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Rumbidzayi Zinyuke
Manicaland Bureau
The heavy rains being received in Chimanimani have destroyed several major roads that are key to sustaining the livelihoods of thousands of villagers, who have since called for their upgrade to make them more durable.
The villagers said many roads became impassable after tropical storms Chalane and Eloise hit the area.
The situation had been made worse by the collapse of a section of the major highway out of Chimanimani on Saturday.
The affected section of the Skyline-Chimanimani Road collapsed when water flowing through an existing culvert changed course after being blocked by debris and undermined the road.
One person died after he attempted to drive a vehicle past the damaged part.
Road repairs have started on the collapsed part, with the contractor Masimba Holdings constructing a detour upstream of the affected area to allow traffic to flow as work on the rehabilitation of the bridge continues.
Ms Plaxedes Mashama from Ngangu village said the collapse of the road at Skyline left them worried that more roads might be affected since the rainfall season was yet to end.
“This is the only road we can use when we go to Mutare and Chipinge and we are afraid that we might see more such incidents because Chimanimani is now receiving a lot of rain,” she said.
“We are asking that Government builds stronger roads that are not easily destroyed by rains. Even for housing, we want houses that can withstand the kind of rainfall that we seem to be getting here now.”
Another villager, Mrs Chipiwa Gono, said since Cyclone Idai hit the province in 2019, there had been an increase in cases of flooding and destruction of infrastructure.
“We now have a lot of water flowing in areas that did not have water bodies before, so it is important that we have resilient structures, from roads, houses to schools,” he said. “We also want those in tents to be moved as soon as possible.”
Chimanimani East Member of Parliament Cde Joshua Sacco stressed the need to support the idea of strong structures, as Cyclone Idai recovery efforts continued.
“Chimanimani has become prone to cyclones and storms as we were affected by tropical storms Chalane and Eloise,” he said. “We have many roads that have since been affected by these heavy rains, for instance we have the Kopa-Vimba Road which has become impassable.
“We also have the Chimanimani-Chikukwa-Cashel Valley Road (scenic route), which only got emergency works after Cyclone Idai and has also become impassable now.”
Cde Sacco said the Marywaters community in Ward 16 where bridges were destroyed during tropical storm Eloise, were now cut off from services.
He said the most recent incident along the Skyline-Chimanimani Road was evidence of how the heavy rains could eventually threaten the integrity of many roads.
“We are appealing to Government to set aside a separate budget to upgrade the roads that are still being repaired after Cyclone Idai to tar,” said Cde Sacco. “We understand that budgets are low, but we really need those roads to be upgraded so that our economy can thrive.
“As we speak, trucks are no longer going to areas like Rusitu and Vimba where bananas, pineapples and other fruits are produced, so farmers have no way to transport their produce.”
Government last year gave Bitumen World the tender to upgrade the 23km Kopa-Jopa Road to tar as a way to improve accessibility to the area.
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter