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Two other constituencies which fell vacant after the then MDC House of Assembly members were dismissed are Bulilima East whose MP was Norman Mpofu and Lupane East whose legislator was Njabuliso Mguni.
Villagers of Nkayi South in Matabeleland North have raised concerns that the absence of an MP for their constituency was hindering development in their area.
Mr Trevor Ncube of Tohwe village said without an MP development fails.
“OMP baqakathekile kakhulu (MPs are very important) because there is little development in the area as there is no representative from our area in Parliament.
“I wish the Government could find a lasting solution to this because it is not the Government that is suffering but the villagers as we do not see the Constituency Development Fund that we should be receiving as a community,” he said.
Many people in Nkayi South are surviving on food aid that is handed out by NGOs as most of them did not harvest anything due to erratic rains that caused havoc in many parts of the country.
Ms Sithembeni Ngwenya, of Fudu Village said food and water shortages were very worrying.
“Asikaze sikubone okunje (We have never seen anything like this). There is no water in the nearby river and I did not harvest anything from the fields.
“Some of the boreholes in the area have run dry while the livestock has to travel long distances to get drinking water,” she said.
Due to lack of drinking water and pastures, villagers fear that their cattle, which are their key source of wealth, might die not only because of hunger but thirst as well.
“We are now fearing for the worst because we now fetch water for our cattle; sometimes we provide them with insufficient water which is not good but there is nothing that we can do to solve the problem,” said Ms Ngwenya.
Some NGOs help villagers by offering free treatment and medication.
Headman Mike Moyo in Ward 22 said were it not for the clinics that provided free treatment, many constituents would be finding life very difficult, as some of his people did not have money to access health services.
“Thanks to the clinic that provides us with tablets and other treatment. Because of that people now can be treated earlier than to wait for a long time to get treatment. Most of our villagers cannot afford to pay for medical service,” he said.
He also raised concern on how school authorities in his area managed the Basic Education Assistance Module programme. He alleged that the fund was being misused and given to undeserving children at the expense of orphans in the villages.
“The school authorities are failing to attend to orphaned children because a handful of children are included in the list of children who will be paid school fees for. This results in some children being denied a chance to get educated yet it is the children’s right to get an education.”
The headman also said that food shortage in the area had led to some people resorting to stealing as a way to survive.
“Due to food shortage some people have now resorted to stealing food from other villagers’ granaries. This has become a problem to some villagers because they end up not sleeping in order to safeguard their granaries in fear that some thieves will pounce on them.
“The elderly and the sick have been given a helping hand by World Vision as they get some food so that they can keep their bodies strong,” said Headman Moyo.
Welthungerhilfe, also known as German Agro Action, is implementing two projects under the Protracted Recovery Programme (PRP). One of them is the Upgraded Family Well (UFW) project that aims to provide households with greater awareness of safe health and hygiene practices through participation in community health clubs.
It also supports the upgrading of shallow wells so that households have improved access to safe water. Improved access to water within the homestead also has the potential to improve household food security as the water can also be used for productive purposes, for example, cultivating a vegetable garden.
Villagers praised the organisation for providing such help as they were in dire need of water and food aid.
Mrs Atalia Nyoni of Zenka said German Agro Action had helped them a lot because they could now find water near their homes.
“This organisation has helped us a lot because now I can fetch water in my yard. The organisation built wells in some villagers’ backyards which made it easy for us to survive as we can now start vegetable gardens.
“If only people could learn to share in our community then we would curb food shortages we see in our area and some people will be able to eat at least something.
“During the farming season the organisation usually rewards those who follow the proper ways of ploughing by building them granaries to keep their grain safe,” she said.
Online Reporter