Festive season advice to Jabulani Sibanda

By The Standard and Newsday | Dec. 27, 2021 | 5 Min read

So the fall of former war veterans leader Jabulani Sibanda and his resurrection must not be about his individual interests. It must be about coming back to save the people of Zimbabwe who have been reduced to scroungers by the Zanu PF regime.

EACH time has its ups and downs. For heroes, when they fall, they fall with the people and when they rise, they rise with the people.

All great leaders represent what the oppressed stands for.

Falling because one’s individualistic goals have failed reduces one to a greedy person.

The name Jabulani Sibanda is associated with terror, arson, brutality, murder and all that falls in the basket of inhumanity. Sibanda, using State resources, unleashed violence across Zimbabwe prior to the 2008 elections. We have people now living with disability because of him. Millions of dollars worth of property were destroyed because of this man. People lost their lives at the hands of this man.

Sibanda fell victim to former President Robert Mugabe’s politics when he challenged the Mazowe meetings which were meant to propel his wife Grace politically. He was chased away and went into political Siberia.

That he has announced his political comeback should send shivers in the spine of many Zimbabweans.

While I personally welcome you back into the political limelight, my word of advice is that please get your act right.

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Given that you walked the satanic pastime, it is time to make peace with the Zimbabweans you traumatised.

Our economy is in shambles. The Chinese have literally taken over everything that Zimbabwe stands for. We have been colonised.

Zimbabwe is yearning for people who speak truth to power.

Your thunderous voice must be added to that of Chief Murinye and the deposed Chief Ndiweni, among others. Zanu PF corruption is stinking to high heavens. This country needs your energy to come out of this situation.

As we are moving towards elections, it is my sincere hope that you will not torment the already suffering Zimbabweans. –Isaac Mupinyuri

Africa endowed with rich minerals

AFRICA’S mineral industry is the largest in the world.

Africa is the second largest continent, with 30 million square kilometres of land, which implies large quantities of resources.

For many African countries, mineral exploration and production constitute significant parts of their economies and are key to economic growth.

Africa is richly endowed with mineral reserves and ranks first or second in quantity of world reserves of bauxite, cobalt, industrial diamond, phosphate rock, platinum group metals, vermiculite and zirconium.

Africa has the world’s richest concentration of minerals and gems, with gold being the continent’s main mineral.

In South Africa, the Bushveld Complex, one of the largest masses of igneous rock on earth, contains major deposits of strategic metals such as platinum, chromium, and vanadium — metals that are indispensable in tool making and high-tech industrial processes. The Bushveld Complex is about two billion years old.

Another spectacular intrusion of magmatic rocks composed of olivine, augite and hypersthene occurred in the Archean Eon over 2,5 billion years ago in Zimbabwe.

Called the Great Dyke, it contains substantial deposits of chromium, asbestos and nickel.

Almost all the world’s chromium reserves are found in Africa.

Africa contains 40% of the world’s diamond reserves, which occur in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Angola, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

In South Africa, uranium is found side-by-side with gold, thus decreasing costs of production. Uranium deposits are also found in Niger, Gabon, DRC and Namibia. South Africa alone contains half of the world’s gold reserves. Gold deposits are also common in Zimbabwe, DRC and Ghana. Alluvial gold (eroded from soils and rock strata by rivers) can be found in Burundi, Ivory Coast and Gabon.

As for other minerals, half of the world’s cobalt is in DRC and Congolese cobalt-bearing geological formations extend to Zimbabwe.

One-quarter of the world’s aluminium ore is found in the coastal belt of West Africa stretching 1 920km from Guinea to Togo, with the largest reserves in Guinea. Major coal deposits exist in southern Africa, north Africa, DRC and Nigeria.

And north Africa is awash with petroleum reserves, particularly in Libya, Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia.

With all these resources, Africa cannot afford to be poor. It is high time Africa leveraged on its vast natural resources to jumpstart its economies. –Tatenda

IN response to Former ZimInd editor Wetherell dies, MUNYA says: Former Zimbabwe Independent editor, Iden Wetherell, who died last week, was a masterful storyteller. Expert wordsmith. He would loosen up a sentence or tighten it to make it precise, vivid and amazing. May the lessons he taught us live forever.

IN response to Lack of credit unsettling Zimbabwe’s industries, TAWANDA MADHAVA says: Zimbabwe is open for corrupt and shady deals. As long as the new dispensation does not decisively deal with corruption, the economy will remain in the woods. Corruption makes a country risky for investment. No sane banking institution would want to extend funds to companies that are operating in such an environment. Sort out the risk factor and the much-needed lines of credit will start flowing in.

IN response to Investors shunning us: ED, BOND MAN-G says: Who can invest in a country whose own people are running away from it. There are millions of highly educated professionals and technicians in the diaspora and some are already changing citizenship because of poor governance back home.

BRIGHTON CHAGUMA says: Does funding always have to come from private investors? How about channelling proceeds from our natural resources such as gold, platinum, coal, among others, to such project? Sanctions, my foot!

ALLEN MATUKU says: Investors are shunning Zimbabwe because your policies are stupid and inconsistent. Your human rights record also is a cause of concern. Get your act right, investors will flock to Zimbabwe.

DZIDZAI CHIDUMBA says: It is okay Mr President, you have done well with what you have, we see the roads are being fixed and dams being constructed. Investors will come, don’t worry, please stay the course. We are proud of you!

KELVIN MASEKO says: President Emmerson Mnangagwa should ask himself hard questions. Why is the simple question he must ask himself and surely the answer is there for everyone to see. The country has gone back to lawlessness under his watch — property seizures, abuse of State machinery for political expediency, human rights abuse, captured Judiciary and lack of investor confidence made worse by the clueless Finance minister, just to mention a few.