Joy as Masendu Community Information Centre opens

Village head Mr Lewis Wilson Dube (89) of Masendu Village, Bulilima in Matabeleland South province has over the years been forced to travel 70km to Plumtree town for banking services.

Mr Dube was spending R200 on transport each time he travelled to the border town and what made his situation worse was the poor state of the road.

This is, however, a thing of the past after the Postal and Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (POTRAZ) working with its parent ministry, the Ministry of Information Communication Technology and Courier Services as well as Zimpost, opened the Masendu Community Information Centre (CIC) last Friday.

The centre offers banking services, internet access, computer training, research for schools and community as well as money transfer services.

Mr Dube and other villagers who used to travel to Plumtree town for banking and money transfer services can now be served at the centre.

“I used to dread travelling to Plumtree town because of the poor state of the road but now the services have been brought to our doorstep. I was also spending R200 on transport alone and now I am using this money for other purposes. Now after getting my money I just walk to the local shops to buy my groceries and other such things,” said Mr Dube.

Another village head Mr Chadios Dube (61) said the centre will transform the people’s lives as the services were now close to them.

He said many of them who were receiving money from relatives in the diaspora were being fleeced by transport operators who were taking advantage of the poor state of the road to charge exorbitant fares.

“The pay we get as village heads is not much so travelling to collect it in Plumtree town was very expensive for us. Sometimes we were forced to borrow money to travel to Plumtree which worsened our situation. Relatives can now send us money directly to this bank at the centre and we just walk there to collect it without paying for transport as was the case before,” said Mr Dube.

POTRAZ Director General Dr Gift Kallisto Machengete said technology was driving the world and it was important that rural communities also benefited.

He said POTRAZ is working on duplicating the Masendu Community Information Centre concept throughout the country.

“The world is now being driven by technology and when we speak technology it should benefit children, youths and the elderly. It’s only the use that they put technology to which might differ. When you look at the school children they will benefit in their education. The school pupils used to go to libraries for research but now can use computers for research. The youths can also benefit from this centre because it has internet services while the elderly apart from banking and money transfer services, can also use the internet to market their produce, “he said.

Dr Machengete said Post Offices still have a future hence Government was investing in them.

“People might say the post offices are dying but we are saying they are not because right now e-commerce is what is sustaining all smart post offices elsewhere and we should not be left behind. The way we have constructed and structured this Post Office is to enable it to offer digital services. In Harare we are building a model post office which will be linked to all centres across the country to enhance service delivery,” he said.

Zimpost Post Master general, Mr Maxwell Chitendeni hailed Potraz and Government fo establihsing such centres that bring services close to people in rural areas.

He said Zimpost will be in charge of operating the community centre which will have among other services, banking and money transfer services.

“As Zimpost we have gone digital and have adopted the smart post office concept which is being rolled out across the globe especially in developed countries. The local people used to travel to Plumtree town for services but now these services have been brought to their doorstep,” said Mr Chitendeni.

He said Zimpost was also engaging Government so that people in rural areas could acess national documents like birth certificates and other national registration documents via the post office.

The official opening of Masendu Information Centre was deliberately timed to coincide with the belated World Telecommunication Day celebrations. —@themkhust