Chronicle Editor
Patrick Chitumba, Midlands Bureau Chief
It’s around 9am in Bayaye Village, in Mberengwa East, Midlands Province and about 35 villagers are gathered at a building that is under construction.
The village is about 30km from Mataga Growth Point and over 120km from Zvishavane town where there are health centres in case the villagers are in need of medical attention.
One of the villagers at the construction site, Ms Olivia Chanda (35), gave birth at her house after failing to get to a health facility in time. She is here to take part in the construction of a clinic to help avoid future home deliveries for her and other women in the area.
There are about 14 women and 20 men some holding shovels and picks, others standing by. A few more are seated around a structure that is under construction in Ward 20, under Chief Ngungumbane in Mberengwa East.
For years, the villagers have been travelling to Mataga Growth Point for medical services.
However, once the construction of the clinic is complete and it starts operating, it means they would no longer be travelling almost 60km to and from the health centre at the growth point.
Bayaye Clinic is one of the many projects that are being undertaken by Mberengwa Rural District Council using the $7 million the district received from the Government under the devolution fund.
Besides that clinic, the district which has 37 wards is using the devolution funds to rehabilitate primary and secondary schools and roads.
Ms Chanda is one of the villagers assisting with manual labour in the construction of the clinic.
Her role is going to the river with others to carry river sand and she has to bring her own 20-litre bucket for that worthy cause.
“I am glad to be part of this winning team that is constructing a clinic that will benefit all of us at the end of the day. We thank the Government for the devolution funds and our target to finish this is before the end of the year,” said Ms Chanda, a mother of three.
She said she gave birth to her second child at her home after failing to get transport to get to the health centre at Mataga Growth Point. That experience is motivating her and other women who don’t want to travel long distances to access health care.
“I don’t want a repeat of what happened when I was forced to give birth to my second son at home. It is not a situation I wish for any expecting mother and therefore the need for us to have our own clinic here,” said Ms Chanda.
Ward 13 councillor, Florence Khumalo said the clinic was coming at the right time when population in the area was increasing yet there are no health facilities.
She said council had provided cement and other building materials while the villagers were coming in with labour and pit and river sand which they get within their locality.
“This clinic which is under Chief Ngungumbane area will serve three other wards which is a welcome development in terms of service delivery. The villagers must have such services within their wards in line with the devolution agenda set by the Government,” said Clr Khumalo.
Chief Ngungumbane said he was glad that the Government’s devolution agenda has taken off in earnest in his area as evidenced by the construction of the clinic among other programmes.
“As a community we applaud the Government for fulfilling its constitutional mandate of devolving services to the people. It’s a positive development as service delivery is now at the door step of citizens.
“People now realise that devolution is a reality and not a dream as they can see, feel, smell and touch devolution.
“People no longer travel long distances to access healthcare services which is a basic human right. It allows locals to participate in the devolution mantra as they are involved in the construction of the clinic and all developmental projects in rural areas and beyond,” he said.
The Government set aside $2,93 billion in the 2020 National Budget for devolution projects to be carried out countrywide.
The money is shared among the 10 provinces based on a number of factors such as poverty levels in all districts, quality of infrastructure and size of population.
Mberengwa Rural District Council chief executive officer, Mr Thompson Maeresera said they have received a total of $7 million from the Government to date.
The amount, he said, has gone towards purchasing of a tipper truck, a back hoe loader and the construction of two clinics and rehabilitation of roads.
“First and foremost I would like to thank our President for this devolution vision which has seen us the local authorities receiving funds to push development in our respective areas.
“We have been able to start or complete some huge capital projects we haven’t been able to pursue on our own because of financial constraints. But because of the devolution funds, as Mberengwa District we have been able to start several projects such as the construction of two clinics, one at Bayaye and another at Marirahwongwe in Mberengwa West.
“These are at different stages of completion and we are very happy that the programmes are going on well. We are busy rehabilitating our roads as well as rehabilitating our schools. We have 37 wards all in all and the funds will go a long way in assisting in service delivery and pushing the devolution agenda,” he said.
Mr Maeresera said they were also forging partnerships with their Members of Parliament and their Senator Dr Sibusiso Moyo who is also the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and chief and other stakeholders to see to it that they have tangible devolution projects.
He said water is scarce in the district which saw 148 boreholes drying up last year, leaving 615 functioning.
“Water is a challenge and as such, we are pleading to have one Zinwa catchment area for our two growth points,” said Mr Maeresera.
Council chairperson Nyembesi Shumba said they managed to surface Zvishavane-Mataga Road which she said is of great importance in the face of development and mitigating against Covid-19.
She said her council was grateful to President Mnangagwa’s Government which availed the devolution funds so that they are able to improve their livelihoods.
“We have surfaced roads making it easy for us to attract investment and even take any Covid-19 suspected cases to isolation centres in Zvishavane. We were worried that it was going to be difficult to mitigate against the spread of Covid-19 in the district.
“The availability of clinics means our people have access to health which is a right they now enjoy,” said Clr Shumba.
She said after the construction of the clinic, plans were underway to construct houses for nurses and avail running water.
“We want to have houses for nurses and other staff members after which we have running water. We are planning big and devolution funds are making it possible for us,” said Clr Shumba.
Besides the devolution funds, she said the Government has started a project to surface some of the roads among them one that links Mberengwa District offices and West Nicholson in Matabeleland South province.
The Minister of State for Midlands Provincial Affairs and Devolution Larry Mavima said with vast mineral resources, Mberengwa District will certainly grow its gross domestic product by broadening its revenue collection base among other initiatives.
He urged the council to implement an effective revenue collection strategy that targets tax contributions from small scale miners operating in the district to complement Government’s devolution agenda.
“We should look around and see what our economy is made of. Here in Mberengwa, we are a step further as we have minerals so we should see how we can collect revenue from small scale miners,” he said.
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