daniel chigunwe
Daniel Chigunwe Herald Correspondent
Hundreds of villagers from Matepatepa in Mashonaland Central province who fell victim to a violent hailstorm that hit the area last week received food aid on Wednesday after Chief Negomo availed bags of maize meal.
More than 100 families were left homeless whilst others were hospitalised after the boisterous storm swept through the compounds destroying huts, blowing roofs and uprooting trees, leaving a trail of destruction in the tobacco farming hub.
Harvey, Maparo and Rosseta Rust in Ward 3 are the areas which bore the heavy brunt of the deadly rains, leaving families traumatised.
Mazowe Central legislator Cde Maxmore Njanji who immediately came to the rescue of injured children who were hospitalised at Bindura Provincial Hospital expressed gratitude to Chief Negomo for the food aid.
“We have a tragedy that befell us sometime last week which saw about 110 families displaced and homeless after a violent hailstorm hit our area, huts were razed down, furniture destroyed and food scattered by the rains which has left our people in hunger and desperation.
“As the MP here, I managed to cater for hospital bills of the children who were injured after houses collapsed while they were inside and after our plea for aid, we managed to secure foodstuffs in the form of 400x10kgs and 140x50kgs of mealie meal from the Chief which we handed over to the families on Wednesday,” said Cde Njanji.
Learning processes have since been disturbed after the main school in the area Rosetta Rust Primary School, had its roof blown off with Ward 3 Councillor Cde Soul Gomwe saying there is still a need for more aid towards rehabilitation and restoration of normal daily life for pupils.
“We are still seized with the issue of our people who experienced the traumatic incident, several of them were left without anything as their furniture was destroyed and are still figuring a way out, rehabilitation of the infrastructure forms our biggest worry, we also need inputs after many victims’ stocked farming inputs got drenched and it has badly affected their farming plans for this season,” said Cllr Gomo.
Meanwhile, Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution for Mash Central retired Captain Christopher Magomo said relevant units to deal with the disasters are in order, “We are saddened by the Matepatepa issue and we have since alerted the Civil Protection Unit (CPU) to intervene, nevertheless all systematic structures are in place in every district and all we simply need is their full capacitation so that they are able to deal with the natural hazards effectively in all places during this El Nino season,” said Minister Magomo.
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