adminThupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
BEITBRIDGE West MP, Cde Metrine Mudau has called for urgent upgrading of communication facilities in the district as most people are relying on mobile service providers from South Africa and Botswana.
An estimated 100 000 people live in the district’s rural areas.
In an interview yesterday, Cde Mudau said communication challenges were affecting the monitoring of strategic Government projects.
She said people were also facing challenges in the event of emergencies.
Cde Mudau said communication challenges were being worsened by vandalism of fixed telephone lines which used to connect most business centres in the remote parts of Beitbridge.
“The worst affected areas are Masera, Swereki, Shashe, Jalukanga, Tuli, Malibeng, Limpopo, Dendele, Whunga and Toporo,” she said.
People in remote parts of the district have to rely on police radios or foreign mobile service providers.
“It becomes a challenge when people fail to relay messages seeking help in the event of an emergency. We are appealing to Government and service providers to help us,” said Cde Mudau.
She said they were failing to keep track of progress on some community development projects owing to poor roads.
The MP said they had asked Econet, Net-one and Telecel to install more base stations in the district but the situation has not changed.
“These people seem to be virtually cut off from the rest of the country in terms of communication.
“Local mobile service providers are taking their time to respond to our appeals,”said Cde Mudau.
She said there was also a strong need to expand radio and television coverage in the district.
At the moment radio and tv signals cover a radius of 80 km from the border town and those further than that depend mostly on South Africa.
“I am also appealing to the Zimbabwe Electricity Distribution Company (ZETDC) to expand its rural electrification programme across the district,”she said.
Online Reporter