AN AFRICAN development activist Snowy Khoza has described President Michael Sata as a strategic person who is interested in promoting development in Zambia.
Dr Khoza, who is Bigen Africa chief executive officer based in South Africa, said President Sata was a strategic and development oriented person because he appointed qualified engineers in key economic ministries of the country.
She noted engineers were key drivers of economic development and therefore President Sata should be applauded for acknowledging that fact.
Dr Khoza said this in her keynote presentation at Zambezi Sun Hotel in Livingstone during the just ended Engineering Institution of Zambia (EIZ) 2014 National Symposium and Annual General Meeting (AGM).
President Sata appointed qualified engineers as full Cabinet Ministers responsible for Transport, Works, Supply and Communication (Yamfwa Mukanga), Agriculture and Livestock (Wilber Simuusa) as well as Mines, Energy, Water Development (Christopher Yaluma).
“President Sata should be applauded for the fact that he has taken into consideration the importance of engineers by appointing them as Ministers in key economic Ministries.
This tells you that the President is very strategic because he knows that engineers are very important and therefore the respective Ministers should not to fail the Government in delivering in those Ministries,” Dr Khoza said.
She said infrastructure development was her passion as a development activist saying she fought for the building of quality infrastructure in South Africa and Africa for the benefit of the community especially the rural poor communities which were mostly headed by women and children.
“Infrastructure without engineers and development finance cannot. I understand this subject as a development financier myself having working for 12 years in a bank that finances infrastructure and also working in Africa where I chair an institution that drives infrastructure development and financing on the continent,” she said.
Dr Khoza said innovative solutions and technologies in infrastructure development were very important in any country.
She said any infrastructure that did not have development outcomes such as creating jobs for people was incorrect and not innovative.
Dr Khoza said any infrastructure should take into consideration local materials and local labour as well as improve the health and education of people if it was to be innovative.
“I also want to challenge us that we should not only talk about building new infrastructure because I believe in existing infrastructure can be maintained and operated in a manner that it continues to give us value,” she said.
Dr Khoza said enhancing quality infrastructure could also improve food security situation in Africa.
Which Michael Sata is being referred to here? Certainly not the one who is hiding at Statehouse,plunging the Zambian economy and enslaving Zambians to debt.
the chap feared the PF cadres in the audience…the mukangas.
Firsly Dr khoza is a UNISA doctor,,,,these are the people who were given “passes“ at UNISA to up the number of black people with papers when ANC came to power
secondly its !diocy to think that Sata is a strategic person when the Zambian economy is collasping right before Sata`s eyes
LOL…she was obviously given a brief and hasn’t bothered to research anything. Yet a very good reposte and sneaky li e about “maintaining” existing development/infrastructure “and not just focusing on building new “defelopments”….as if…
Correction…sneaky line about….and research into cabinet reshuffles. LOL. And please my LOLing is sarcastic and not to take away from the seriousness and weight of what is going on.
Do any of you above know the meaning of strategy? Ignorants stop your rantings.
Kombo…only becuase you ll read this. Strategy as used in competitions is kept secret and not disclosed. A plan and a direction as in a strategic direction is known to everyone and open to comment as experts may have a more efficient or viable means of achieving the objective or goal. Consult a dictionary please and compare it to your idea of a viable people focussed strategy. A thesaurus won’t give you a word for what’s happening here besides the obvious goaless twisting and turning which is evident.
Yes, it is the same Micheal Sata in State House and the same Sata who we praised every where he worked and is dong the same! It is same way the Malaysians were describing the Malaysian Prime Minister some 20 years ago but look at what he did to Malaysia and the respect they have given him. At one stage the Western World, as usual, even called him a “DICTATOR” who needed to be arrested! What names did we give Dr. Kaunda when he was President? What names did we give Dr.Levy Mwansawasa (MHSRIP)? What remarkable things did these two do despite these names? How did we praise Dr. Chiluba (MHSRIP) and what record did he leave behind? Let’s be honest and agree that most of us Zambia are criminally lazy. How much is a Zambian bag of mealie meal and fuel in DRC? Hard work is the answer not…
This is a stupid statement those are chaps sata calls foolish in public.
