Meet your Nkayi South MP – Cde Stars Mathe

Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter

Name: Stars Mathe
Constituency: Nkayi South,
Matabeleland North Province
Date of Birth:12 February 1964

Cde Stars Mathe was born and bred in Nkayi, Matabeleland North province and attained her education in the same district. She attended Mathetshaneni Primary School and later went to Khomayanga Secondary School which was opened after the liberation struggle to give an opportunity to all children who were affected by the armed struggle to attend school.

Cde Mathe who has been a Member of Parliament since 2018 said she first interacted with politics from a tender age through assisting guerillas with intelligence and food as villagers were called upon to cook for the comrades.

“I interacted with politics a long time ago when we were still young girls (okijana), we constituted what were called units, composed of young children under the age of 18, we would find information from the communities and also assisted by taking food to freedom fighters. I really enjoyed taking part as young as I was and as I matured, I realised I still wanted to be a part of it and today I am an active politician,” said Cde Mathe.

After serving as a primary school teacher for 12 years in Nkayi District, Cde Mathe called it a day and moved to Bulawayo.

“I came to Bulawayo and eventually became the first councilor for Cowdray Park in 2001, the suburb developed right before my eyes into what it is today. So, after this, the people of Nkayi together with the traditional leadership pleaded with me to come and work for them and represent them in Parliament. That is how I moved back in 2013 but I was late as there was someone already that the people had been working with and I then decided to contest in 2018,” she said.

Cde Mathe got re-elected in the just ended Zanu-PF primary elections for this year’s forthcoming harmonised elections and wants to ensure all developmental projects are completed by the end of her second term.

“There is a lot I have been doing and want to complete starting with the Bulawayo-Nkayi Road which has been a point of concern for years. I made a lot of pleas in Parliament over that road and I am happy there is a lot of effort made by the Government and I hope the work speeds up and we have better access to Nkayi and beyond,” she said.

Cde Mathe said the educational needs of the constituency have been top of her priorities.

“When I attended school, it was 17km away so I decided that I need to change this and I have used the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) to construct schools so that we lessen that long-distance that children walk. We need learners to concentrate on their studies rather than have learners get to school tired and fail to perform. Three of these schools will be officially opened before my term of office ends. Science blocks have been constructed to assist the schools doing science subjects,” she said.

Water which has been a problem in some areas of Nkayi will become a thing of the past as a dam is under construction in the constituency.

“We have Ziminya Dam that was pegged in 1952 and nothing was done to build it but with the coming of the Second Republic there has been activity and construction is underway. This has also created employment for the locals,” she said.

Cde Mathe also emphasised the need for more women to take active roles in politics and to support each other to improve gender equality in politics. @NyembeziMu