcare is improving, the country’s population of older people is also growing, meaning their needs are growing as well. The United Nations’ (UN) “Principles for Older Persons”, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1991, require all governments to expand support to older persons.
This year’s theme, “The Journey to Age Equality” is aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 10 (SDG 10), and focuses on pathways of coping with existing — and preventing future — old age inequalities. SDG 10 sets to reduce inequality within — and among — countries, and aims to “ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome,” including through measures to eliminate discrimination, and to “empower erage on, on his dreamy way to State House.
Enter the bulldozing Grace
At the secretly-convened Mazowe meeting which was disguised as a birthday celebration for the then First Lady at her orphanage in July that year, it was agreed that Mrs Mugabe should get into politics full-time. A subsequent Women’s League congress held that year saw her being endorsed to lead women, and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status.”
According to the UN, almost 700 million people are now over the age of 60. By 2050, two billion people, over 20 percent of the world’s population, will be 60 or older.
The increase in the number of older people will be the greatest and the most rapid in the developing world, with Asia as the region with the largest number of older persons, and Africa facing the largest proportionate growth. Statistics above should guide Zimbabwe to improve on attention to particular needs and challenges faced by older people.
Equally important is the crucial influence despite having never been in any ZANU-PF structure. So far so good for Moyo’s plans.
By October that year Grace Mugabe was already on the political field bulldozing any people, who stood in the way of the political scientist’s path to the ultimate crown, such as the former Vice President, Joice Mujuru, who she viewed as the most serious threat.
The close of 2014 marked the end of Mujuru, who was jettisoned from the party unceremoniously. The same fate also befell other senior party members such as Didymus Mutasa and Rugare Gumbo.
The Youth League
After positioning Mrs Mugabe politically, Moyo needed the other key wing of the party
the Youth League. He roped in the then Kudzanai Chipanga, who was quickly taken under Grace’s wings. This time around Moyo’s target became President Mnangagwa, who was the Vice President then, and almost shoo-in successor both in the party and in Government. Talk such as “pana Amai ndopane vana (the youth and women’s leagues work together)” became common.
With Moyo playing the puppet master in the background, Grace Mugabe was soon on the road again fighting President Mnangagwa at her meet-the-people rallies. Moyo, on the other hand, took the fight to the Politburo seeking to get its approval to have President Mnangagwa expelled from the party using falsehoods such as that he had formed an opposition party.
The political scientist meets his come
uppance the majority of older men and women can continue to make to the functioning of society if adequate guarantees are in place.
UN Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons Rosa Kornfeld-Matte said in a statement to mark the commemorations on Tuesday: “Unlike refugees, women and children, persons with disabilities or other groups, older persons are not protected by any specific human rights instrument; which may explain the lack of representation of the unique challenges faced by the elderly, in terms of global policy, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” she said.
“We need to stand up now for older persons’ rights. While we aspire to live for
The women and youth leagues culminated in the Presidential Youth Interface rallies of 2017, which were mainly fora for Mrs Mugabe to denigrate, embarrass and fight President Mnangagwa all in the name of preparing for the following year’s polls. Lies such as that he had attempted to remove the former president from power in the 1980s became standard fare at such gatherings. Attempts were even made on the President’s life through poisoning and any members who were deemed sympathetic to him were summarily expelled.
Grace Mugabe’s fights respected no one. She ended up even poking her finger in the eyes of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) daring them to shoot her. While concerned by the fights in ZANU-PF and how Moyo and his G40 coterie was literary taking over the party and tarnishing former president Mugabe’s legacy, the ZDF kept a distant but interested eye. When the former president expelled President Mnangagwa on November 6, 2017, the ZDF could not continue watching Moyo’s drama. It quickly put into motion Operation Restore Legacy, which culminated in the former president resigning on November 21, 2017.
Heartless political scientist While Moyo was a hardworking asset to former president Mugabe, he was equally hard-hearted. It only takes the only Professor Moyo of Zimbabwe to be so mean-spirited as to use Mrs Mugabe to happily bulldoze his threats out of way in the most sincere belief that she was doing it for herself when, in fact, she was slogging for the scheming professor. It only takes a cruel Professor Moyo to use both the then president and his wife for his own designs.
Even when the iconic liberator passed on, Moyo did not relent. He used his body to fight President Mnangagwa by influencing the former First Lady to refuse a national shrine burial as befitted the national hero in a bid to embarrass the President. He sowed confusion and division between the Mugabe family and the Zvimba royal clan to which the late hero belonged. It is very sad that Zvimba chiefs had to stay away from the burial thanks to the G40’s shameless machinations.
As the former president was being buried, Moyo was tweeting a eulogy with a hypocritical tear down his cheek:
“Without fear or apology, while still on this earth, I will in my own small way stand tall by you, your legacy & the abiding national, African & human ideals & aspirations that you shared with UmdalaWethuu JoshuaMqabukoNyongolo Nkomo!” he tweeted. ◆ Read the full article on www.herald.
co.zw as long as possible, we do not want to age. Pervasive gerontophobia, the fear of age-related self-degeneration and death, nurtures prejudice against older people, discrimination and ultimately the denial of human rights in older age.”
The country, therefore, needs to urgently build a stable elderly care infrastructure and support system.
Apart from focusing on a better quality of life through the adoption of technology-based healthcare, there is also a need to aim at building a better social and support network for senior citizens.
◆ Read the full article on www.herald. co.zw