oleh admin | Mar 24, 2025 | journalism, journalists, news, news media, politics
The renowned veteran journalist Geoffrey Nyarota, who passed away on March 22, 2025, was widely recognized across Zimbabwe and throughout the Southern African region and farther abroad.
Similar to how Okonkwo’s reputation was built in Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart,” his renown was grounded in substantial accomplishments within journalism.
As a journalist, Nyarota gained recognition in the late 1980s after serving as the editor of The Chronicle. He exposed a corruption scandal implicating high-ranking government figures such as ministers. These officials were alleged to have abused their positions to buy vehicles from Willowvale Motor Industries through governmental channels before selling these vehicles at a profit.
This led to the formation of the Sandura Commission, headed by High Court Judge Justice Wilson Sandura, which resulted in the scandal becoming infamous as the Willowgate Scandal.
As the inaugural chairperson of MISA Zimbabwe, Nyarota strived to adhere to the principles outlined in the 1991 Windhoek Declaration on Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press.
The Declaration characterizes an independent press as one that operates without being influenced by governmental, political, or economic pressures, and is free from control over resources and infrastructure necessary for producing and distributing newspapers, magazines, and journals.
Regarding this, Nyarota, who received multiple prestigious international journalism accolades throughout his distinguished career, served as the inaugural editor of the groundbreaking Daily News.
So far, MISA Zimbabwe functions as the regional hub for MISA Regional and serves as a key thinker on issues like media freedom, freedom of expression, and access to information. This has been influenced by the significant strides made by individuals such as Nyarota.
His existence was fraught with challenges and hardships, yet it also left lasting impacts, demonstrated by the multiple books he authored reflecting his dedication to investigative reporting.
Nyati, who was widely recognized through his clan name, also presided over the government’s Information Media Panel of Inquiry (IMPI).
The IMPI report serves as an evolving and essential reference for actions required to ensure a democratic media landscape in Zimbabwe, where the press functions autonomously and performs its oversight duties without interference.
In an article marking MISA Zimbabwe’s 25th anniversary, Nyarota described the increased efforts to regulate the press (known as media capture) as “short-sighted” and a “violation” of the principles outlined in the Windhoek Declaration.
Efforts at media control, particularly those involving blatant corruption, should not just be strongly opposed but completely eradicated.
MISA needs to address these challenges by developing tactics to prevent any detrimental media manipulation.
One effective approach could involve instilling in journalists the habit of conducting impactful investigative reporting along with adhering to ethical standards.
Nyarota dozed, dreamed, breathed, and embraced journalism.
Cris Chinaka: Chairman of the MISA Zimbabwe Board of Trustees
Provided by Syndigate Media Inc. (
Syndigate.info
).
oleh admin | Mar 24, 2025 | disasters, environmental disasters, local news, news, storms
-
Dozens of residents in Homa Bay and Kisumu counties found themselves without shelter as powerful windstorms destroyed their houses.
-
The windstorms occurred on the evening of Sunday, March 24, impacting a minimum of 17 homes in Homa Bay.
-
In an exclusive interview with LIFEHACK.co.ke, Chief Eucabeth Obila from the Central Kochia region stated that the impacted families urgently require assistance.
Several families in Kochia ward, Rangwe sub-county in Homa Bay county, and Kayodo village, Kolwa Central ward, Kisumu East sub-county, have been left homeless after fierce windstorms ravaged their homes following Sunday night’s heavy rains.
The storms, which brought strong winds and intense rainfall, left a trail of destruction, forcing residents to seek shelter wherever they could.
In Kochia ward, the residents of Nyarut, Kombogo, and Lower Kowili villages in the Central Kochia location spent a sleepless night as their houses were completely destroyed.
Area Chief Eucabeth Obila stated that more than 17 homes lost their rooftops, exposing residents to the chill.
The destruction also affected three churches, which were blown off by the winds, and multiple crop farms were swept away by the raging floods, leaving farmers with nothing.
What caused the windstorm in Homa Bay?
A victim named Mary Akinyi, a 45-year-old woman from Nyarut Village, recounted the frightening events of that night.
“I was sound asleep as the storm started. The wind was roaring so fiercely that, before I realized what happened, our roof was torn away from our home. My kids and I then had to rush out into the heavy downpour to find refuge at our neighbor’s place,” said Akinyi, her voice filled with emotion.
Like many others in the region, Akinyi is now left with only her devastated house and dispersed possessions.
