A recent Timesonline article carries a terrible story about Nomatter Tagarira, a spirit medium, who had fooled the Zimbabwean government by claiming that she could conjure refined diesel out of a rock by striking it with her staff just like Moses of the Bible used to do. In other words, Ms Tagarira wanted to be today’s Moses (Mose walero) for Zimbabwe.
After witnessing her apparently miraculous gift, ministers in President Robert Mugabe’s government gave her five billion Zimbabwean dollars in cash (worth £1.7 million at at that time) in return for the fuel.Ms Tagarira was also given a farm, said to have been seized from its white owner during Mr Mugabe’s lawless land grab, as well as food and services that included a round-the-clock armed guard on the rock in the district of Chinhoyi 60 miles (100km) from Harare, the capital. But more than a year later, the officials realized they had been duped. Ms Tagarira is now in custody, awaiting trial on charges of fraud or, alternatively, of being “a criminal nuisance”.
This story is just a further confirmation of the nightmare of hyperinflation, famine and infra-structural collapse that Zimbabwe, which was once one of Africa’s most prosperous countries, is undergoing. But coming hot on the heels of the “miracle” fuel saga, is an exciting development which every Zimbabwean must be proud of. Last month, President Robert Mugabe commissioned the first biodiesel production plant in the country. The new US$80 million biodiesel fuel plant, located about 15 kilometres north-west of Harare, is a joint venture between the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and a South Korean energy technology firm. This plant has the capacity to produce 100 million litres of biodiesel annually at its peak from cotton seed, soya beans, jatropha and sunflower seed. President Mugabe told guests at the plant’s official opening that
As a nation we have once again demonstrated that the ill-fated sanctions against the innocent people of Zimbabwe can never subdue our resilience and inner propulsion to succeed and remain on our feet as a nation.
Soon, our economy will be paying us back the dividends of the seedlings of progression we are planting across different productive sectors. Zimbabwe was never there to collapse, is never there to collapse and will never be there to collapse.
Although I am not a fan of President Mugabe’s strong speeches against the West, I am very excited with the opening of the biodiesel plant in Zimbabwe. I just hope that this plant will go a long way in solving Zimbabwe’s economic problems. But I have one small question here. If the biodiesel plant revolutionizes Zimbabwe’s economy as desired by most of us, will it create an African Chavez in Mugabe? Well, that aside, let me urge Malawi and other countries in the Sub Saharan Africa region to emulate Zimbabwe’s example.
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5 users commented in " Zimbabwe’s first biodiesel plant! Will it be an economic lifeline for Zim? "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackGood post Clement and very good question about it creating an African Chavez in Mugabe. Who knows where it will end up? I think it is a good idea and I guess a step in the right direction. One question that I asked myself was Zimbabwe being able to provide the materials required to produce biodiesel? When I was in Zimbabwe over Christmas last year it did not look like there was a lot of agricultural activity taking place.
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Mugabe can not be compared to Chavez in any way although Chavez is not exactly a saint, Mugabe is a complete insane lunatic in my humble opinion.
Chávez launched a number of social and economic campaigns. More than 1,25 million people who were illiterate learned to read in one year through his reforms.
Chavez has done something good for the country and the poorest people. What has Mugabe ever done to improve the situation in his country that has been a succes?
Oil will not change his ways on the contrary I fear it would be even worse for Zimbabwe.
I truly hope this man is the last African leader of his generation. With an unemployment rate of 85%, the highest inflation in the entire world, I can’t understand he stays in power.
Zimbabwe has the world’s shortest life expectancy—37 years for men and 34 for women and 25% of all children are orphans. And we are not talking about AIDS yet.
In fact he’s so bad that he is listed on the 4th place of worst dictators in in the world.
http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2006/edition_01-22-2006/Dictators
If they wouldn’t have seized the farms from their white owners they might have had an agriculture to support biodiesel with their crops.
I hope there was some irony in the post because I can’t seriously think anything spectacular is to be expected from that man.
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1dollar
I respect your opinion on Mugabe.But wait a minute.Although I do not like Mugabe’s policies and especially his outbursts against the west, I know him as a person who loves his people and that he is one of the most educated African presidents. If he had vast fields of oil at his disposal like Chavez, who is also anti-western,by the way, he would do some great work for the Zimbabweans.He would surely launch a number of social and economic campaigns.His major driving force would be the desire to prove his critics wrong.
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Has the project been implemented and have any results come out of it? Any updates on this will be appreciated, especially after the long lasting turmoil in this state.
Richael Neets last blog post..Preventing yourself from Sabotaging your Goals
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well i think its high time we zimbabweans to stand and say to zanu enough is enough. lets not listen to anyone, we do not need aid,or donation. all we need is prosperity of our beloved nation. thanks to the mdc for the effort but now need a fresh mind to take us a step further. thailand has just done it why cant we brothers sister combrades and friends we have to do it ourselves the world outside has done all they can but to no avail.
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