By F. Madzima
The current Zimbabwe Chemical Society (ZCS) was formed after the amalgamation of two chemistry associations namely the Zimbabwe Association of Chemists (ZAC) and the Zimbabwe Chemical Society (zcs)
The Zimbabwe Chemical Society was led by Prof Zaranyika as the chairman, it had its members from the academic community from both local and international universities. The Zimbabwe Association of Chemists was led by Mr. Fastino Madzima as its president, with members from private sector, government departments, technical colleges and local universities. Mr. Madzima marketed the ZAC to several organisation with the aim of getting membership and organizational support. One of ZAC’s objective was to push for the establishment of a chemistry professional body in Zimbabwe. Mr. Madzima organized a meeting with Prof Zaranyika and other chemistry lecturers at UZ, during that meeting the issue of their chemical society was raised. The meeting agreed to work together and look for ways to amalgamate and also to talk to respective membership on the development. Several meetings were conducted at Harare Polytechnic and University of Zimbabwe until the two organisation amalgamate. The organisation’s name attracted a hot debate which ended after two meeting with members from both sides given tasks to look at, as well as studying the current global trends, eventually the organisation retains the name “Zimbabwe Chemical society”. Both organisations had almost similar objectives, which makes it very easier to merge. The new interim executive was elected during the Harare Polytechnic meeting where Prof Zaranyika and Mr. Madzima were elected President and vice-president respectively, all other executive members from both associations were appointed on different posts within the new executive.
The former chemical society had already organized an inaugural conference that was then, going to take place in July 2018 at the University of Zimbabwe. The new committee reviewed the progress that was achieved in preparation of that conference and extended it by one month to allow members from the ZAC to register and also submit their presentations.
During the inaugural conference, members from both former associations come in almost equivalent numbers. Prof Zaranyika and Mr. Madzima were re-elected to led the society. Their first assignment was to engage the Ministry of Science and Technology Development to enact the chemistry professions act and also to market the society to all Zimbabwean chemists in the country or in diaspora through various modes of communication as well as the establishment of ZCS regional focal points.
During the same period, Harare experienced an outbreak of drug resistance cholera. The society came up with a conference code named WaterCon2019 to address water challenges in Zimbabwe.
The conference failed to gunner a significant number of participants from both public and private sector as the result, the conference was shelved.
However, the society successfully managed to open society Bank account with POSB, Ecocash Merchant account, Facebook account, website and zcs individual accounts. Further on that, the society managed to recruit and register more members and established database for registered members as well as issuing registered members with ZCS membership registration certificates.
The society successfully contacted its first annual conference at Fairmile hotel in the city of Gweru, midlands province. The first executive was elected and the registrar was appointed. Mr. Madzima appointed as the Registrar instead of retaining the elective post whilst prof Zaranyika was appointed the ex-offio president. Prof Zaranyika was given the task to finish off the tasks he was given during the inaugural conference which include the enactment of the Chemistry Professions Act.
During the same period, Harare experienced an outbreak of drug resistance cholera. The society came up with a conference code named WaterCon2019 to address water challenges in Zimbabwe.