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The situation in arid Bulilima East constituency in Matabeleland South province leaves a lot to be desired, as most of its infrastructure lies desolate.
Furthermore, there is an acute water shortage, which has forced constituents to walk long distances to fetch it. Women are the most burdened by the water shortage as they struggle to fetch it for domestic purposes daily. Livestock has not been spared and villagers are forced to fetch water in buckets so that their cattle can drink because most dams in the area have silted and dried up.
Gogo Grace Ngwenya (72) of Thekwane Village said Malapala Dam often runs dry, leaving their cattle stranded for drinking water.
She said a number of beasts had died as a result of insufficient drinking water, which has been worsened by the extreme heat.
“I am now disabled due to an illness that I was diagnosed with a couple of years ago, which has left my leg paralysed. As a result, I am not able to move around or do other things and unlike other villagers, I cannot fetch water for my cows to drink.
“I have a difficult time doing chores around here because I am not mobile and my grandchildren are too young to be given any duties,” she said.
Gogo Ngwenya stays with her husband and nine grandchildren, whose parents work in Plumtree and Botswana. Her husband is a retiree and does not do anything income generating.
“The children do go to school but the problem is that the money needed is a bit too much for me to afford. As it is, six of my grandchildren are attending primary school and they need R200 each for their fees every term.
“I can not afford such an amount of money every term for six children and I would like to appeal to the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture to do something about these exorbitant fees,” she said.
“Although my grandchildren are attending school, they are always being sent away from school for a number of things such as inadequate school uniforms, books and project fees.
“Where do they think I can get all that money from?” she queried.
“Books are always donated to the school but pupils never get these books, they are only given to them on their annual prize giving day, which does not help them at all,” she said bitterly.
“Silensolo kakhulu ngeprimary,” said Gogo Ngwenya.
Gogo Ngwenya alleged that teachers at Thekwane Primary School abused pupils by applying corporal punishment that leaves them bruised. Many pupils are now unwilling to go to school.
Regarding food, she said they did not experience shortages because they often received rations from some non-governmental organisations operating in the area.
She said there were medical facilities around the constituency but they were sparsely situated and poorly equipped to give specialised medical attention.
Constituents in Thekwane Village, Gogo Ngwenya said, travel to Ndiweni Village, which is a long distance away, to access medical attention.
She complained about the state of the roads saying they continued to deteriorate and said the only visible development that she had seen in the area had been the erection of a water tank for the children at Thekwane Primary School.
“I do not know the MP and I do not even know his name, neither do I know of anything that he has done for the constituency,” she said.
Deeper into the constituency at Ndiweni Village, run down infrastructure grips the attention of any passerby. The community hall and shopping centre are dilapidated and do not show any sign of human existence.
An unidentified imbiber who spoke to Chronicle, asking for R4 to buy a “shake shake” at Ndiweni Shopping Centre, said the dilapidated Ndiweni Hall was still in use and community meetings were still held there.
The imbiber reiterated the water shortage problem, saying constituents had a hard time fetching water for domestic purposes as well as for their cattle.
He said the elderly were especially disadvantaged by the water shortage, which has also affected health institutions like Ndiweni Rural Health Centre.
Ms Sibongile Gumbi of Tjinjika Village said the water shortage had compromised their hygiene. She said the long distances they walk to fetch water had taken a toll on their livelihood and had forced them to practise unhealthy habits.
“Because water is so much of a problem, you do not get to clean the toilet and other places as much as you normally would. You cannot even do your laundry well.
“This could result in a disease outbreak, so we desperately need some boreholes to be drilled,” she said.
Seeing Ms Gumbi, one would be convinced that there is indeed a serious water shortage as she was covered in dirt from head to toe, well after 3pm and did not seem to have been occupied with any chores that would have kept her from taking a bath.
“It would be helpful if income-generating projects were started for women in the village because many of them have skills but do not have capital to start businesses.
“All we need is capital and we can do the rest ourselves. At least this would help us take care of our families and it would also create employment for school leavers,” she said.
Mr Silas Moyo from Sibomvu Village said the water crisis needed to be dealt with soon because failure to do that, disease outbreaks could be prevalent and more cattle could die from thirst.
Aside from the water crisis, Mr Moyo said there had been no meaningful development in the constituency and the absence of an MP had made constituents wonder whether they were being adequately represented or not.
He said Bulilima-Mangwe Senator, Lutho Tapela was not actively involved in the constituency because he had an obligation towards Bulilima West and Mangwe as well.
