Category: Covid-19 Update

Vice President Honourable Kembo Mohadi, who is also the National COVID-19 Inter-Ministerial Task Force Chairperson, visited Midlands State University on Thursday 18 June 2020 to assess efforts being made by the institution in the fight against COVID-19.

MSU Vice-Chancellor, Professor Victor N Muzvidziwa briefed the Vice President on developments and projects being undertaken by the University in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

‘In response to the concerted efforts by our Government to contain the COVID-19 contagion, we have set up a sanitiser production plant … The plant will have a capacity to produce up to 7000 litres of hand sanitizer per day once the filling and labelling and packaging sections of the plant are automated. Currently, the production capacity of the plant is at 5000 litres per day’, he said.

Speaking after touring the sanitiser production plant housed at University’s Incubation Hub Laboratory, Vice President Mohadi, commended Midlands State University and outlined Government’s commitment to supporting research and innovation in line with Education 5.0.

‘We don’t want to have universities that produce people who go out to look for jobs, we want universities that produce jobs. We want students who after leaving university create jobs. We are very much impressed by what is happening at Midlands State University,’ he said.

Vice President Mohadi noted that the COVID-19 pandemic is not entirely a curse, but also a kind of a blessing because the nation has woken up to do things on our own. ‘We want to be self-sufficient’, said the Vice President.

Members of the National COVID -19 Inter-Ministerial Task Force and the Midlands Provincial COVID -19 Task Force accompanied the Vice President on his visit.

The Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube visited Midlands State University on Friday the 24^th of April 2020 on a familiarisation tour that was aimed at assessing projects being undertaken by the institution in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Professor Ncube, who was accompanied by the chairman of the National Venture Fund applauded MSU for stepping up to the plate in the wake of COVID-19 and for being a development catalyst in line with Education 5.0. The Minister’s multi-pronged visit was also meant to help him and his team to identify potential projects for funding.

‘I wanted to come here and see for myself how MSU is living up to the Education 5.0 strategy and its quite clear from what you have described that you are living that strategy and am here to see how we can further support you … we have created a National Venture Fund of 500 million dollars and we are looking for projects to invest in. So, I hope that through my walkabout here we will be able to identify one or two things that we can take forward and invest in’, said the Minister.

Professor Ncube also outlined the Government’s COVID-19 strategy as well as its post-COVID-19 strategy for economic recovery. He said in the case of the former, Government’s strategies were aimed at saving lives and livelihoods, while in the case of the latter strategies would be designed to boost and support economic recovery.

In his presentation, Midlands State University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Victor N. Muzvidziwa set out the various projects being carried out by the University in response to COVID-19 such as the printing of COVID-19 indigenous languages booklets that were translated by the University’s Language Institute, the manufacturing of hand sanitizer and face masks. He also highlighted other projects intended to generate third-stream income for the institution.

The Minister of Finance and Economic Development, concluded his visit with a tour of Midlands State University’s hand sanitizer manufacturing plant housed at the institution’s Incubation Hub, before going to the University Printing Press and face mask manufacturing site, both located in Gweru’s industrial area.