adminIn an interview with Chronicle at his homestead, about 50km away from Nkayi Growth Point on Tuesday, Headman Mlume said villagers were travelling long distances to the nearest health centre.
He said people under his jurisdiction were facing numerous problems that had persisted for many years and bemoaned lack of efforts towards resolving them.
“This is one of the backward communities in the district. We do not have a clinic nearby. People from this whole area travel more than 50km to Nkayi District Hospital and almost the same distance to Mbuma Mission Hospital,” said Headman Mlume.
“We have made noise for many years over this issue but there is no action. A health centre is needed especially now that we have people living with HIV and Aids.”
Headman Mlume also appealed to mobile phone service providers to erect a booster in his area in order to improve communication.
“In modern-day Zimbabwe our area is still having problems in terms of communication. Our roads are poor for vehicles to drive on. We do not have mobile phone networks despite having electricity in our shops.
“Our people are forced to walk for more than 10km just to make a phone call. We urge network providers to invest in our area as well,” he said.
He urged the Government to drill more boreholes in the area so as to improve access to clean water.
At the moment villagers in the area get water from Nkone Dam, which is heavily silted and cannot hold enough water.
“We have boreholes that are 10km apart and they cannot support the huge population especially during the dry season. Nkone Dam is no longer able to support communities throughout the year. We request funding to dredge silt from the dam,” said Headman Mlume.
Online Reporter