lecturer and university dean, was nominated for the post by Prime
Minister and Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai as
part of the shaky new bipartisan government of national unity.
One of Dzinotyiweyi’s first actions was to call for the release of his
colleague Roy Bennett, the designated deputy minister of agriculture,
who faces charges of terrorism, banditry and sabotage after being
arrested by police shortly after he returned from exile in South Africa.
"I need Roy Bennett to work with me so we can revive agricultural
research, which has traditionally been a strength in Zimbabwean
science, to improve the rural economy,” Dzinotyiweyi says.
Bennett has since been released from jail on bail but is still unable
to officially assist Dzinotyiweyi revive the agricultural research
because he is yet to be sworn in as deputy minister of agriculture.
Dzinotyiweyi knows he faces two major challenges. "We have
non-functional institutions, having hardly any capacity, barely
running. This includes schools, universities, research institutes. Our
immediate desire is that these institutions begin working.”
One way of remedying this, he suggests, will be to pay scientists in
acurrency stronger than the Zimbabwean dollar. "The local currency is
completely corrupt, so we are trying to see if scientists can be paid
in a hard currency such as the US dollar or the South African rand.
That would help immediately,” he says.
The other priority is to reverse the brain drain, says Dzinotyiweyi.
"Zimbabwe has lost enormous scientific manpower. We need to use the
diaspora, those Zimbabweans who are anxious to contribute back home. We
want them to participate meaningfully even if they are out of the
country – although of course in the long run we would like them to
return to the country,” he says.
Dzinotyiweyi, a founding member of the three-year-old Zimbabwe Academy
of Sciences, says he hopes to use the academy’s international contacts
to establish links with Zimbabwean researchers now living elsewhere.
Robin Crewe of the Academy of Science of South Africa said at the
African Science Communication Conference that the academy might be able
to assist in the process.
Dzinotyiweyi was dean of the University of Zimbabwe from 1991 to 2000 and in the mid 1990s worked on a study of science and technology across the 14-state Southern African Development Community.
He returned to his post as professor of mathematics prior to his resignation to compete in the March 2008 elections. He has continued to assist his university department on a voluntary basis after being elected as a member of Parliament. Like all the winning opposition candidates, he was blocked by the ruling party from taking up his seat for months.
Dzinotyiweyi’s constituency is the high-density, impoverished Budiriro suburb of Harare, which suffered the country’s first outbreak of cholera following the collapse of water treatment plants in August 2008. He is working closely with MDC colleague Henry Madzorera — a medical doctor who has been appointed minister of health – to tackle the cholera epidemic.
Post published in: News