During an exclusive interview with
LIFEHACK.co.ke
, Chief Obila urgently appealed to humanitarian groups and the State Department of Disaster Management for prompt aid to support the impacted families.
“Our community desperately requires assistance. Numerous individuals have been left with nothing, and we can’t afford to delay aid any further,” she stated.
At the same time, in Kayodo village, the circumstances were equally dire, with multiple households being trapped when their roofs were ripped away by the strong gusts of wind.
The inhabitants currently face homelessness, with their dwellings reduced to rubble, and their means of living under threat.
Following the storm, both communities have been left stunned, with families now possessing barely anything beyond the remnants of their former dwellings.
The roofs of Homa Bay schools were torn away due to powerful gusts of wind.
Earlier, LIFEHACK.co.ke reported that powerful gusts had forced students at two institutions in Homa Bay County to conduct their classes outdoors beneath the shade of trees. The reason being that the winds had torn off the school buildings’ rooftops.
The impacted institutions included Kikubi Comprehensive School and St. George’s Junior School, with both locations experiencing damage not only to their toilets but also to their administrative sections.
Multiple households experienced damage during the strong winds on the evening of Monday, March 10, as the gusts stripped away the rooftops of their rented homes in the Nyandiwa trading center within the Suba South constituency.
oleh admin | Mar 24, 2025 | controversies, funding, government, healthcare and medicine, news
Letters canceling funding, which abruptly halts millions of rand worth of HIV and TB research grants funded by the U.S. government at South African universities, began circulating over the weekend. One impacted researcher predicts that more than 300 such grants could be terminated by the end of Sunday, potentially leading to significant consequences for higher education and research institutions, including substantial job cuts.
Certain specialists approximate that as high as 70% of South Africa’s medical research, equivalent to between $400 million (approximately R7.2 billion) including both primary and subsidiary grants from the previous fiscal year, receives funding via the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH comprises various components.
27 institutes and centres
Each one concentrates on a particular field of study. The NIH funds roughly seventy-five percent of global biomedical research.
On Friday night, the University of the Witwatersrand’s
Wits Health Consortium
The unit responsible for managing the institution’s clinical trials and donor-funded initiatives has received termination notices for all aspects of a $2.5 million (approximately R460 million) grant, which concludes in November 2027. This particular grant was provided via the NIH.
National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
.
Letters of cancellation, issued on behalf of the chief grants management officer at USAID, Emily Linde, appear to follow a standardized format informing researchers that their projects “fail to contribute to our understanding of living systems, yield minimal returns on investment, and do not improve health outcomes, longevity, or disease reduction.” The letters also allege that these research efforts negatively impact “the well-being of Americans.”
The Wits project was conducted.
by lead researchers Helen Rees, who heads the
Wits Reproductive Health Institute
, with Ian Sanne, leading the Clinical HIV Research Unit, who is now also involved with an international development organization,
Palladium
as its
chief medical officer
.
Paradoxically, our grant concluded on Human Rights Day, a time dedicated to assisting and protecting those in need. Yet now, the U.S. government is compelling us to act contrary to these principles,” Sanne explained to Bhekisisa. “Abruptly halting study volunteer participation could place them in danger. Does this align with global ethical standards for humans?
The study, ongoing since 2007, came under the
The Wits Research Group Clinical Trials Unit,
and carried out research on HIV and TB prevention and treatment, along with clinical trials for hepatitis and HIV-associated cancers.
Letters of termination were received on Human Rights Day
Other grants that have apparently been terminated up until now encompass research initiatives at the
Center for AIDS Research Program in South Africa
, Caprisa,
headed up
By Salim and Quarraisha Abdool Karim.
Several South African universities, which received sub-grants for health research from American institutions like Columbia University in New York, received cease operations directives on Friday following the loss of funding by the U.S.-based grantors. At present, these South African entities wish to remain unnamed.
Science magazine
reports
The ex-leader of the South African Medical Research Council, Glenda Gray was informed that her $3.1 million (approximately R56.5 million) grant for a clinical trials unit in Soweto [operating via Wits] has shifted from an approved to a pending status.
The
Center for AIDS Research Program in South Africa
, Caprisa,
headed up
By Salim and Quarraisha Abdool Karim, who receive substantial funding from the NIH, is currently on high alert. “So far, we haven’t gotten any notifications of terminated NIH grants. However, we anticipate receiving them soon,” Salim Abdool Karim informed Bhekisisa on Sunday morning.
TB funding ends as the US confronts TB outbreaks.