@ Ndobo. If this is your real name, I will respect you, but if you hide your identity I trash you. Stop insulting people and hiding in a rat-hole. If you haven’t travelled in Zambia to see what development is happening, I beg you keep quite and let Dr. Khoza speak . I wished you knew this Khoza man. He doesn’t deserve your insults. Be real and let others talk if you know little about issues.
boi….. what is insulting?,,, which people am i insulting?,,,,, !diocy is not an insulting word in english, if i was using icibemba or cinyanja maybe its an insult
Useless. You don’t know what you are talking about. What does Ndobo’s name got to do with blogging here.
Leave ndobo alone, we need sustainable development not development that takes food from our table and cause our economy to collapse, let’s not forget most of those projects are carry over from MMD,
She is just looking for tenders for her company. It is not qualifications which matter, it is performance, results in form of plans and delivery. There is nothing of this nature to talk about. Africans are just sick through and through. Just for tenders She comes and praises Sata for nothing when she knows exactly the situation in the country wrt lack of leadership. Watch the space, soon you will hear how many tenders Bigen Africa is given.
correct and her core foundation in her profession is social work
@ Deus Mwale this Dr Khoza is woman not man I beg o!
Its true she has observed correctly, Sata has done a lot in infrastructure development, this is not to say he has had no flows: politically and economically Zambians are not satisfied.
I am sure you wanted to say ‘flaws’ but then you mistyped and then wrote ‘flows’. It’s understandable. lol!
Dr Khoza said innovative solutions and technologies in infrastructure development were very important in any country.
Ladies and Gentlemen. Let us be civil. Let Dr Khoza tell his opinion. We should debate issues and not simply insult. This is a learned person who does not just speak without facts. Zambia is ours. To build or destroy by insults. Sata currently is the President. Democratically elected by Zambians in 2011. Please have respect for our President. He is President for all Zambians and not just PF members.
@ Nsofwa, how I wish Sata got the memo. He seems to be the only person ,whose facts you just laid out, who does not get this right now.
So appointing engineers in three ministries is equal to ‘strategic development’ – How simplistic is this? That’s her basis for applauding Sata? Isn’t she aware that very few ministers have been in their positions consistently. Its reshuffles every other week and the ministers she mentions above just happened to find themselves where they are. And has she already assessed their performance?
EFYO HH TAFWAYA UKUMFWA IFI, (This is not what HH would like to hear) UULETASHA SATA, (anyone praising Sata). MWALALEKA APOKE (the chap would burst). PLEASE, ba Snowy Khosa, say the opposite to save HH from dying of hatred. For sure Sata is strategic and well focused and development-oriented person.
Whatever you think of him, Sata used strategy to get to where he is today and now. Don’t take that away from him. The fact that he has endeavored to appoint some guys who are trying to articulate technocrat values (Mukanga has been on record stopping shoddy works and castigating unsafe constructions, for example) is itself a good sign. KK was literally terrified of qualified guys in important positions and famously sent qualified people he deemed a threat into the diplomatic service…
Strategy or deceit?
Or “strategy of deceit”?
@142, both of your versions have “strategy” in them… that is the gist of the matter: STRATEGY. Success or failure is proportional to the gullibility of the target.
@ Deus Mwale. “I wished you knew this Khoza man. He doesn’t deserve your insults”. Ba MWALE, is Dr Khoza a Man or Woman? Hence your useless comment. Leave that guy NDOBO alone. He merely made a frank comment. Your cadre president should stop hiding in the face book and you call him a strategist. What an insult to the Zambian people.
TOO BLIND TO SEE SHAME ON khoza