COMMENT:Lake Gwayi-Shangani project, history is being made

LANDS, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister Dr Anxious Masuka yesterday toured the Lake Gwayi-Shangani construction site in Hwange District, Matabeleland North Province.

Dr Anxious Masuka

The project has indeed missed many a deadline, but the minister assured that it will be complete in time for the 2023/24 summer cropping season.

The 650 million cubic metre lake is arguably one of the most impactful projects being undertaken by the Second Republic led by President Mnangagwa. Many generations to come will marvel at the vision and determination of this Government which is funding the project.

President Mnangagwa

Generations to come will marvel at the ingenuity of the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) which designed and engineered the dam that is 6,5km from the confluence of Gwayi and Shangani rivers.

They will marvel over how the third largest inland dam after Tugwi-Mukosi and Lake Mutirikwi was built from scratch by a government under Western sanctions. A government that had to deal with external shocks including drought, climate change and Covid-19.

Generations to come will marvel over how a Government facing so many challenges fulfilled a 100-year-old National Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project (NMZWP) when successive administrations failed.

History never forgets! And through the Lake Gwayi-Shangani project, history is being made.

This project will ensure reliable water supply to Bulawayo for the next 80 years. Generations 80 years away will benefit from the work being done today.

History never lies! We must always go back to President Mnangagwa’s inauguration speech following the peaceful transition that ushered in the new political dispensation in November 2017.

“Our economic policy will be predicated on our Agriculture which is the mainstay, and on creating conditions for an investment–led economic recovery that puts premium on job-creation. Key choices will have to be made to attract Foreign Direct Investment to tackle high levels of unemployment while transforming our economy towards the tertiary. The many skilled Zimbabweans who have left the country over the years for a variety of reasons must now come into the broad economic calculus designed for our recovery and take off,” President Mnangagwa said.

“Of course, the physical and social infrastructure must be repaired and expanded to position our country in readiness for economic growth, employment creation, equity, freedom and democracy, and for the provision of vital social goods, principally health, shelter, clean water, education and other key social services.”

To realise Vision 2030, the President has stayed true to his promises. The Lake Gwayi-Shangani project is only one of many promises that has been fulfilled.

LAKE Gwayi-shangani

The Hwange 7 and 8 Thermal Power Project, Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport Expansion, borehole rehabilitation and drilling, the construction of the new Parliament Building, and dam construction projects such as the Marovanyati Dam and walling of Causeway Dam are other examples.