“The Senator can not cover this whole area by himself and not having an MP has been a great disadvantage because we do not have someone to represent us well in Parliament.
“What sort of constituency is it that does not have an MP? No wonder why there is no meaningful development!” he said.
Councillor for Ward 21, Sylvester Nkomo, said a number of non-governmental organisations had been running a couple of projects in Thekwane, Sibomvu, Tjinjika and Ndiweni Villages.
He said efforts were being made to rehabilitate Langabi Dip tank and Sonto Dam.
Clr Nkomo said they were also eradicating some trees that are a danger to cattle because of their poisonous nature in Thekwane Village under Chief Jabulani Phiri, possibly the youngest chief in Zimbabwe at 22 years.
Clr Nkomo acknowledged the fact that the roads were in a bad state and needed to be rehabilitated but said in the meantime, efforts were being made to upgrade them.
“Water is a serious problem in Ward 21 and the situation has been made worse by the dams that have silted. Boreholes are very few and they cannot cater for the population in the constituency in general.
“We desperately need boreholes to be drilled around the constituency so that people have safe drinking water. As it is, we have not yet received any rains and this will mean there will be food shortage and we cannot afford to have food and water shortages at the same time otherwise that would be disastrous,” he said.
Turning to the abuse of pupils in schools, Clr Nkomo said there had been similar problems last year at Thekwane Primary School and in one particular incident, a teacher was found guilty of beating a pupil until he hurt her.
“We do not have an MP at the moment, he was expelled so we have been working with Sen Tapela,” he said.
About the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) Clr Nkomo said: “The CDF was meant to build market stalls but I am not sure what it was used for eventually.
“I later abandoned the issue regarding the CDF because I do not have the authority to question the Senator’s decisions.”
“We wanted to rehabilitate the clinic and drill boreholes but we could not do all that.”
He suggested that youth centres and employment creation be made priorities in the constituency because many young people were no longer finishing their Ordinary Level as they were migrating to Botswana in search of employment.
“If there were employment opportunities in the country then not so many youths would be migrating to Botswana but a number of them are forced whether they like it or not,” he said.
Clr Nkomo said Sen Tapela was responsible for a large area adding that he last visited the constituency during the time the CDF was released.
“Not having an MP has affected us a great deal. There is no longer a link from me to the Senator resulting in the constituency being underdeveloped,” he said.
Sen Tapela said following the expulsion of the MP, he had to assume all responsibilities of the constituency.
“Except for the administration of the CDF, I formed a committee which was to look at Bulilima East, Bulilima West and Mangwe and make sure that the money was used well. We gave each ward US$2 050 and the ward decided for itself what it wanted to do with the money,” he said.
Sen Tapela said they concentrated on schools and clinics and the most visible change in the constituency has been the painting of some schools and clinics.
“Otherwise there is nothing else significant to talk about. Water and roads remain a problem. There are boreholes here and there but these few boreholes break down, forcing constituents to rely on dams for water.
“We have often advised people to boil the water first, but some do not. We have been trying to get some donors and other organisations in the private sector to help in our struggle to give the people in the constituency clean water,” he said.
Sen Tapela said there was a donor who was funding the rehabilitation of the road leading into the constituency from Plumtree but has since run out of money as they were using the food for work programme, using labour from the constituents.
“The road dividing Bulilima East and Bulilima West has been improved though,” he said.
With regards to schools, Sen Tapela said: “We decided to concentrate on schools because a number of them were dilapidated. Many of them had no doors and windows and they had holes in the floors.
“These schools need to be completely renovated because they are really bad.”
Sen Tapela said constituents had been agitating for a technical college in the area and suggestions had been made to gradually turn Plumtree High School into a technical college.
Turning to Clr Nkomo’s remarks, Sen Tapela said he had always had problems with the councillor.
“Clr Nkomo had given the CDF to an independent group of people to build a vegetable stall. He just went to some women as an individual without consulting the community which later decided that the fund should be used to rehabilitate Ndiweni Rural Health Centre,” he said.
Sen Tapela said it was difficult to operate without the help of an MP because he had to monitor the progress of a large area.
“Bulilima-Mangwe senatorial constituency is very big and I hope they will divide it and two more senators are elected into office. From one end to the other, the constituency is about 400km, which is too big.
“I have done my best as far as Bulilima East constituency is concerned,” he said.
derick.khumalo
Online Reporter