Homegrown solutions crucial for growth

Wallace Ruzvidzo, Harare Bureau

PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has commended tertiary institutions for heeding the Second Republic’s philosophy that ‘nyika inovakwa nevene vayo’ and thus aiding the Government’s developmental efforts.

Speaking to journalists after unveiling the Harare Institute of Technology (HIT)’s Tram-Urban Mass Transportation System Proof of Concept and Research Centre in Harare yesterday, President Mnangagwa said it was fulfilling to note that the nation was now “fully aware” that truly nyika inovakwa nevene vayo.

Once implemented, the transportation system will complement already existing transportation initiatives.

“Today, I saw that the nation is fully aware that nyika inovakwa nevene vayo. I have just been in the TRAM concept and I was assessing and looking at what has been built by our people. Things that are moving, things that are operational.

“Long back we would have sent people to go abroad and see how it’s done then we buy from them, but now we are able to sell products to them,” he said.

President Mnangagwa said tertiary institutions such as HIT were proving that home-grown solutions were indeed the answer to the country’s problems.

He said learners in the country’s institutions should continuously be pushed to come up with innovations that spur the country’s development.

“I am happy with what HIT is doing, and I am seeing that the young people who are undertaking their studies here are grasping the philosophy that nyika inovakwa nevene vayo.

“Everything that was not there and is not there but we require is being built by our people and that is what we should encourage our children to do,” President Mnangagwa said.

In a separate interview, HIT Vice Chancellor Professor Quinton Kanhukamwe said competent personnel were behind the TRAM concept and it would surely complement the already existing transport system in the country.

“What we have here today is a proof of concept of our tram, which we hope will complement the mass transportation system.

“It is a system that we hope will complement the mass transportation system. The design, fabrication and all the components have been done by our scientists here, engineers and technicians.

“A multiplicity of expertise spanning from electronic engineers, mechanical engineers, manufacturing engineers came together to come up with this concept.

“Those that do artificial intelligence have been deployed to make sure that the tram is compliant to minimum standards of a universal tram,” he said.

Prof Kanhukamwe said the innovation was also proof of HIT’s potential and capacity to contribute to the country’s development.

“Instrumentation and control technicians have also been part and parcel of the project. This is a practical demonstration of HIT’s curriculum. We are hands-on.

“Our curriculum is education and competence-based and therefore what you see here is the outcome of what we teach.”