Chronicle Editor
Nobukhosi Ndlovu, Sunday News Reporter
COMMUNITIES in Bulilima District, Matabeleland South Province are basking in the glory of improved education infrastructure with the district in the process of building eight schools to ease the distances travelled by learners.
The district has channelled much of its devolution disbursements to priority areas such as education, health and provision of clean water. The rural district council’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Biliati Mulauzi, said funding was limited to finish other classroom blocks.
“We are hoping that with the help of the Government through the devolution funds we will be able to finish the construction of these schools and ensure that children learn in usable classrooms where distances are also shortened,” he said.
He, however, said the schools were in need of teachers as there was a shortage across the district.
“Education is the key to success and for the children of Bulilima District to succeed, they need it too. There are a few teachers in the district and we appeal to the Government to ensure that more teachers are availed in the district so that the children acquire the requisite education.”
Mr Mulauzi said their efforts to ensure access to clean water in the district were not yielding much results as they were hitting dry holes due to low water table.
“We fail to fulfil our mandate to provide water as a local authority because almost the entire district is very dry and low underground water levels cause us to hit dry holes when drilling boreholes.
“We also face financial constraints to do projects on piped water schemes, that is why we request for the Government to chip in and assist so that communities in the district are able to access clean and safe water,” he said.
With regards to the district’s healthcare sector, he said they were elated that the district commissioned three clinics in August last year.
“We have three clinics namely Mbimba Clinic, Malalume Clinic and Temateme Clinic. These clinics are operating but the challenge is that they are not fully equipped. As a district we want the community to have access to adequate healthcare services, therefore, we appeal to the Government to assist in the procurement of the much-needed equipment so that we have our clinics fully operational.
“Clinics tend to be full as many people will be seeking assistance, the nurses face challenges in taking care of a lot of people because there is less staff in the clinics. This causes other people to be attended to later and as a district we are hoping that we get more nurses so that work becomes easier in the clinics and people don’t spend the entire day waiting in queues,” he said.
On road infrastructure, Mr Mulauzi said the roads in the district were in a bad state owing to the rains and said they were continuing with efforts to fix them and make them trafficable.
“Our roads are in a bad state. Our grader is down and we have tried what we can to fix it but we are not winning in that regard.
“We have been heavily relying on contracting for all our road works which proves to be too costly. Plans are in place to at least procure a new grader during the first quarter of 2024,” he said.
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