Throughout the years, certain HIV prevention research conducted within Sanne’s and Rees’s initiative has focused on populations more susceptible to HIV infection, including adolescent girls and young women in Africa, transgender individuals, and female sex workers.
The cancellation email mentioned that their “award no longer aligns with agency goals” and noted that “research programs focused mainly on arbitrary and nonscientific criteria, such as vague equity aims, go against genuine scientific exploration, fail to broaden our understanding of living systems, yield minimal benefits from investments, and ultimately do not improve health outcomes, extend lifespan, or decrease illnesses.”
Worst of all, the note said, “so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) studies are often used to support unlawful discrimination on the basis of race and other protected characteristics, which harms the health of Americans. Therefore, it is the policy of NIH not to prioritise such research programmes.
The mentions of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the letter probably pertain to the work conducted at Wits regarding transgender individuals and women involved in sex work—topics that the Trump administration disapproves of.
On the evening of his inauguration, which took place on January 20, the president
signed an executive order
banning people’s right to identify as transgender or non-binary individuals. There are only two genders, the executive order declared: male and female.
However, Sanne argues that the mentions of DEI in their letter are not relevant because even though some of their studies have centered around marginalized communities like transgender individuals and sex workers, much of their efforts are directed towards developing efficient treatments for pediatricTB and improving medications for those suffering from multi-drug resistant TB, along with focusing on preventative measures against TB.
Indeed, our efforts align perfectly with President Trump’s vision of ‘making America great.’ We enhance national safety, fortify economic strength, and boost prosperity by safeguarding Americans from tuberculosis. Furthermore, much of the patent rights and intellectual property for the novel medications we evaluate belong to U.S.-based firms.
Experts weigh in
Linda-Gail Bekner, who leads the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation at the University of Cape Town and also receives support from the NIH, cautions that this further setback to our clinical research sector occurs when new tuberculosis infections are ”
have reached their peak levels in many years within the USA
“.
Kansas is presently experiencing the biggest tuberculosis outbreak that the United States has witnessed in this period.
past 30-40 years
(TB is a condition that has been well-managed in the U.S. for many years.) More than
60TB of data related to disease cases, along with two fatalities, have been reported.
.
By Saturday, Bekker hadn’t gotten a cancellation letter for her grant, yet she states: “Reducing the impact of HIV and TB so they no longer pose a major public health risk is crucial globally. South Africa has taken considerable steps and made important contributions toward achieving this objective.”
Yogan Pillay, who leads HIV and TB initiatives at the Gates Foundation—a organization that also supports HIV andTB research—expresses concern over potential U.S. government funding reductions. He states, “These budget cuts could halt progress in developing new prevention methods and treatments for HIV. As a result, eradicating AIDS may remain an unattainable vision, with HIV continuing to proliferate.”
“It’s absolutely tragic.”
Trump: “No corrective action is possible here”
The Wits initiative conducted significant TB research. One
study
Published in February and featured on the NIH website, this study examined the effectiveness of double doses of the antiretroviral medication dolutegravir in treating tuberculosis patients.
Previous trials looked at
How secure was it for expectant mothers with HIV to use preventative tuberculosis medication?
, regarding the effectiveness of long-acting, injectable formulations of antiretroviral therapy
worked for teens
And how effective the bi-monthly HIV injection is
worked
.
Sanne says “it is inconceivable that [Elon Musk’s so-called] department of government efficiency [which is leading cuts on US government spending], does not understand that there is more than just DEI activities happening through HIV and other research”.
The email stated: “While NIH typically opts for suspension rather than immediate termination of a grant, providing the recipient a chance to implement necessary corrections prior to a potential termination decision, such corrective actions cannot be undertaken in this case.”
This award’s objective is not aligned with our agency’s priorities, and no changes to the project can bring it in line with these priorities.
Terminations not unexpected
However, the termination of the grants was not unforeseen — or at least not since last week.
On March 12,
Science magazine reported
Matthew Memoli, who was serving as the acting director of the NIH, requested officials at the institute to gather lists of grants related to South Africa. The content of this email mirrored the phrasing used in previous NIH inquiries that resulted in the cancellation of numerous grants focusing on areas such as transgender health, vaccine hesitance, and other subjects not endorsed by the administration.
At least
300 US university projects
have also had their grants revoked by the Trump administration, with many being US universities.
resulting in demonstrations throughout the United States
.
These terminations are part of the measures that the Trump administration views as cost-saving efforts or research that doesn’t align with their beliefs, and such actions are expected to keep occurring globally.
