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Daniel Chigunwe Correspondent
Mashonaland Central is a province of vast untapped natural resources north of Zimbabwe which when fully tapped, will contribute positively to the attainment of President Mnangagwa’s Vision 2030. Herald Correspondent Daniel Chigunwe (DC) talks to the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Captain (retired) Christopher Magomo (CM) about these and other issues.
DC: Cde Minister, may I first begin by congratulating you for your victory in the harmonised elections as the Guruve South Member of Parliament and your subsequent appointment by President Mnangagwa to the office of the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution for Mashonaland Central province. how do you feel being entrusted with such a great responsibility?
CC: I am humbled and impressed by the appointment, it came as a surprise and I feel it is hard work that was rewarded. I would like to thank President Mnangagwa for appointing me to this office of the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution. You know, you may not know your worth, but some people can see the potential in you. I feel humbled and I am thankful for the appointment.
DC: Many people only know you as “Captain Magomo” who is the man Captain Magomo?
CC: Captain (Rtd) Christopher Magomo was born and bred in Chitauro Village, Guruve. I went to Nyandoro Primary School and completed my secondary education at St Phillips Mangwenya High School between 1989 and 1995. After completing Advanced Level, I then joined the army as a general duty soldier in 1997. In 1999 I went for Cadet training at the Zimbabwe Military Academy after which I went to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) war and came back in 2002. I was then deployed in Mashonaland Central for the Maguta Programme where we were issuing out inputs to farmers. You realise the army also has the role of helping out communities in need, especially in peace times so this is what I was doing after returning from DRC. By then I was at the rank of Lieutenant and in 2005 I was then promoted to the rank of Captain, hence ‘Captain Magomo’ title.
I then went to Nyanga for platoon training then later proceeded to China, Nanjing Military Academy in 2007 and again was deployed by the army on other duties in Mashonaland Central. I then retired from service in 2017 after attaining 20 years of service and decided to join politics full time to serve the people.
I have also furthered my education and I am a holder of three academic degrees, a Bachelor of Science Honours in Development Studies, Bachelor of Science Special Honours in Monitoring and Evaluation and a Masters in Development Studies. I have also begun working on my Doctorate. This is me in brief.
DC: I understand you have double responsibility in your capacity as the MP for Guruve South and largely the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, what is your vision towards fulfilling the demands that come with these roles?
CC: Speaking of Guruve South people, the focus is on economic empowerment and ending food insecurity. By availing farming inputs under the Pfumvudza programme to each and every one, we can end hunger. As the MP, I am concerned with the provision of good infrastructure, the roads, Mvurwi-Guruve is my road, Shinje to Mudhindo-Mugarakamwe must be maintained, hence I will push responsible authorities in my oversight role.
I was in the process of constructing a clinic by Impinge — a joint venture between myself and the council. I have been working for the constituency and my focus is also on impacting on the education sector. we only have St Phillips Mangwenya as the boarding school, we must see another boarding school in the constituency.
Coming to the province, we are moving with the President’s vision of achieving an upper-middle income economy and as a province we have a role to play to achieve that Vision 2030. We are concerned with food security issues, we have to make sure the people are not hungry. We have to unlock some financial support from the banks and we are happy the President has extended the use of multi-currency system to 2030. this will help in funding farmers.
On infrastructure, we hope to complete infrastructural developments which are underway. I am taking over office when many of the dams are at 30-32 percent completion, so there is still a lot to be done. We also need to upgrade our schools. Some schools in Muzarabani and Rushinga were constructed using pole and dagga.
President Mnangagwa has set a target of a borehole per each village by 2025. Mashonaland Central has its cake and we must fulfil that mandate. The aim is it to have Village Business Units to economically empower people.
We have some challenges concerning the Mukumbura Border Post which is porous. We want to improve the standards.
We are still lagging behind in terms of tourism, I understand in the whole province we only have one hotel, Mazowe Hotel. We must expand our tourism sector, hence we are seeking investors. We are however happy with strides taken so far towards making Kanyemba a tourism destination city.
DC: Currently, what are some of the challenges you are facing within the province?
CC: Our main roads are a challenge, however, I recently made sure that for a start, we deal with potholes on the Harare-Bindura highway. I had to make sure the roads engineer deploys three shifts to patch potholes.However, we are working on a permanent solution of resurfacing the road. This is the main road that defines Mashonaland Central as it links Harare with the provincial city of Bindura. Currently, we are maintaining the Guruve-Mahuwe Road through the provincial roads authorities. We are also checking on the Mt Darwin-Mukumbura, Ndodahondo road rehabilitation and the Matepatepa road needs urgent attention.
So dealing with roads will stabilise our province and pave way for the implementation of the many other programmes in the pipeline.
DC: Farming and mining are the mainstay of Mashonaland Central’s economy, what strategies are you implementing to unlock the full potential of these sectors?
CC: Farming is business. This means our farmers and transporters should be paid timeously to ensure viability. We will push for this materialises so that farmers are paid on time to prepare for the next season, we have all the offices hence we will make sure this is corrected. Cotton and maize farmers must be paid on time so that we do not have people diverting to tobacco farming only where they get instant pay outs. We thank the President for making efforts in providing free inputs for Pfumvudza. We also need to do value addition for our agriculture produces, this means empowerment of communities.
In mining, we would want the locals to benefit from the local resources directly and through corporate social responsibility. We want some sort of a community share ownership trust with a certain percentage going towards our people. We have rich mineral deposits, gold, chrome, nickel, lithium, those minerals should largely benefit the people of Mashonaland Central.
We also want to ensure our youths benefit from the minerals in their area. We want to promote youths so many can venture into mining. We need to limit barriers that hinder youth participation.
DC: You have been instrumental in drumming support for Zanu PF as the provincial vice chairperson during the run up to the 2023 elections, what future projections do you have for the ruling party in Mashonaland Central?
CC: I must thank my chairman Cde Kazembe Kazembe for giving me the chance to represent him when he was tied up with other national duties. As a province, unity and team work contributed to our success and we must make sure we continue on that good path. Our target now is to increase membership of the ruling party and we will achieve this through delivering.
Also we have councils like Mvurwi where we have one councillor from our party and the rest are from the opposition. As a province, we want to have dominance over all local authorities for harmonious development process.
Over and above all, as the vice chairperson my duty is to maintain discipline in the party at its highest level, I am in charge of the disciplinary committee hence we will deal with divisive elements to maintain unity.
We would want to see Zanu PF continuously and resoundingly winning elections without hindrances and maintain the integrity of the party. The unity we share as leadership is key in the growth of the province.
DC: Your last remarks Minister Magomo
CC: My emphasis is on unity and teamwork in the province; united we stand, divided we fall hence it is not a one -man band to see a province developing, it involves all the stakeholders to see development.
We are happy with devolution, all powers have been given down to the people to decide and participate in the development agenda hence province “Inovakwa nevene vayo”.
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