HARARE , 23 May (NewsDay Live)—Hon. Minister Kazembe Kazembe, acting on behalf of Hon. Minister Dr. Frederick M. Shava officially opened the University of Zimbabwe's (UZ) 2026 Research Innovation and Industrialisation Week, calling on the private sector to partner with local institutions to commercialise groundbreaking student projects.
The colorful ceremony, held at the UZ Diamond Conference Centre yesterday, marked the culmination of a five-day event running under the theme "Advancing Transdisciplinarity for Impact and Competitiveness of Zimbabwe's Critical Value Chains."
Hon. Kazembe arrived at the university's Innovation Hub at 11:00 am, where he was received and briefed by Acting Registrar Mrs. D. Tirivanhu before embarking on a comprehensive tour of the research and innovation exhibitions mounted by academics, students, and industry partners.
Speaking to journalists immediately after the tour, Minister Kazembe expressed immense satisfaction with the diverse range of projects on display, which spanned from traditional gastronomy to artificial intelligence-driven technologies. Among the highlights, he noted heritage-based research, solar-powered mobile refrigerators, and a digital "box library" that allows students to access textbooks offline without an internet connection.
"To be perfectly honest, I was so impressed and quite chuffed by the innovation that I witnessed here," Hon. Kazembe said. "This is living evidence that the Education 5.0 policy is really bearing fruit. Some thought it was just a talk show when it started, but after touring these exhibition stands, I am convinced this is the definitive path to Vision 2030. I have seen Education 5.0 in action."
The Minister lamented the tendency of locals to underestimate domestic talent, noting that the exhibition was an eye-opener regarding the vast capabilities of Zimbabwean students.
Keep Reading
- Govt reinstates passport application fee
- Govt reinstates passport application fee
- Zesa losing $1.4 billion to crooks
- Govt reinstates passport application fee
"We often look down upon ourselves and underestimate our capabilities, but there is so much that our students can do to solve our country’s challenges," he added. "I would kindly invite the industry to come and witness what these students are doing. The private sector should come on board and partner with them to commercialise these brilliant ideas."
Among the innovators who showcased their work to the Minister was Tafadzwa Marufu, the Quality Assurance Manager for the Department of Science. Marufu exhibited the "BioSafe" wastewater treatment device, an affordable, newly designed system tailored for Africa to treat post-laboratory water by removing odors, chemicals, pathogens, and heavy metals.
"The solutions that are out there may not be fit for us to use because of the expenses; they are not affordable," Marufu explained, emphasizing the pressure on local facilities to meet legal decontamination regulations despite resource constraints. "So, we need sustainable, simple, and affordable solutions. It's very simple to use, easy to make, and really efficient."
The exhibition also highlighted significant advancements in agricultural and veterinary self-reliance. Tanatswa Marovatsanga, a student in the Faculty of Veterinary Science, presented a suite of organic, plant-based animal care remedies designed to bypass expensive, imported synthetic alternatives and combat growing chemical resistance.
Her innovations included a natural botanical fly-repellent spray to prevent myiasis (maggot infestations) in dogs, an organic livestock fly gel, and "Alka-Shoot" an antiparasitic treatment for poultry derived from traditional indigenous knowledge merged with modern science.
Tanatswa Marovatsanga highlighted that creating these products paves a sustainable pathway for young innovators and resource-constrained farmers alike.
"With my product, many people can adopt the use of our locally available products, and hence, we can have an economy that's using more of what we make in Zimbabwe and less of what's made internationally," Maruawstanga said. She noted that the next steps for her prototype involve rigorous regulatory evaluations through the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ) and the Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) before hitting commercial markets.