SA researchers have initiated discussions with charitable organizations and the government to provide financial support, according to Sanne, who adds that “there haven’t been definite results yet.”
Projects in South Africa that received cancellation notices were informed that they had the option to “contest and submit evidence refuting” their termination decisions.
However, they must initially go through a “first-level grant appeal process” which needs to be completed before they can proceed to “submit an appeal to the departmental appeals board.”
If projects decide to contest, they must file an appeal within 30 days of receiving their termination notices.
Sanne mentions his intention to utilize the appeals process, and if that proves unfruitful, at minimum, seek negotiations for an ethical and responsible termination of the trials. He elaborates: “Our research is crucial for saving lives, and the NIH has supported us in this endeavor. What we must now strive to achieve is convincing them of our work’s significance instead of ending decades of investment which could lead to lost lives.”
The Gates Foundation is referenced in this piece. Although Bhekisisa receives financial support from the Foundation, it maintains its independence in editorial matters.
This narrative was created by the
Bhekisisa Center for Health Journalism
. Register for the
newsletter
.
Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc.
Syndigate.info
).
oleh admin | Mar 24, 2025 | controversies, government, news, politics and government, society
Shimla (
Himachal Pradesh
), [India], March 24 (ANI): Recently,
circular
issued by a private
school
in the state capital, Shimla, has sparked controversy, with allegations that it was intended to create communal discord. However,
Education Minister
Rohit Thakur
has refuted these claims, emphasizing that the issue is being unnecessarily escalated to disturb social harmony.
Speaking to ANI, Minister Thakur said, “This issue is being exaggerated only to provoke communal sentiments. The matter will be investigated. However, the message from the
school
administration was issued solely with the intent of maintaining communal harmony.”
He further stressed the need to verify the facts before jumping to conclusions, noting that the
school
The issue at hand enjoys a well-established reputation. “Just today, I learned about this from media reports. We will verify the specifics, as the
school
being named is a well-established, reputed convent institution here.
Himachal Pradesh
“Communal harmony and goodwill are paramount here, and we will work tirelessly to maintain this atmosphere,” Thakur asserted.
Thakur highlighted the impact of social media in exacerbating these problems and warned about individuals who intentionally foster division within society.
“Some people in our community try to instigate divisions without cause. Such issues need to be resolved promptly. I have collected details regarding the whole situation since, in this age of social media, these problems can quickly spiral out of control. We support enhancing solidarity among communities. It’s crucial that our societal structure remains cohesive and inclusive of all faiths. This is what we aim to preserve,” he stated.
In reaction to the accusations, the
school
at the heart of the dispute,
Auckland House School
has issued a strong statement refuting the claims and calling for responsible digital conduct. The
school
highlighted its enduring custom of commemorating cultural and religious festivities, noting the
circular
It was meant for the junior class to celebrate.
Eid
On March 2nd, please ensure you wear a small cap and Kurta Pajama as per the dress code for the event.
We have observed that some people have shared untrue, deceptive, and socially provocative statements about our organization on various social media channels.
Auckland House School
has consistently marked cultural and religious events like Holi,
Eid
, Diwali, Gurpurab, and Christmas, not as a religious mandate but as a tribute to the pluralistic spirit of India. Our aim is to foster empathy, understanding, and respect among children from all backgrounds. Participation is always voluntary, and there is no religious ritual or instruction involved.”
Critiquing the misrepresentation of information, the
school
A subsequent media release declared, “We firmly denounce efforts to portray these festivities as religious indoctrination. These maneuvers solely contribute to disrupting communal peace and misleading society. We are especially troubled that some postings have exposed data intended exclusively for private distribution, thus infringing upon confidentiality, posing risks to people’s safety, and contravening ethical standards of online behavior. This activity represents an abuse of confidential details.”
The
school
administration called for the removal of misleading content from social media and urged the public to act responsibly.
We kindly ask everyone and various platforms to promptly take down these postings and cease actions that jeopardize both organizational and personal security.
Auckland House School
is steadfastly dedicated to the principles outlined in the Constitution and the vision of unity in diversity. It also urged all conscientious individuals within society to oppose such divisive and immoral acts, and to endorse an educational system founded on mutual respect, dignity, and honesty,” the statement continued.
This dispute underscores the increasing worry about misinformation spreading through social media platforms and its ability to disturb societal peace. As the state government investigates this issue, authorities aim to safeguard the principles of inclusion and communal cohesion. (ANI)
Provided by Syndigate Media Inc. (
Syndigate.info
).
