admin
Leonard Ncube in MSUNA, Hwange
Civil society groups and non-governmental organisations coming into Africa cannot impose projects on communities, and then claim the locals are failures when the projects falter, but instead should work with local groups who know their needs, former Malawian President Dr Joyce Banda said yesterday.
She was officiating at a ground-breaking ceremony of a pilot project being implemented by the Southern African Development Initiators (SADI) in Msuna, under Chief Wange of Hwange, where a horticultural irrigation project, fish ponds and a citrus tree plantation will be established.
SADI, a regional and non-profit making advocacy network of businesspeople, entrepreneurs and marginalised communities seeking to capacitate communities, is mobilizing resources for the project.
It partnered and invited Dr Banda to preside over the ground-breaking ceremony so that lessons can be drawn from humanitarian projects her Joyce Banda Foundation is implementing in Malawi.
Dr Banda said President Mnangagwa and Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera had initiated programmes aimed at uplifting the lives of citizens and created conducive environments for investors.
“Those of us in the civil society must, therefore, take advantage of that opportunity,” she said. “We must not confront, we must not antagonise government leaders.
“There are so many organisations around the globe with many resources that they can use to help these villagers. My only appeal is that when they come, they must not ignore organisations like SADI or Joyce Banda Foundation because we know what issues are there.”
Dr Banda said no community deserved to suffer from lack of social services, but governments in Africa could not do it alone.
“In relation to SADI and Southern Africa as a whole, we must all rise,” she said. “If you are sitting in Harare, you don’t know that there are people living like these ones in Kanjeza. So, the people that have done well must go down and help our brothers in Kanjeza transform their lives.
“We must make sure that organisations coming up to invest in our communities are owning up to social responsibility.”
For generations, people in Msuna under Chief Wange depended on fishing for consumption and for sale, but because of climate change, effective fishing stopped some years ago.
The Zambezi River pools they used to fish in have dried up and fish migrated downstream because the section of the main river in the area is too shallow for fishing.
Naturally, the community could have adapted and embarked on an alternative economic activity but lack of water and nature of the dry rocky surroundings made agriculture their least obvious option.
Some villagers had over the years moved closer to the river where they had settled in flood plains and river banks for farming and fishing, resulting in running battles with the Environmental Management Agency, Hwange Rural District Council and tourism companies operating in the area.
The more than 80km road was damaged by trucks used by mines operating within the area.
SADI president Mr Leonard Chidziwa said within a month they will start drilling a borehole in the area for the community.
About 15ha of Kanjeza village land has been cleared for the pilot project on one of the plains that used to be a Zambezi River pushback where the ground-breaking was done.
Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution for Matabeleland North Richard Moyo commended SADI for identifying the need and seeking to partner the Government and the local community to give a solution to the challenges.
“As we all know, our village is on the edge of the Zambezi and has been affected by climate change resulting in low water levels which caused fish to migrate to other habitats,” he said. “This has affected the community as many survived on fishing.
“This ground-breaking ceremony aims to initiate and open fundraising platforms to facilitate the construction of fish ponds and put in place irrigation systems. The project has already made a lot of headway and the true results and benefits will be seen in the years to come.
“We thank SADI and the Government of Zimbabwe for this initiative and their continued dedication to bring development to Msuna.”
Chief Wange said it was a new dawn for his subjects.
“What you have brought has changed our mindset,” he said. “From your wise words of wisdom, you have shown us that we can develop like those in urban areas.
“This occasion will leave a long lasting impression. This ground-breaking shows that there is something big coming that is going to happen. We thank President Mnangagwa for initiating programmes that are aimed at uplifting people’s livelihoods.”
Online Reporter